New 360 arriving (I hope)

The car is on its way! I flew out to Roanoke to check it out. Intercity loaded it yesterday and it is on its way to the West Coast. Photos attached!
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Thanks Gil. I'm looking forward to seeing on the island, too! Hopefully in a little over a week.

 

Thanks Brian. The issue isn't really finding the weight, it is finding something that they will accept as the weight at the Satellite City Hall. I'll let you know what I find out!

I have the official weight on both the current and previous Certificates of Title, although neither is a Hawaii Certificate of Title. I'm hoping that will suffice, if they don't have their own source of information at City Hall. But we shall see.

 

Thanks Larry. I think that is Toledo Scales on Hau St. I gave them a call and they said I could just drop by -- it costs $30.

I'm still undecided about whether I want to do that or whether I will stand in line at the downtown Satellite City Hall and take my chances! I'll keep you posted.

Thanks Kevin -- I think you have a 2003 360, too? Although I gather yours is one of the highly regarded gated manuals versions. I look forward to comparing notes.

 

Picked up the car today! I should have been more excited, but was mainly worried about being able to drive it. I got it to Toledo Scales successfully, I'm off to the dealership tomorrow for safety inspection and annual service, then off to a Satellite City Hall to get it registered (I hope). Thanks for all the good advice! It will be interesting to see if I need the scale weight -- the Toledo Scale guys said they were still having to weigh all the Teslas!

 

Thanks Jay -- I did consider having it serviced on the mainland, but our Honolulu dealership has a master mechanic and a good team, and I thought it would be good to start working with them. I have been impressed so far.

The belts were done about three years ago -- I thought it was probably time to have them done again. I am interested that you seem to be comfortable with a longer interval. I'll think about that.

 

That's an interesting question. I am not surprised that a BMW or Ferrari engine might put more stress on a belt than a Toyota. Also, as you likely know better than I do, some engines just stop when a timing belt breaks, others catastrophically self-destruct. (The difference between an interference engine and a non-interference engine). I don't know what type of engine the Toyota has, but one web site says Toyotas with timing belts are non-interference engines. One thing I do know, however, is that our Ferraris have interference engines and a belt failure is a catastrophic failure, not a graceful failure.

But I'm starting to think I could at least go four years safely. I'll ponder the options.

Thanks!!

 

Thanks. Good advice! Opinions seem to vary on this point, and may relate more to how risk averse the owner is than to technical considerations. I'm still trying to figure out where I fit on that spectrum.

A second consideration for me is that the belt service on my car, done three years and three months ago, was done by an independent mechanic. His written report sounds good, but I can't find out much about him on Google or otherwise, and therefore don't know the quality of his work. He may be a retired Ferrari master mechanic, or he may just be a Chevy guy with a Ferrari shop manual. Maybe it doesn't matter, but I'm a little concerned about whether it was done right. That is pushing me to having it done sooner rather than later.

 

Thanks Gil. I look forward to meeting you as well.

The shop that did the work seems to be a well regarded independent shop, but not a Ferrari specialist. Their notes indicate they installed two new timing belts, right and left hydraulic tensioners, and both tensioner pulleys, which is the right way to do things. All component bolts were re-torqued to factory spec. That was three years and three months ago, and five thousand miles ago.

Aldous Voice has a great post about 360 timing belts and the reasons to replace them regularly. After reading it, I'm convinced I need to do it as soon as it is convenient to do so, although I don't consider it an emergency. Here is his very interesting article: https://aldousvoice.com/2015/08/11/ferrari-360-timing-belts/

 

Well, I have my preliminary report back from the dealership. Aron says the car looks pretty good! (Which was a great relief to hear; I couldn't have a PPI done, and I was a little apprehensive.) It needs a full service and the timing belts, both of which I anticipated. I asked him to look over a few other things I knew from Ferrarichat were potential issues with the 360, and he has recommended new motor mounts. All in all, not bad. I'm hoping to get the full service done by August 7, and the belts, etc., in September. Now I am just looking forward to getting the car back and trying to learn to drive the thing!

The only time I have driven it, my trip from picking the car up to the dealership, was a comedy of errors: setting off the alarm to begin with, barely being able to start the thing, and then not knowing how to get the car into reverse (who knew you needed to lift the little T-bar up?). But I think everything is moving forward now and I am delighted and hopeful to start driving it soon!

 

I suspect that would often be true. In my case, I am having the first work done while I am on the mainland, they are ordering parts for the second effort, and they will do that when we are out of town on a second trip. So, for me, better to break it into two projects. Not much overlap actually -- the oil change part of the full service we may postpone to the timing belt stage. Otherwise, not much economies of scale from doing them together.

 

Thanks Gil. I hope to make it to one of the "Cars and Coffee" gatherings when I can. Do you or other FerrariChat folks attend those gatherings?