Ferrari 360 Modena - stock or modded

I meant passed as in not seen another. Not as in speed. I learned a long time ago that owning special cars for me is multifaceted. There's more to it than raw speed.

 

I personally like to mod my cars. I'm not one to care too much about resale value. If I get my enjoyment out of the car, any uptick or retained value is just a bonus to me.

There's no car that I could own that I would keep completely stock!

 

each to their for own, but i went for stradale look, suits me, could care less what others think, have done it twice had no issues selling the first modified car,
do what suits you, its your car

regards
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Find one person that would object to those mods. Very nice Scott.

 

Been thinking of Trev’s 360 quite a lot when reading and commenting to this thread. I believe that car to be a no go for all newbies that want’s to buy a 360. To heavily modified and out of spec for the general first time buyer of an exotic.

However...

For those of us that have owned or owns a 360, I believe that exact same car to be considered ”perfect” - but not all of us dare (or have the competence), to do something equivalent to our own baby.

I also believe that most of us wouldn’t hesitate to buy such a car given the knowledge we have accumulated owning a 360... Especially given the transparency Trev shared during his rebuild...

 

For me, the reason I wanted a bone-stock car was not for value or collect-ability. It was because I wanted to drive the car that Ferrari designers and engineers created. I wanted a driver, but I also wanted an authentic and pure experience. We all know that even small changes can impact the driving experience, especially when done for aesthetics they rarely improve the drive in my opinion. So there's value in knowing "this is how Ferrari wanted the car" even if there are upgrades that make it faster/better, authenticity of the drive does have value.

As I said before, I added some mods from that clean start that enhanced the experience for me and everyone else should do the same for them. I don't think it's always about some high-and-mighty anti-mod these-are-untouchable-works-of-art mentality. It can also be just about getting the car as it was intended (for better or worse).

Trev's 360 is one of my all time favorite cars and threads on here. what he did was take a singular purpose and vision and create that. I would love to drive/own a car like that too.

 

You're exactly right, because of the extensive of his build I wouldn't hesitate with his car (even over non-modified cars I'd take more confidence buying his car than any others). Had it been the opposite, just pictures of the car and none of the work really shown I'd be a lot more hesitant.

 

Trev's car is one-of-a-kind! Just love that thing. I too will have a CS body kit one day (my car had a CS-look rear diffuser when I bought the CS Kit really is the best look for the gorgeous 360 body) but I realize my car will never be anything close to the masterpiece that is Trev's 360.

That said, I bought my car with a ton of great mods... and I too mod most of my cars and some of them WAY more than others. My car came with 19/20 wheels, straight pipes, tubi, braided hoses, chrome air filters (actually looks bad ass with Grigio Alloy and the chrome tubi) an incredibly well installed high-end stereo, plus a bunch more. I've added carbon interior door handles, carbon cup holder, weather tech floor mats ($300!!!) , de-stickied everything by hand, and I plan to eventually make it a heavyweight version of Trev's car... more of a 6-speed CSGT if you will.

I understand people wanting a perfect and mint Ferrari but I'd buy a 360/430 to drive and not as an investment.

That's what I'm doing with mine. I took mine out to the wife's family place this weekend, about 120 miles away... a good 2 - 3 hour one way drive through the gorgeous hill country with amazing roads.

Miles are like mods in the Ferrari universe, both will cost you and you won't get that money back. I say, with these cars especially, you are wasting your time if you aren't using them as much as you want and "making them yours", if that is your thing.

My modded 360 passed 21,000 miles on this trip and I couldn't care less. Windows down, no radio, and working those pedals and the magical metal gated shifter and some very spirited driving to hear that engine scream past 8,000 rpm time-and-time again on the way there! On the way back, I was following my wife in her car so it was air conditioned comfort (the factory sport seats are AMAZING on a long road trip, no fatigue at all) and listed to the Grateful Dead from my iPhone as I recovered from a night celebrating my father-in-law's birthday till early in the morning.

Buy them right and drive them. My car was not at all what I was looking for when I bought it, but I was not averse to buying a modded car from the RIGHT seller and I have no regrets whatsoever.

I'd like to get a collectable Ferrari, currently have my eye on a sub-5K mile 328, but I sure do LOVE driving my 360 that I can confidently say is totally unique and you'll never see another one just like it. (And I'm just getting started with the mods... "one day" I'll put this car under the knife for a big transformation!)

Cheers!

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Nicely said. Nice clean mods too.

 

I'm a newbie here. Can someone plz post a pic of Trev's 360. Very curious to see.

 

Just Wow....


