Greetings All! This is my first post and I'm quite a newbie so I hope you pardon my ignorance and please pardon the long post to come. I'm Dave, 42 years old and live south of Buffalo, NY in a town called Orchard Park. I've always admired Ferrari and in 2000 I went to Los angles for the first time. During that visit, I stopped at Ferrari of Beverly Hills and was also at Newport Autosport on PCH. That was the first time I saw a Ferrari in person and I believe they had several brand new 1998 and 99 355's in many configurations including the Spider, Berlinetta and GTS. I still have some photos from that trip. I just fell in love - wow! Since that time I've really come to appreciate Ferrari and I have remained loyal to the 355. The 360 was out then and I also saw in LA but I just prefer the overall look of the 355. I own a business (I'm a mechanical engineer) and between building a house and building a business and new facility on the way,I've had financial distraction after distraction holding me back from purchasing a Ferrari but I'm starting to seriously take a look at getting something for the spring. I'm still totally interested in the 355 so please don't try to talk me into the 360 - it's cool but just not for me. As cool as I think convertibles are, I prefer the look of a hard top so with that said, it needs to be a Berlinetta or maybe GTS. So, I have a bunch of questions: I did find this site and did find it to be veryhelpful: http://www.the355.com/mambo/content/blogsection/5/29/ 1) I hear the talk about replacing cam belts -Can someone explain to me why this is needed and needed so often? I assume wear and maybe dry rot? 2) I hear talk of "Sticky" interior parts. Does this happen eventually to all 355's? What causes it? I've hear that if the parts are re-coated, the new costing won't ever have this problem - is that true? 3) Aside from the expensive cam belt service,(and the exhaust issue I've heard about), is all other service fairly normal? 4) I would not do the cam belt service, but would certainly do the fluids and other simple service - are many of you guys doing your own work as well? Unfortunately, we don't have a Ferrari dealera nywhere near Buffalo - I think the closest is Columbus OH or NYC (aside fromToronto CA). 5) Having said this, I've read lots of good advice regarding PPI and I feel I would only need the help for some of the mechanical issues such as a compression test. So, given a car with detailed and regular service records, is the PPI for mechanical's really important? I'd be happy tospend the money but getting it done might be another issue. 6) GTS: Is there a place in the car to put the roof panel when off (I assume the front storage area?) I read on wiki that its tores behind the seats - is this true? 7) F1 or manual. I think I may prefer a manual transmission over the F1. I have paddles on my 335xi BMW coupe (I know it's not the same) but I find it funny to shift without a clutch and manually shifting . I'll post more questions later. In summary, I'm looking to spend no more than $70K including the sales tax. If I spend that much, I'll probably finance3 0-35K of it and that's something I said I would never do (another reason I've not made a purchase yet). I could pay in full but I like to have my cash free and since rates are so low I thought it may not be a bad option. What are the thoughts out there on financing 40% or so of the costs? I figure I'm not getting any younger so I'd rather not wait to much longer. Thank you all for taking the time to read my long post and I greatly appreciate any advice you can offer. Thank you all!
Welcome aboard. You found a great place to do your research during your search. The search function is your friend here. A lot of people have grown tired of typing the answers to the same questions. So you may not get a lot of feedback given the wide range of questions you posted and the enormous amount of data already written on each one. I found that using yahoo or google and typing in "Ferrarichat 355 cam belts" gets me a better result list than the search function this site.
Thank you - I should have known better. I'm a member of a few guitar forums and some searches just don't work that well - I should have tried first however.
