Opened my Road and Track today to find an great article on Jeff Segals 1999 355. Pretty cool to see our 20+ year old beauties be featured again. (although they did feature my 355 on their web site a few years back ) (i'll try to take a better picture of the words) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Saw this- kind of curious what the modifications he did aside from recovering the dash, installing f40 seats and the pretty typical exhaust changes. There is some mention of suspension adjustments- maybe the challenge bushings from superperformance?
Not much of an article as far as specifics. A lot about the typical rave about exhaust sound. Mechanically didn't seem very modified. Some pictures of the suspension and brakes would have been nice but it is nice to see a F355 in a major American car magazine again.
The article only mentions he shipped it from Miami to New York where they wrote the article. Probably just has it registered in Montana for tax purposes LOL It says clutch flywheel exhaust wheels and steering rack from a challenge car, and then apparently he spent three years dialing in the suspension. It doesn't really get into specifics other than to say that it's not super stiff, and he raise the ride height, kind of odd imo
It’s featured here as well With link to video https://gearpatrol.com/2019/05/15/restomod-ferrari-f355-makes-the-best-1990s-sports-car-better/
Challenge grill, straight pipes, challenge wheels, seats, radiators, bigger brakes, euro marker lights, not sure about cam timing adjustments and throttle body tweeks. All well known stuff IMO
saw that vid a while ago.. for some reason whatever he did to the exhaust, my first impression it sounded like crap..? just a Capristo + stock everything else sounds 10 times better then that..
don't think they are actual f40 seats, just carbon backed recliners done in a F40 style material, in keeping with the f40 dash material photo below actual f40 seats Image Unavailable, Please Login
I have a full Challenge suspension except springs, including wheels, bars, bar links, and steering rack, the aluminum radiators, Motons, Stoptech brakes and engine mods and I have to say it really does transform the car. Don't know what this guy did because the article was not very specific. The 355 really has a lot of untapped potential and will beat the competition of its time like a 993RS. I don't think the 355 gets enough credit. Trying to compete with a current super car is futile and glad this guy's goal was not that but he's trying to maximize the performance of a 25 year old car.
I agree, and look at the price of 993RS. Or the cost to do a 993 setup with built engine/individual throttle bodies/etc that would hang with an F355. Funny this car gets some simple bolt-ons/upholstery and being compared to a Singer car.
the 355's reliability issues is why people overlook the performance. In its time the 355 really had higher performance among most exotics except for the 993 turbo and Viper Coupe. I think the 355 handled better than either of those cars but they had slightly better straight line speed.
At the time normally aspirated 100hp/L was big. Now the generic mercedes streetcar motor is a turbo 4 making over 200hp/L . Cars have gotten really fast.
I just watched the video as well and totally agree. Both my custom exhaust and my capristos sound so much better.
I could use some of that f40 seat material, will have to grab some next time I visit Italy No performance mods? Not really needed just some updated drivability stuff is all thats needed. Challenge stuff is way to harsh and quick for the street much better options. f333Bob has that covered
You just need some nice photos Jim of yours it’s more worthy of a feature than this car. The highlight for me is the F40 styled interior / the exhaust sounds terrible and the tips aren’t styled well.
The seats are retrimmed factory option F355 carbon buckets. The best part of the car imo along with the f40 cloth type dash.