I didn't realize that so many people still like my 360 after all these years. Seems like it has some kind of ‘following’… Lol. I really appreciate the kind words, thank you all so much for the support and reading my updates over the years since I started the project (over a decade ago!). Anyway you can read about it on this very forum here...
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/360stradale-6-speed-manual-conversion.158419/

and take a quick peek at it on Instagram too…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BaW2s9Ll5QN/?taken-by=360trev

Just a few words on mods in general to give an insight into my perspective on this.

1. Focus, focus focus... What will it be?
..... First and foremost when embarking on a project to alter your cars personality, overall balance should be main the consideration. Ferrari went to a lot of trouble to provide a great well rounded package. Exactly what are you trying to achieve and why? This is the no.1 reason why many modified cars don’t work. They aren’t balanced.

What do you want out of your car that it doesn't already do? A more driver focused car perhaps? A louder one so you can better hear the V8? A more luxurious one? A stripped out racer? or maybe just a better handling but slightly more sporty looking car for fast road? If you don't know what you are trying to achieve simply bolting on extra's go faster bits can easily upset the 'balance' of the car, especially where you start with a luxuriously appointed car like a 360 (or GTi in lesser car parlance).

2. Modifications on Styling is a VERY personal thing.... Beware of resale potential!
.... I've said it many times but one persons 'to die for' (styled) alloys are another’s worst nightmare. Same goes for body kits and big wings. The re-sale market is already tiny for all of these cars so further you deviate from stock the further you limit your potential market. It is just like decorating a house, the more personal the harder to sell

Personally I find it really difficult to improve on what Pininfarina did with the Challenge Stradale styling upgrades on top of the base 360 and it is therefore very hard to recommend slapping on upgraded or aero cosmetic parts, perhaps the occasional materials upgrade like high quality carbon parts. In my eyes the Stradale styling is nearly perfect except for a few bits from the race cars like upgraded brakes and center lock wheels which for me complement the racer for the road look. Again a totally personal thing but on a Challenge Style car it works to perfection (ofcourse in my humble opinion...).

If you really do want to personalize your car (no bad thing here, hell it is YOUR car) I'd simply recommend keeping all the original parts so you can at least put it back to stock styling before resale time comes.

3. Modifications on Handling and upgraded performance.... Not such an issue IMHO
.... If you upgrade the brakes. So what? As long as you can still get things like pads, seals, etc. and the parts invoices document what’s actually been done and where you can source replacement parts then I think most people would consider this a bonus. Same goes for tires, most people don't really care so much on a car of this age. Since the F430 was in essence and evolved 360 chassis (F131 was codename for 360 and F131 EVO for the F430) you can retrofit a lot of the benefits of the improvements Ferrari did on the F430 to a 360 such as CCM Carbon Ceramic Brakes Kit originally intended for the F430 as an upgrade. Again some may be concerned the car has had a hard life if the brakes where upgraded but if the condition of the car reflects otherwise it isn't really going to be a problem..

.... Same thing on exhaust, cats and headers. Upgraded parts here can really be a material gain since pretty much every 360 ends up at some point with a more sporty exhaust to allow you to better enjoy the sonics, again the best possible upgrade (from a sonics perspective) just has to be the factory optional sports exhaust (as fitted to the Challenge Stradale as stock) but optional on the 360. Again personal preference kicks in here to how loud your willing to tolerate but as long as you steer away from decat pipes and straight through exhausts many see them as a win win...

4. Modifications on Improved engineering parts.... VERY welcome…
There are certain parts, ones mostly engineered by the very well respected Hills Engineering which should absolutely be sort after when buying a used 360. Things such as upgraded HE belt bearings, upgraded ball-joints (stainless so they don’t rust like the factory ones) and upgraded parts like clutch block (which don’t crack) or the gearshift bush for manual cars. Again these parts are wonderful peace of mind since they pretty much eliminate many of the common pain points of 360 ownership allowing you to just drive worry free.

5. Longevity, Support and Diagnostics
This is one worthy of consideration. Who can fix the car if it goes wrong? Certain upgrades make it so difficult to find someone with actual experience you can really get into hot water. Especially with big upgrades which were very expensive and no longer supported by the manufacturer such as Novitec superchargers. What happens if a Novitec reflashed ECU fails?

Again this is where dipping into the Ferrari Challenge car parts bin can really help out as you can still often get Challenge parts used and new.

Summary
Hope this gives you a bit of consideration, rather than suggesting ALL modifications are bad which is a bit of a blunt instrument and isn’t really the case (especially with improved engineering parts from the likes of Hills).

