1995 F355 GTS: Restoration and Major Service

Thanks very much! I do look back and think the car wasn't too bad and it does impress me even how much one can do on a good condition F355 to get it up to a very high standard.

I knew from the moment I was driving it home for the first time that I wouldn't stop until it was as close to perfect as possible. I enjoy the challenge of working through the car and it's components.

 

After a long wait for my re greasing kit, thankfully it turned up today and I could get stuck into re packing the Voith flywheel with Kluber grease.

MD Clutches kit is very nice and comes with new SKF bearings, o ring, 220g of Kluber snap ring, pressure plate bolts and spring washers.

Flywheel had bearings pressed in and was mounted on the Voith and secured snap ring and with the Ribe bolts.

Tomorrow I will get the flywheel into the pumpkin and have the flywheel bolt torqued up. Should be back on the road soon and I'm looking forward to it.
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Installed the clutch assembly today!

Thanks to FChat and all the DIY write ups on here I was able to complete the task of a full clutch and flywheel overhaul. Also a special mention to Andy who lent me his flywheel bolt tool and clutch alignment tool and plenty of encouragement!

Getting the pumpkin assembly back on was not as bad as I thought it would be, put the car in 6th gear, left the handbrake off and rolled the car forward until the splines lined up and was able to slide it in place.

Have to bleed the clutch and its all good to go for its road test.
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Bled the clutch and it has a really nice feel to it, looking forward to driving it with the full refresh of the clutch and flywheel. On shut off the voith doesnt make any clanking noises or shuddering which is nice.

Refinished the rear diffusers before refitting them.

While the exhaust and Y pipe were off I gave the engine bay a little tidy up to keep on top of it. Removed the axle heat shields and have ordered new ones to replace along with the brackets that they mount to.

Bumper and exhaust back on, spent hours getting the alignment just right and I'm happy now the muffler tips sit nicely in the bumper bar outlets.

With the clean gearbox housing I'm very happy with the colour of the pumpkin and it really does look nice protruding out the rear bumper with the fresh diffusers and that little earth strap!

Parts should arrive soon and it will be back to driving it again.
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I have plated everything else Dave, but I did it in one big batch. It was $100 for a batch and new brackets are $86 and less mucking around, I will keep the brackets and replate them for another car anyway. Looks like I will paint the heatshields as they are NLA. I had previously reglassed and painted them too, but they age quickly due to heat.

 

I had purchased a full set of 23mm wheel inserts offered by Dave Rocks some time ago, and finally got around to installing them. Pretty easy to install, carefully knocked them out with a long bolt (which Dave kindly supplied) and a mallet.

The old inserts had some cracking in 3 and remnants of paint on the outer edges from the wheel refinish. I carefully cleaned out the bores and ensured no paint flakes where present before inserting the new inserts, and torqued them to spec.

Its a small improvement but well worth the effort, and now the full wheel package is restored. Refinished wheels, correct valves, fresh rubber, Hill Engineering wheel bolts, Sticky RX 23mm wheel inserts and new period correct centre caps.
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Refinished the axle boot heat shields with a high temp paint in Aluminium colour and refitted.

The OEM Y pipe was rattling so I had the heat shield re tacked with some spot welds, polished it out and refitted it with new gaskets. I did have the M racing catless Y Pipe for 1 drive and it was very loud on bypass and was quite fun but I like the OEM look of the factory unit especially as I had the rattle fixed.

I decided to swap out the Capristo bypass with the Gothspeed offering, primary for the OEM look that it offers, was very happy with the Capristo unit. It really is a great piece that Gothspeed produced and Ricambi offers and could easily pass as an OEM unit due to the Pierburg valve used, the giveaway though is the nipple for vacuum tube is not orientated as per original.

There is no noticeable difference between Gothspeed valve and the Capristo other than a louder idle on cold start with the Capristo until vacuum pressure closes the valve. Both work flawlessly and quietly.
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Absolutely a very distinct difference. It changed the tone, made the car sound more crisp up top, and it would pop at full redline shifts into 4th gear.

I would say noise quality down low was better with OEM Y pipe. The bypass changeover was made unmistakable in that it started screaming with much more volumn on changeover.
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Thanks Gary, I replied.