355 performance and year to buy

By no means am I a 355 expert, but I will take a crack at it. The 1995 is the easiest 355 to mod because of the OBD I, the 96 and on 355s had OBD II. I can't remember off the top of my head, but I remember there being a problem with a lot of the 1995 355s. Do you a search, you will find a ton of info. Make sure you search the old F-chat archives as well.

MJG

 

95's are generally thought of as the fastest, as they were subject to the least restrictive emissions requirements. The problem is valve guides on earlier cars. When this issue bacame mute is not well known. Some say it only is 95s...some have evidence it was until mid 97. I am pretty sure a member here, MY355, had issues with his on his 98.

 

For the F355 Berlinetta 6-speed stick shift, conservative times would be in the ballpark of

0-60mph: 4.7s

and

1/4 mile: 13.0s

 

I was told (could be pub talk) that the earlier (pre 97) cars, that have separate air flow meters



had about 30bhp more than the later, more restricted cars with the central air-flow meter (note the difference)

 

Can anyone explain (in idiot language ) more about the valve guides?
Is this a problem that once fixed, will not happen again or is it ongoing like with the manifolds?

Thanks
Phil

 

valve guides are not bad on all cars. A small percentage of them have the problem. If fixed they are fixed with the new ones made from a different material.
Headers as far as I know are also replace with different ones, unless they have been replaced early on. They will also not be a problem again. Ther eis a British company that fixes them or sells you re-conditioned ones.

 

BTW I have two 355 SPider and a 355 Coupe and a 355 Challenge for sale:

www.4Ferrari.com

 

Best valve guide write-up I have seen is here:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5554&highlight=355


FWIW, my '98 with a Sept. 97 build date needed the guides replaced at 12K miles.

 

Thanks for the link to www.fahrer-training.de
The air intake was changed for the 1996 version together with the Bosch Motronic (from 2.7 to 5.2).
In the USA the 355 are offered with 380 hp, but sometimes with 375 hp.
Guess the 375 hp are the late clean-emission-engines.
The EURO version was always offered with 380 hp.
Some cars could not reach the performance on the dynojet but
the Serie 1 355 GTB was pushed by a magazine (auto motor & sport) to 297 km/h. (= 186 mph)

Is there a "30 hp" difference between serie 1 and serie 2 ?
I could try both and can't believe.
But there is a range of results on the dynojet around 350-370 hp
for EURO spec stock cars. That's needed to do the 297 km/h
Rumor in europe:
1994 and 1995 cars are a bit stronger than the later ones.
The last ones (1998) are in good shape again.
Less performance: 1996 early Motronic 5.2 exemplar.
Hmmm. Sounds like a software issue.
Can someone tell us about any difference between USA and EURO engines ?

forza

cinquevalvole

 

Andrew,
Here are two links to a performance mod that these guys claim 10Hp increase
at the rear wheels on a dyno.

http://www.nsxfiles.com/images/ferrari_500_exhaust_incar2.jpg
http://www.nsxfiles.com/images/ferrari_500_exhaust_gruppem_comparo.jpg

It is a fun article to read at:
http://www.nsxfiles.com/f355_update.htm

Good luck in your search!
--tony

 

The USoA 95s have about 5 more peak HP and 5 more lb-ft through the rev band due to:
A) OBDIO-I ECU
B) less restrictive Intake
C) less restrictive Exhaust

I thingk the difference in performance 0-60 is less than 0.1 seconds (about 4.6) and about the same in the 1/4 mile (12.8 or so).
This performance comes with the liabilities of header cracking.

It seems that the valve guide problem goes through most of the production (95-98). I thik that it is overblown, others are free to disagree. In my 95 F355, I have been on the race track 31 times in 2.5 years, and just crossed 40K miles. We had the enigne out major service this winter and the valve guides were fine. I run the living snot out of the engine on the track abusing the red line and running in the heat of Texas summers.

95 was the OBDIO-I ECU; 96+ was the OBDIO-II
95 had the early brake booster accumulator, 96-97 had an intermediate braking system, 98-99 had the latest braking system. Calipers are all the same, just the ABS electroninics and some plumbing differences.
There are some minor differences in interior accoutremin

 

Good post, Mitch.

