Ferrari 360 Spider on Accuair ENDO-CVT air management system. And newly released Universal Air air struts. Since my purchase of my 2004 Ferrari 360, I’ve had concerns and frustrations with how low it is to the ground. I love the look, wish it were lower because I think it looks better. I believe the height is within factory specifications. My concern is the fact that I really don’t want to damage the car by dragging the nose at every ramp, driveway, gutter, and bump in the road. !!! My frustration is every time I take the car out I need to plot my course before hand and recall from memory every no-go location. and take into consideration the road ahead, analyzing each vertical change on my entire course. Wrong turn...drag the nose. I know my Sport Mod is crippled, but foremost in my ownership is “Rarely Driver”. I have no desire to track the car or to prove the cars capabilities. I’m wearing the hat, not the complete Fire Suit. For over a year I have been working on a hydraulic system mostly of my design. It would be simple as throwing one switch to control normal ride height to a raised value of plus 1.25 inches. I constructed much of the bracketry to mount the pump, and the small reservoir. I made five progressive mock-up versions starting with paper, then cardboard, then aluminum, then a second aluminum, and finally steel. I designed a control relay/fuse panel and completed the final version. I purchased stainless steel tubing and a cache of fittings covering most every straight, 45-90 degree plausible. I lost steam on the project and got busy with other projects. The car has been waiting for my next step for a year or so. I had project after project stepping in front and still have a few on the horizon at the time of writing. My son works for Accuair Suspension who make the premier automotive aftermarket air management suspension system in the world. They make a few complete installations, but not my Ferrari 360 Spider. My son found a company called Universal Air that just finished R&D on making air-struts for the 360. Accuair also was on the cusp of shipping their new air management system with the nearly silent air pump in the tank. In the words of others, “The Planets Aligned”. I feel that this air suspension is superior to the hydraulic system I was working on. The primary reason is to raise ride height and the air system has twice the dimensional range. The system features are: Three ride height presets to be made by owner from a interior mounted control panel. Panel is iPhone size and comes in different surface finishes and colors. iPhone app control capable. Looks and works like the the primary control panel. 3 gallon tank with very low noise dual isolation pump. Adjustable orifice flow rate. Separate up and down flow control adjustments for each corner. Internal Solenoid Valves Internal tank pressure switch Work Steps Remove existing Coil Over Shocks. Design and fabricate road height potentiometers brackets. Install ride height potentiometers. Match air strut length to new struts. Install air struts. Install air line whip line brackets. Leak check whip line connection to strut. Design and fabricate electrical component panel. Design and fabricate tank platform. Install tank platform. Fabricate and polish 3/8” aluminum tubing. Install electrical panel. Fabricate and install control panel mount. Route and install electrical harnesses. (Power, ride height potentiometer, control panel) Measure internal OEM coil over strut electrical solenoid resistance. Design and fab loop back connector with matching resistance to coil over strut. (2.4ohms) This fools the OEM system into thinking there OEM shocks are present. Route and install pneumatic DOT plastic air lines. Power up system, calibrate, and set ride height memory settings. Bubble leak check system. Finish up installation. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
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The tank/pump will reside in the bottom well of the truck along with the audio amplifier. The electrical panel will reside where the factory CD changer was mounted.
in 17 years of owning my 360 I haven't needed such a thing. Why in the world would people start doing this now? Props to you for doing what you want. Ill stick to leaving my car the way it left maranello
If people want to ruin their cars, let them. It’s better for resale for everyone else (n/a for me because I’ll never sell though).
Glad to see more people going the route of air! To each their own, just because you don't appreciate it, doens't mean other people don't! I went with AirRex Struts and Airlift 3H Management. The Accuair wasn't out yet, and, I was a bit hesitant on having everything within the tank, just in case there were any issues. Either way, Accuair makes great stuff, used their E-Level Setups on multiple other cars before.
As I explained, the cars nose clearance is in sufficient in the area I live. I’m doing it now because parts for a great systems have come available. I’m not ruining the car. All modifications can be reversed.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I was was excited to share with the group, but now i have second thoughts. I’ve heard the old fuddy-duddy responses in other forums on other subjects. I’ll never change the lightbulb in my oven because it will not be original. The things is what I’m doing and what modifying can be reversed and no one would be the wiser. I was looking for the AirRex struts by themselves, never got a quote from two dealers.
