Would you describe the F355 as "fragile"

It's not the alternators fault, all that heat in the engine bay just kills them prematurely. My car has been through 2 of them in the last 25 years. Not a big deal.

 

All that being said, I wouldn't set the expectations that they will be as reliable as Toyota, because they're not. They do like to be properly and lovingly maintained. You do need to look after them.

 

Hi Barry,

Just wondering. Do you have the Naca duct Challenge mod for cooling the alternator?

 

My theory -- and I'm in the process of testing it out myself -- is that 75% of the 355's "fragility" is related to engine bay heat, a fairly easily solvable problem through modern heat blankets and shields.

 

Hi Claudio. Yes, the modification was made when the car raced. It's doing its job.


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The alternator failed in 2015 and was rebuilt. It's doing well after 5 years and ~1,200 track mile/year. I carry the spare new alternator to track events. My technicians can install it in the garage if needed.

Barry

 

Challenge grill in my opinion is a must for this reason alone. Cooling is greatly improved.

 

People do need to put the challenge cars with minimal electronics and sometimes no windows at all in a subset of 355s. The 355 road car is much more problematic than the Racer. We Fchaters made the 348 reliable without the help of Ferrari. I was one of the early diy'ers 1st to fix the 348 gearbox. But the reason my 348 became a gutted out racecar was absolutely beacuse it was a crappy streetcar. As a racer it was deadnuts relaible. As a streetcar I would choose anything else if I absolutely needed to be somewhere. I honestly do not see the 355 as an improvement in reliabilty and the 355 had the additional neediness of precise mixture control with an imprecise system, questionable headers and header solutions, and if valve guides need to be dealt with you could buy another car for the cost of rebuilding a 355.

 

Right. The NACA duct Challenge modification has helped a bit along with some extra shielding fitted to my car. The alternator that failed in 2015 was seven years old. It's been rebuilt and has been in service for the past six seasons. When it fails, I'll replace it with my new spare alternator and have it rebuilt and then carry it as a spare.

Here is the drama that occurred when it failed on the Rolex 24 Course at Daytona...





The engine started breaking up and I began losing power at 17:40

 

In a word “yes”, but it’s not fragility necessarily as it’s more garbage build quality. I’m a life long Porsche guy and appreciate how incredibly well built they are. I have also owed several Ferrari’s, 348’s and 355’s. They are well designed and with the correct materials would be almost bullet proof. You get crap valve guides, and headers that melt after 20k miles etc. Electrically they were not exactly “robust” either, but I never felt they were designed poorly or fragile, just with crap components. When you address all the weak points of a 355 and update to quality materials, they are plenty stout.

 

Yeah those headers. What were they thinking. Made of material so thin they're lucky to last 5 years.

I don't know many original ones are still out there that actually haven't failed - I'd bet not too many.

Mine had an attempted repair twice before previous owner wised up and just replaced them with an aftermarket setup.

Alternators and electronics/ABS components are also something you need to keep a close eye on, especially if you have a 2.7 car.

Just how it is. They're Italian after all.. Try owning Ducati's from that era, no different (including the dreaded belt changes).

 

I recently did Tubi headers, Capristo test pipes, and a Challenge grille. It’s incredible how much cooler the engine bay is after a nice drive! I’m a believer.

 

I say yes very fragile. The body is very thin and mixed materials. The engine is high strung and requires more tedious service. I feel my BMWs are way more "solid" cars and my Rover is like a tank. For those reasons, yes my F355 seems very fragile in comparison.

 

Point taken.

Porsche person here, too. Have owned each series of 911 (60s to pre-991), each series Cayennes (pre-2016), 914s, 944s. Each model has its issues. Looking at my spreadsheet where I’ve tracked expenses and TCOs since the 90s, I probably won’t own another water-cooled ICE street production Porsche. Engine scoring, spun rod bearings, silly CEL, valve guides, SAI, IMS, etc. My water-cooled Porsche TCOs exceed my 355 TCO so far (I’ve owned my 355 almost 8 years).

The most bulletproof Porsches I’ve owned have been mid-80s 911s (also happens to be my sweet spot of driving experience, solid feel, etc.). And so I returned last year to an 84, which has been my street driver. If I ever have to face heavy traffic commute again, I may try electric Taycan Sport Turismo (or Tesla for its charging network).

I can’t say I agree with BMWs and Rovers except for e30s and RRC diesel. Head gaskets, Vanos, pixel displays, electricals among other things come to mind.

Hmmm, maybe the common theme is stick with 80s/90s cars. Hahaha.

 

Just want to quickly add regarding “engine is high strung and requires more tedious service”:

I tend to agree on this. But any high strung (= high rpm) engine with higher hp per liter tend to be. Including longhood 911S engines, GT3RS engines, Indy car and F1 engines. Even a Honda VTEC engine run extensively at a track under sustained high rpms.

 

Fragile.....Noticed in the video that the passenger side view mirror became detached, totally unacceptable!
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That's from rubbin'...





...and rubbin', son, is racin'.

 

hey this may be random but thanks for the all the replies I have been trying to figure out if I wanted a 355 and after reading this I definitely will buying one this year. thanks

 

Hey! You got to keep that a secret. We can’t have too many people finding that out.

Just tell people to stay away from those eras of cars, they’re too old. Instead, buy something with warranty. You don’t want to deal with the headaches of costly repairs, asking questions on forums that has been asked already, looking for parts just to find out they are NLA/no longer available, passenger side mirror falling off during a race or debating about a fragile car isn’t fragile. Lol

Though, “fragile” is only to ones own definition. For me, I consider even F1 cars as “fragile”. Even as strong and lightweight they are and with the worlds best materials, they are not bumper cars.

 

Regarding the alternator failures, for such a high revving engine, it could be an option to put a bigger pulley on it to slow it down if you are tracking it or driving it hard a lot.
I do this with all my race cars after I used to have an unusual amount of alternator failures, since gearing them down, never had one fail.
You just have to make sure its spinning fast enough at idle though to keep the battery charging, so a bit of fiddling around but totally worth doing.
The 355 is a high revver so that poor alternator is working hard!!
Also there would be a heat factor in the 348/355, but slowing it down would be a good start to improve reliability.

 

Hi Kev,

Right. We're planning on changing the alternator pulley ratio at my car's next engine out service a year from now. We just have to find the right size larger replacement pulley for the alternator. It would also need to have compatible ribbing to match the belt. Fortunately my technicians work with a good alternator specialist who will assist with the modification.

The Challenge NACA duct modification and a custom heat shield have been helping up to now.

Barry

 

Not fragile, but temperamental especially where it concerns heat generation and shedding. The engine generates much more heat than a 348 due to the higher revs, tighter quarters in the engine bay, less air circulation and the by-pass. I think if you take precautions against heat saturation of engine bay parts, you will find it is probably pretty reliable. Reading these boards, you can get an idea of what that entails, but offhand I'd say installing a Challenge grill, upgrading the thermostat and fan switch, along with installing heat shields over the CV joints and increasing the separation between the spark plug wires makes a huge difference. If you can, aftermarket exhaust parts are more heat efficient as well - headers, cats and muffler. I've always wondered what a couple of small electric fans against the Challenge grill would do for pulling out the heat when at idle or low speed. Once the car is moving it should be okay, although I think there is a trade off between air circulation and those undertrays that help generate downforce.