360: Taking Care of 17 Years Worth of Wear

All new coils and a new throttle motor. Car is in shape enough that I'm taking it on day drives now. As it comes together, I'm taking it on longer and longer trips. Should be ready for an overnighter in a couple of months, perfect timing for Texas Hill Country Wildflower Season. Mason, TX is kind of the hub for that, if you want to do it.

 

Had the fan relays replaced as I noticed they stopped coming on and the car got hot, so that's done. And finally tracked down the problem causing the exhaust-related CEL. Wasn't the exhaust at all, just a loose plug in the wiring harness sending spotty juice to the right bank ECU. At least all my exhaust components are new now.

Now I'm ready for an overnighter. Think I'll go up to see Palo Duro Canyon, as I've never been.

 

You're that guy with the other yellow sunroof stick car. Mine has a tan non-Daytona interior, silver calipers, and no shields. So yours has a black Daytona interior with yellow piping; does it have shields and red or yellow calipers? That's a great spec regardless. I'm doing a California driving vacation probably next year. We should get together and photograph our cars in the same place at the same time, like on the PCH or something.

My car went from dealer to dealer for a while. It needed quite a few things (An understatement), but now the drivetrain and electricals are perfect. Had it out just yesterday.

 

Awesome info, thanks!

According to Enver, who is sales manager at Ferrari of SA, there were 22 North American sunroof 360's, and, "about half" were manuals. Another f-chatter took one of those to Japan, which makes 21. I bought a sunroof panel from a totaled Pozzy Blue F1 car, so that makes 20 max left in the US and Canada. Only two yellow sunroof stick cars, so we have the market cornered.

I will surely contact you when I head out to Cali. My BFF and his wife live in Hollywood, and I'm going to spend a weekend at their place and then head up the coast.

 

So I did the Palo Duro Canyon overnighter. The car was perfect. Nominal temps and performance from 67 to 90 degrees F.

The A/C is frigid with the rebuild, but the temp sensor was keyholed, so it cuts out from time to time. Perfect on the way home.
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Sorry I missed this reply, but I don't know the answer.

*****

Okay, this year I did the suspension and some other minor things:

01] The old brake disks were grooved, so they were replaced.
02] New brake pads and fluid.
03] Joints and bushings checked, and all are fine.
04] New Michelin PSS tires installed, and alignment done.
05] The shifter bushing from Ricambi was installed, and the linkage was cleaned and lubed.
06] The air horn kit from Ricambi was also installed.
07] I replaced the rear light panel that had been drilled for a backup cam with a perfect yellow used one I bought from a member.
08] Located an NOS spare tire kit - already had the space saver spare tire (It also worked with my 456M) - and had that installed.
09] The climate control temperature sensor had a key shoved into it - same as with my 456M! - so the AC was intermittent; that was replaced.
10] A frustrating slow leak of the coolant was traced to a dried out seal, and that was repaired.

The car is nearly 100% perfect mechanically and electrically now.

I'm going to wait on the interior and exterior until I take it on a vacation this fall: Up 101 from San Diego to the Olympic peninsula.

I recommend everybody with a manual get the Ricambi shifter bushing and have their linkages serviced. Shifts are super crisp now. Way better than they were before.

I kept the old hard Bridgestone tires for the first year because they were fine, tread wise, and I wanted to do the suspension all in one shot. What a transformation! The Michelins are smooth and quiet, with decent grip even when cold. The traction control would engage with the Bridgestones at the drop of a hat.

Very happy with this car, and it just keeps getting better.

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https://www.ricambiamerica.com/174967-manual-gear-lever-bushing.html

 

There are only two yellow sunroof/stick 360's in the US, so it probably was. Glad you passed, as this is my unicorn 360. As close to the way I would have ordered it as exists.

 

That's what Ricambi sells. Just noticed you guys are from Oz.

 

I've finally finished with the electrical/mechanical work and am ready to restore the paint and bodywork. The electrical harness is so well sorted that there is now virtually no battery drain. I've let it sit for up to ten days, and it started right up. Pretty amazing, considering all the aftermarket electronics I removed! Jim at FoSA really knows Ferrari electronics.

Last thing I had to do was finally bite the bullet and replace the stock headers and cats with Fabspeed units: Headers, blankets, and sport cats. I just didn't want any possibility of another pre-cat disaster. Art and the EAG guys did the work, and wow! The improvement in sound is amazing. I have all the burbles, crackles, and pops now and it still works perfectly with the valved CS exhaust. It finally sounds truly astonishing with the valves open.

I had EAG do the work because I figured I might need to get 360trev to reprogram the ECU to get rid of the terminal CEL, but no, no CEL with Fabspeed headers, blankets, and cats.

To review, the car had no CEL when I bought it, even though the pre-cats had totally disintegrated. Then I replaced the stock headers and cats with used ones from a low mileage 360; instant CEL. Tried a second set of stock headers from an even lower mileage car; still the CEL. Now, with Fabspeed headers with no pre-cat, blankets, and sport cats, NO CEL! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

After all I spent trying to get rid of it, I'll take the gift. If it ever comes back, 360trev will get the ECU.

 

I'm actually going to bring my new Raptor tomorrow.
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Art is super busy. He's opening a place in Naples, FL I think. Mostly to do more conversions. He hasn't done a 612 yet but we talked about it and he's into the concept. Currently I'm waiting to get to CO and then I'm going to try to get the only yellow manual 456M in the US. It's definitely a project, so I'm not in a rush to try to get it. If that falls through, it's back to the 612 conversion idea.

I sold my 308 so I have the cash to get an exotic car trailer now. Planning to move the 360 up there late spring/early summer. This is the one I want:

https://www.trailex.com/products/pc/Exotic-Sportscar-Trailer-CT-8045-p49.htm

This will make life much more interesting.