.......and yet another reason a "modified" section would be great ! Don't worry man.....you do your thing and enjoy the hell out of it . The rest of the boring bastards can just sit and stew while staring at the screens and reading how the younger , more original , group has become more prevalent
Great idea Keith! Having owned two 360 Spiders I can relate to your frustration with ride height. As careful as one could possibly be it was still inevitable that the front end would bottom out. I would add that it’s only an issue with owners who actually drive the car which I did routinely. A lot of owners on this forum just park it in the garage to look at it so it wouldn’t be an issue for them
the air suspension on my escalade is terrible....... I had front tend lift on my Gallardo, I don't recall a large air tank like in your photo.... I would try doing the same system in the lambo's
I agree... I’m pretty sure the downsides in terms of added weight and loss of handling ability are why you can buy cars OEM with Front Axle Lifts but not with air suspension.
+1 Funny how folks react to someone personalizing a mass produced car with a mod and immediately comment about resale value. I too have some streets my car cannot make it on without bottoming out. Secondly, most 360s no longer resemble the way they left the factory with the changeover to 430, CS or aftermarket rims, headers, header blankets, larger brakes, CS rear/front grills & spoilers just to name a few. Just saying! Kudos to you!
Hey Keith – can’t wait to see your car finished. I’m with you on the Air Suspension. My F430 Spider is lowered with a Hamann add-on front spoiler and I cringe going up and down driveways but I wouldn’t want my car any other way. Don’t have second thoughts and Don’t worry about the purist that talk shht. They don’t get it and will always have something to say. If and when I sell my car, I’m putting it back to stock and selling it to a purist. LOL.
I always find it funny how people rant about the 360 being a mass produced car. Seriously? With a global production of about 17000 cars and only about 1/2 come to the US. For a Modena or Spider that means 4500 or 3500 examples TOTAL over the entire run. Subtract the wrecks from that and the numbers are small. At the same time, Toyota was producing about 8M per year or 27,000 per DAY. Now how does that 'mass produced' thing work again? I now return you to your regular broadcasting.
On the OPs mod, personally not my taste. It compromises handling too much. Before I would go that way I would do a hydraulic lift to clear those big bumps while retaining the handling. If my roads are so bad I really needed a lot of ground clearance I would go another way and have something equally fun but very different like an LM002. Bit if it makes you happy go for it.
I would love to put a front end lift on F430... it was a great feature on the Gallardo... from what I see online a front lift project on the F430 would be around $9000.00
The Struts were industry discounted and paid 2K, the remaining management system with all the bells and whistles was also discounted. It was 2K or maybe a little higher. Other detail material, fasteners, heat shield sleeve, was another $100. So $4,100 to $4,500. I think I got the deal of the century.
I question your comment on the compromise of handling. Do expand on that for me. I’m interested in why you state that fact. I know the sport mode is disabled, but this is a two wheel drive. My 2002 996TT had a great system and worked well, but is is all wheel drive. There are a few car manufacturers that seem to think air suspension is worth more than a conventional spring. Maybach, Rolls-Royce, lexus, Jeep, Ram, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Land Rover, Audi, Subaru, Volkswagen, Lincoln, Ford, and Tesla. All in all a coil spring and an air spring react in the same manner. A force is applied to the two, each stores and releases energy. Reaction rate on each strut is also adjusted each direction. More tailoring than a coil can do.
You sure do have a lot of time on your hands. Stop adding useless input, your negative attitude reflects poorly on this community irregardless of your opinion on modifications.
You know of all the modifications that actually change what your car does this one makes sense. You didn't do it to make your car a monster truck, or to make it scrape the ground, you did it to clear dips in the road and saved the parts so you can put it back. 2 thumbs up here.
If it results in an improvement to handling (or even not a loss), I’ll be happy to see some data and be proven wrong. I’m new to Ferraris so no egos here just happy to learn!