In fairness there aren’t that many extreme upgraded examples of the 360 in the market anyway so a few mods shouldn’t really be a reason to totally dismiss the purchase of an otherwise sound car. If there are a few parts you don’t like ebay can be a source of inexpensive used parts to swap with. Hassle but then so is the purchase of a good 360…

 

Well i'm modding the hell out of mine and not really caring what others think . I know i'm a rare breed of individual that likes to mod a car that most people consider perfect from the very beginning but i have never been one to want to look like everyone else . The part i don't understand is most people say do not mod the car unless you use genuine Ferrari parts for the upgrade . Well i bet you everything i own that if i decided to have a bodyshop fit a 458 front bumper onto my car , the Ferrarichat community would have a stroke . I only used this as an example because i like the look of the Ultimate Motorcars 360 front bumper . Obviously , everyone's opinions are different and you can never please everyone but it is my car and i will do what i like to it . I will continue to post pics of all my upgrades in case there are a few people like me that don't think the Ferrari brand is something you can never improve on . I respect everyone that decides to upgrade their cars with either aftermarket or genuine Ferrari parts but i frown upon those people with the negative comments about those that do .

360trev.....you car is very good looking !

 

That's a very well done series of modifications with a specific goal. Awesome work.

I spent a few grand removing aftermarket parts already though (Most of the cost was replacing a too-loud and too-hot Capristo with a... wait for it... valved Challenge Stradale exhaust.

I want it stock quiet most of the time, but on track days I'll open it up.

 

Keep posting them. We need to see more fresh perspective and ideas in this forum.

Like what I stated previously, the topics are getting boring and redundant; hence, I even stopped posting for several months at a time. The topics are either F1 vs gated, how to maintain a car that I barely drive or please help, car broke down. Throughout the years, whenever I see fresh content like none-OEM mods here (where the owner proudly shared their passion) they typically get the unwelcoming feedback from most. Some folks are still in denial that this is happening here, but it is written everywhere in the 360/430 threads (not sure about other model threads since I don't read them). I already know and met several members here that owns or owned a Ferrari that rarely post or never post anymore due to the same reason.

We need fresh content here and hopefully the majority doesn't continue intimidate the newer generation of Ferrari owners who have a fresh perspective with Ferrari ownership. We all dreamed of the same horse when we are kids. Modding a Ferrari doesn't change the prancing horse and turns it into a running horse (Mustang) so hold your horses guys.

Stock or modded (aftermarket and OEM upgrades), it's still a Ferrari that has driver behind the wheel that is living his / her childhood dream.

 

If you think this place is unfriendly and monotonous, you should check out the Pistonheads/Supercars forum... makes Ferrarichat 360/430 forum feel like a cosy family affair

 

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There is a huge reason why the aftermarket industry continues to thrive . I keep hearing some of the people say that Lambos are mainly for the "boy racer" types because of all the colors and combos you can get but i wish Ferrari had as many options also . The difference between the two car makers is that there are a lot less aftermarket parts for Ferrari than Lamborghini . Aside from the fact that i have been a die hard Ferrari fan since childhood , my main reason for getting a Ferrari over the Gallardo is there are not many modded Ferraris out there , which makes the originality of my car so much better in my eyes .

 

In concur. Now time to wrap your car.

I already did mine for almost a year now. Paint protection in another level.

 

I don't think any of the posts I read regarding this are intimidating anyone. But if someone posts their idea of what their dream Ferrari should look like and others don't jump on board then so be it. And if these mods are truly your own then why even care what others think.
Fresh content does not have to be only about wild colors and add ons to our cars.

 

@ BAD430BENZ
On Aftermarket Vs OEM...I'd go so far to say that a reasonable number of people (especially non-technical or mechanically minded) percieve the brand of Ferrari in such high esteem that they have a significantly elevated opinion of OEM parts and the apparent qualities they (should) confer. Sadly, in reality not every OEM part is perfection...

Thankfully through forums such as this quite a lot of knowledge about some of the compromises made (for costs and time and re-use from other models) and where taken in building the cars themselves is now well known about. Consider that 360's where the lower priced V8 cars Ferrari made (and by comparision to other new V12 Ferrari's of the time in pretty high volumes) and they needed to make a profit and there is a bit of 'inevitability' about it. Real world Ferrari engineers couldn't afford to indulge in things like on the Enzo such as Carbon rear view mirrors or a full carbon chassis or other lightweight measures, frankly the V8's would have ended up costing not much less than a Enzo otherwise!

For instance use of Carbon Fiber lamination on top of some parts in the Challenge Stradale rather than pure CF (which would have been more costly). Even things like door panels, front and rear bumpers (fenders? heh) and dashboard on the 360 road cars where significantly heavier than they needed to be (being produced out of a mould with some sort of resin, plastic and fiberglass), not exactly lightweight.

I think that in years since the CS was launched many car manufacturers have begun to optimize their supply chain for the weight of parts being added but sadly even more electronic and convienience junk keeps on adding more weight (!). What I am really trying to say is that a large proportion of the parts produced on behalf of Ferrari by their suppliers are relatively easy to improve upon just with use of either more expensive or more modern materials such as carbon fiber, titanium alloys and so forth. So absolutely yes you can easily better many OEM parts today with aftermarket and that's especially apparent in the electronics side of things as well as material sciences...