While Watson has a point, I'm on a 3 hour long train ride so I will take a quick crack at your questions. I've had a 355 spider for a little over a year and its had its share of issues. 1) The cam belt is made of rubber so eventually wears out. Its not expensive itself but to replace it you have to remove the engine from the car, etc etc which takes a boatload of mechanic hours at $120-$150 so it costs ~$7k+ once you do the "while your in there"'s. Its very important b/c if the belt fails all the terribly expensive engine parts will bump into each other (bent valves, etc) and you'll be looking at a rebuild that will probably cost more than the car itself. DON'T try to skimp on this. Find out the status of the belts and build that into the price you offer for the car. Honestly, if you can't can't afford 7 grand every few years on it, you're nowhere close to the price of entry. IMO cam belts are the least of your worries. 2) Yes, happens to all of them - Ferrari inexplicably used the same black paint on the interior pieces for over a decade. It deteriorates over time into a sticky goo. Great if you can find one that has had them replaced. If not, you can do it yourself (its tough) or you can have someone like StickyNoMore, a sponsor on here do it for you. 3) The 355 has lots of quirks. Lots of guys on here would say yes, but the answer is no. Stock headers will fail eventually and need to be replaced (important check in the PPI). Other random things like headlights can break and end up being very difficult/expensive to source parts or pay for Ferrari mechanic labor. 4) I don't do much work on my car but ALOT of guys on here do. Some even do the cambelt service, successfully, in their garage. Very impressive but not for the faint of heart/skill. 5) The PPI is critical. There are all kinds of issues that can surface that you might not be able to detect in service records. For example, a leaking cylinder... that said, they are not flawless. My car received near perfect compression test #s in its PPI and ran strong as a horse. A couple months later, i had a cylinder leaking significantly and will probably need a rebuild soon (not cheap). Still not sure if I had a bad PPI, got very unlucky, if the car was too idle for too long in a cold climate before I started driving. No idea. 6) Yes, behind the seats. While we are on roof issues, if you look at a spider, be certain to verify that the roof mechanisms work either yourself or through the PPI. Can be pretty expensive and quite a hassle to fix. Roof is mechanism unnecessarily complex. 7) I like manual but simply a personal preference. The 355 was the first car road car with the paddles so cool piece of history. The F1 pump is incredibly (hideously) expensive but there is a mod for a 360 pump that makes it a "normal" $3k Ferrari fix. One thing you did not mention is valve guides. Big debates about that but basically the early models came with bronze guides that would wear, cause leaking and have to be replaced. But to replace the little things, you have to pay a Ferrari mechanic 100 hours of labor to basically rebuild your engine. By now, they should have failed, so a compression test should be sufficient. All those things are considerations, but the scream of the engine behind your head, the warmth of it on your neck on a cold night (if you have a spider) and the thrill of taking a ride in it makes it all worth it. Arguably the best soudning Ferrari ever made.
Guy, Respectfully, I'd like to touch on my failure to use the search function: It was not at all due to laziness, quite the opposite. Being a member of other forums (guitars and engineering), I'd bet that over 50% of threads / posts are recurring topics. In my post, I wanted to introduce myself and provide my story as well as ask some questions. Sure, I could have done a search and found the opinions and answers to probably every question I had but had I done so I would have posted nothing. So, I guess I view it as a discussion and while older members may have grown tired of the replies, maybe newer ones have not and would like to have the dialog. And, I like opinions from many and maybe this thread will get me a few more to add to the search If I saw one of you guys at a local store with your car and asked the same questions, I doubt anyone would have giving me advisement to search the internet because I would bet you guys love to talk Ferraris and that's why you are hear. And, for the record, I'm not just a taker - I do like to contribute. My thread here is actually my second post, the first one was a contribution, see here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=141916151&postcount=11 However, I do get the point and I appreciate any help that comes my way. Thank you Justin for your detailed reply!!! In reference to the valve guides, I did find a great post on this site http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=74762&postcount=1 (yes, I did search) but I wanted to hear other opinions and that and why the belts needed to be changed so often, miles or not. I will likely do most of my own work because I have the patience and I enjoy it. I design machines so I have a pretty good mechanical ability. Doing the belts in another story since I don't have a way (yet) to drop the motor out of the car. Again, thank you all - I appreciate it.
