1995 F355 GTS: Restoration and Major Service

I have had a few PM's about this so here is a description of my method and product. None of which are a magic bullet and all require time to get the end result.

Soaking with Regular household cleaning vinegar and wiping with tin foil will do it.

I did the above on the lower cats followed by polishing with a drill and polishing wheel finished with meguires metal polish..

For the y pipe I used Jane Clean: Cleaners | Product Categories |
Which is a rust and scale remover (acid) and works a lot faster than vinegar I only had to scrub the metal with a Scotch Brite scourer and then finished it off with drill and polishing wheel and pads. Meguires metal polish for final polish.

I only just tried the picklers past on the flange ends of the Y pipe. I can't be applied on the car it will ruin anything not stainless. It's highly toxic and I was pretty scared using it after reading about the toxicity. I only got a small amount thorough a welder friend. It did remove heavy discolaration from heat on the metal that I couldn't remove with soaking in the cleaner.

Apparently electropolishing is a great alternative which id like to try.

This pic is showing after the Jane clean treatment. After using picklers paste once the metal is back to mostly silver now. But for the heatshielding it comes up really nice with just some rust remover and a polish.
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Best to ask Mike at Best Exhaust what deal he can do for a group. The price changes all the time due to currency fluctuations.

By grouping two sets of headers I received 20% off entire order. Adding a Tubi Evolution reduced the total order another 5%.

His price included shipping and taxes/import costs.

The Fabspeed headers at $3922 USD once converted, shipped and taxed would have worked out more expensive and that's uncoated or without blankets so the Tubi was a no brainier for me.

Despite the price I always wanted the Tubi headers for the heatshielding, original OEM 4-2-1 design and not worrying about melting OEM headers. Getting it much cheaper only made me purchase them sooner before actually requiring them.

 

Correct. I have emailed Terry a few times he is an inspiration to me! Great work he does.

 

My car came with p zero with a 295 rear. I changed them to OEM sizing and Michelin Pilot Super Sports. I love this tyre. I would go for this again.

 

Custom Car Mats - More Than Polish

Glad to here your positive experience!

 

Finally got around to starting the install of the Tubi headers. What a job this is to do whilst the engine is in the car and with no hoist! I wish I had done this now at my major 12 months ago...

I removed the air boxes, heat shield, Y pipe, cats, axle heat shield covers and air pump pipe to get access. Wheel liners were removed completely for painting.

While the car was apart I gave it a good clean to get it back to up to a good standard. I removed one side at a time.

I needed quite a few extensions, flex joints, different spanners and deep box wrenches to remove all the copper header nuts. On the passenger side one of the studs backed out with the nut attached but at least none broke.

The left hand side I removed OEM header with radiator fan still attached, just removed cat, and bypass pipe.

The right hand side was much more difficult. I had to remove the lower oil pipe to oil radiator, about 1 litre of oil flowed out into my waiting bucket. Then I removed the oil cooler and radiator fan as a complete unit after detaching the top hose and the radiator cable. I left the oil tank in situ.

This gave me just enough room to wiggle and rotate out the old header.

I tightened up the SRI hoses whilst I had easy access, there was evidence or fluid leak and I had to re torque the silicone hoses to get them tight again.

Looking at the OEM headers once off, I'm glad I made the switch to the Tubi. The heat shield shows high heat spots and look to be near the end of their life. I will keep them aside and look to rebuild one day and keep the heat shield intact for that OEM look if I need it for classiche etc.

So far I have got the right hand side installed, felt great to install all the new gaskets, nuts and bolts, very satisfying after the headache of removal. I will get to the easier side in the next couple of days.

Looking forward to driving it once its all back together again.
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Thanks guys. More to come soon.

 

Just as you feel weird ordering non Pirelli I would feel weird putting the incorrect size tyres on the car. It's designed from factory with 225 and 265 so that's how I kept it.

If you concour the car or classiche it, as long as the tyres installed have been associated with Ferrari they are fine. F1 Ferrari has used Goodyear, Michelin, Bridgestone, Pirelli etc. I wouldn't go and put Kumho or Yokohama tyres for example.

The MPSS are just sensational.

 

Spend a few hours on the car today.

Got the left hand side header in, much easier than the right side. However the heat shield on the new Tubi headers gave me almost zero room to clear the subframe and the studs on the motor, so I had to loosen engine mount and gearbox mount and raise the motor a fraction to gain the clearance to fit over the studs on the block. Pretty easy after that.

Y pipe fitted, donut gaskets, bypass valve and air rail back in the car.

Haven't finished final alignment of exhaust, but so far I'm really happy with how it is lining up. I could never get it to sit even before and the right hand side always sagged in the bumper outlet, not so any more.

Gave the axle heat shields a fresh coat of paint whilst they were out and replaced the nuts and washers that secure them for good measure.

I will top up the oil after losing some from the oil radiator removal, set final exhaust alignment, nip up all the bolts and fit the wheel house covers, air boxes, and heat shield and it will be ready for a drive come the weekend.
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Yep, oil tank, oil radiator + fan, oil lines all take up space on the right hand side.