The order of magnitude with the HP difference is about 5 hp. That bing said, I was told that you can feel a difference between the two. The valve guide issue is overblown to a certain extent, although my 1997 (Jan 1997 build) needed the valve guides and headers replaced last year.

An interesting note: My car was previously owned my felllow Fchatter Tim Barnett who used Dave Helms for service and maintenance on the car, as I currently do. As a result, Dave really knows my car and has tuned it properly over the course of his work. I think that having a superb Ferrari mechanic who knows the car and can tune it properly far outweighs the year/hp issue. My car, with the Tubi exhaust and some tuning by Dave, really screams. Coupled with the fact that it has the upgraded Brembo brake kit (F50 front, F40 rear), it was a great purchase decision, especially in retrospect.

 

My book says 383 hp. 0-60 4.6 1/4 mile 13.0
I took off a tubi , too boomey, sold it on Ferrarichat in 1 week, and bought and Ansa Sport Exhaust that sounds much better to me. No change in performance.

 

Having owned and seen the dyno results of many cars i defy ANYONE who can tell 5HPon a car that develops 380!!!

as for tuning it dont bother its been discussed so many times the maximum you will gain will be 10/15 hp at sme expense

 

Those guys are hilarious! As an about to be 355 buyer I surely hope their experience is not the norm. Any 355 owners who have read their bit, please comment. I live a long ways from a dealer, like 3.5 hours and a major hassle. I had heard the 355 was generally very reliable, so their tales of woe have me bit worried....


QUOTE=tonyc]Andrew,
Here are two links to a performance mod that these guys claim 10Hp increase
at the rear wheels on a dyno.

http://www.nsxfiles.com/images/ferrari_500_exhaust_incar2.jpg
http://www.nsxfiles.com/images/ferrari_500_exhaust_gruppem_comparo.jpg

It is a fun article to read at:
http://www.nsxfiles.com/f355_update.htm

Good luck in your search!
--tony[/QUOTE]

 

Mitch, what is your experience of the reliability issues with your car?

Sherpa, I had been talking with Tim and was very interested in that car, but live 1000 miles west and you beat me to the punch. Very glad to hear you are loving it.

 

I ate a Dual Mass Flywheel after 5 track days, we changed the clutch disk and slave cylinder but not pressure plate while we were in there. 26 track days later and its still running fine.

Headers were replaced under warentee.

I ate a Catalytic converter.

The spedo sending uint ($40) died.

The Brake pads (7 sets), Brake rotors (1 set), 5 sets of tires, and oil every other track day are just part of the maintanence regimine for the 31 track days.

Nothing else has gone wrong, car has never left me stranded--execpt when I let it sit in the garage without the battery tender for more than 2 weeks--battery is 3+ years old and will likely get replaced this year.

 

Tim is a great guy to buy a car from. He takes superb care of his cars and is a proper driver. I will never underestimate how important it is to know the previous owner and how he treat his cars.

BTW, I can't feel 5hp on a 380 hp car.

 

I have owned a 1995 355 and after driving my car back to back with a 1996 and 1997 it was very obvious that the 1995 felt much quicker and pulled harder than the later cars. Jim Murphy, the service manager at Wide World of Cars, said that my 355 was the strongest he had ever driven.

That being said, I would not try to modify a 355. Ferrari has gotten everything they could out of the engine and most mods will decrease power. The only thing I would advocate would be changing the exhaust to a TUBI or Capristo.

 

Well this is a different matter. The early cars do feel a little stronger but thats not because you have 5hp more!! its because the 2.5 motronic x 2 in that configuration gives more power.

What im saying is dont play arond with a 97 on car as you will not get results and even if you do its no more than 5-10hp and yo cant tell that on a road car

 

Err... so to rephrase you, you're saying "It's not because you have more power, it's because the 2.5 motronic gives you more power."

 

One thing that must be kept in mind is the state of balance of the throttles. This can affect the perception of quickness. I have owned both a 1995 and a 1998 F355. When I bought my 1995 (the first purchase) the throttles were perfectly balanced and the car felt really quick with none of the throttle resistance that is sometimes felt on 95s. Later when I bought my 1998 (the 1995 was long gone) it seemed somewhat sluggish in comparison, although still quite quick. When I had the major service done on the 1998, the throttles were balanced and the car felt much quicker with immediate raw response from the right pedal. Just another observation and food for thought.

 

What is the "state of balance of the throttles" ?