The biggest thing for me on parts which have a limited shelf life or could need replacing for whatever reasons is the availability now and into the future. Some suppliers really don't seem to care. I was very upset when I contacted a certain well known German aftermarket tuner and discovered they where not in the slightest bit interested in sourcing even basic (consumable!) replacement parts such as belts for their supercharger conversion kits now on either the 360 or F430! and not just that they wouldn't supply a single bit of information about them such as dimensions of the said belts and original suppliers. That is the kind of thing that gives aftermarket a bad name....Such a shame.

 

Sadly this is often the case with OEM parts as well. An electrical engineer friend who owns a first series NSX had a dash module go. The dealer not only had no replacement but was unwilling to provide any technical support in respect to wiring diagrams and too "would not supply a single bit of information". Bad behavior by the aftermarket to be sure, but hard to believe this is the case with manufacturers who wish to sell more cars to loyal customers.

 

Trev, first off all I'd just like to say you are a tremendous asset to FChat and the Ferrari community itself. Your car and your modifications have been an inspiration to many as well as some of the mods on my Modena. To date, all the modifications I have made have been for MY enjoyment and satisfaction but inline with the style and heritage of the brand. Items such as CS exhaust, Scud Ing electronics, and programming updates by reputable people and companies in the Ferrari community. Just like you, I have sourced OEM equipment rather than aftermarket at a greater cost as long as there is justification beyond the "Ferrari" name. One such item of interest is the carbon pieces on the Challenge Stradale. As you know, some of the aftermarket carbon fiber items are just decorative with single layer of CF over fiberglass. Now, I consider myself a newbie in the Ferrari world as I have only owned my car since 2014, but I have been a gear head, garage rat, or whatever you want to call it for many decades. I do not consider myself a newbie in this area at all. I also have been involved in sales and manufacturing so I fully understand the bottom line. With that being said, I was surprised by your comments on the CF items on the Challenge Stradale. I'm not doubting what you are saying, by any means. I am just curious as to what CF parts on the Stradale are not pure CF. It has been a quest of mine to source of OEM CF parts to put on my car because I assumed they were pure CF. If they are not, I can look a little closer at the aftermarket items which I had originally discounted due to their methods of construction.

 

Don't sell yourself short, you have a beautiful car as well. I am curious about this picture though. I have a Modena as well, but I see some differences in the trunk...carpeted duct looking thing in the center.....leather strap on the right side.

I have neither of these items, rather I have the two leather straps in the center holding the Ferrari branded Fix-o-Flat. Do you have the spare tire option? I've never seen this with the tire out...just curious.

 

Firstly thank you for your remarks, I appreciate them a lot.

Sadly the CS dashboard clock carbon insert where the speedo, rev counter, etc. sit is the original Aluminium cast part with just a thin layer of CF laminated over the top to give the illusion of full cf. The original dash panel on the 360 Challenge is full CF. I believe this happened since it would have required a complex and costly mould and savings would have been relatively minimal vs pure carbon, less than a kilo.

There are many big ticket items on the CS that they left on the table where things such as;
1. Battery tray and full assembly, a few kilo's in there (not including the huge boat anchor which is the stock battery which these days can easily be replaced with something saving in the region of around 16kg's alone.
2. Heavy stock cats and headers and you can save even more and gain considerable power and torque.
3. Even the stock Racing Style exhaust is remarkably heavy (its steel) vs the unvalved race car system (still in steel) which is many kilo's lighter and sounds similar (but without valves).
4. Race seats can save easily another 15kg's and something the original project team planned to offer (but no customers at the time really 'understood', since back then there was no equivalent of the GT3RS style cars.).
5. Aircon and starter motor to engine mounting brackets are heavy,etc. I could go on an on...

Even on the 458 and 488 they are still doing lamination, the optional CF door handles are laminated!

Also bear in mind not every part produced in CF is the same weight. The manufacturing techniques make a huge difference, for example on the race cars the cf door panels are around 600 grammes (0.6kg) each vs several kilos for the CS/430 Scud door panels, i.e. hand wet lay up vs f1 style autoclaved....

 

I highlighted some of the parts of your statement that i think all people should read . I'm guessing the last part is about Novitec ???

I think you bring a lot of knowledge to the table and where i might not agree with you 100% , i do believe you are one of the go to guys on this forum for general questions about our cars and OEM modding of our cars . I know many people want to convert to CS parts .

I remember back in the day having my Syclone and Typhoon and GMC wouldn't even give up one bit of knowledge , in terms of these 2 vehicles for me , when i needed some factory troubleshooting .