I do not have any experience with the 355, but i know that if i was in the market for a 355 i would buy a GTB only The GTB is more stiff than the GTS and you have no top that can leak I suppose that the GTS is like a 348TS so when you store the roof behind the seats you have to pull the seat forwards and sit glued towards the steering wheel like a old lady I am a European and i have always preferred the GTB over the GTS I think i would have liked to have the 355F1 as well
Hi Dave, the simple answer for replacing the belts (I believe) is Ferrari recommended doing them every three years. It might have had something to do with warranties when these cars were new, I have read it somewhere on the posts, although I am not sure about this. Others have done them at five years. A few have gone beyond that time period. There was a thread over this past year where one owner was asking a similar question. There was no clear cut answer. I think that most owners probably do the belts in the three to five year period out of caution. The cost of doing this is nothing in comparison in what it could cost if the belt fails. Also the 355's motor puts out alot of HP per litre that revs past 8000 rpms so taking chances is risky. Hope this helps. Jimmy
From personal experience I can only give you one small piece of advice. DRIVE IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. Believe me you'r not getting your money's worth parked or driven. Maintenance from not being driven can add up as much as driving it. Why waste a day of your 1 and only life on earth with the car always parked. We dream of these cars as kids and when we finally make it where it's financially possible......we park them. Never understood this, & I don't think I ever will. Joe...40k miles and counting
Hi Joe, I'm looking for a car with low miles for one reason - I PLAN TO DRIVE IT!!! I totally agree with you, I'm not buying the car to admire it in my garage! Now, where I live does present it's challenges. At best, I've got 6-months per year I can drive a car like this. This past summer was really nice, it rained like 4 times in 5 months (well, nice if you're not a farmer). I won't take it out in the rain or a threat of rain but on the other hand if I'm out and the skies turn, I'm not going to run home either. I'll drive it every Saturday and Sunday and probably a few days during the week but I won't take it to work every day to just sit in the sun all day long either. In summary, I'll take wonderful care of it but I'll enjoy it!
Welcome to the forum Dave. I have had my 95 F355 GTB for about seven months now and have found this forum and the insight of its members INVALUABLE. With the budget you've decided upon, there is no reason why you can't find a very nice, sorted out F355 of your own. I have had a few mechanical issues creep up on me during my brief ownership, but with help from the guys here, I was able to perform all of the repairs myself. I guess the biggest shock in owning one of these beautiful machines was the cost of parts. I have had Corvettes and muscle cars in the past, but nothing compares to the surprise when a part has the word, "Ferrari," stamped on it. That being said, I have never enjoyed driving a car more than I do my F355. It is a totally unique experience and like you, I hope to be driving the hell out of her for the next twenty years (that's when my grandson will take over). Take your time, enjoy the buying process and heed the advise of those that have gone before you. Again, welcome Dave.
Hope I did not offend....It's not about knowing better. I just wanted to warn you that "time between cam belts" and "sticky parts" have been beaten to death on here. I agree 10000% with Kid Aces. I have 3800 miles on my car this summer alone. A parked car is a problem car IMHO. Drive 'em if ya got ;'em
Hi Watson (and the rest of you too)! No Watson, you did not offend me - I just wanted to explain that I'm not a taker, I'm a giver too. Right now I can't give too much but will do what I can. Of coarse, if anyone has guitar or engineering questions, I can help in those areas more than Ferraris right now All replies so far have been appreciated - thank you all and thanks for the welcome!
I'v had my 1995 F355 GTB for slightly over 2 years now. Cam belt can be done every 5 years with an inspection at 3 years. Unless the car is sitting idle for months on end and not being driven regularly (varying schools of thought on what is meant by regularly), the 5 year mark is a good target. It is correct that the major will be minimum $6500 and goes up from there depending what else needs to be done, such as the water pump rebuild which is difficult to do with the engine in. Some areas on mine were sticky and some looked fine. After 2 years the good ones went sticky, even with use of 101 Aerospace protectant. You can do the stickies yourself or send it off to Sticky No More or other shops that refinish the interior parts. Also, some of the external rubber seals around the windows get sticky too. I do work on my car that doesn't require a lift, such as doing the brakes, some sensors and etc.. It is very satisfying. The stuff I cannot do I take to a great local independant shop. There is a great parts interchange thread on FChat that will save you a load of money over buying the identical part in a horsey box for considerably more. My F355 has caused me some grief and alot of pleasure and I wouldn't trade her for the world (right now). They are finicky creatures and not keeping up on her ailments can drain your wallet fairly quickly.
I have a 1998 355 GTB with 12,4xx miles for sale. All services up to date. Send me a PM if you are interested.
