So I bought a 99 355 a year ago, 11K miles. I've never been so intimidated in my life, as visions of engine out disasters swirled through my mind. Before I took possession, I was introduced to Ratarossa, the YouTube channel run by some random guy in England. He loves Ferraris, and has left a career in IT to document repair procedures on them full time on YouTube. He has a two piece series on how to do a belt service, which I followed to a T. In three days of part time work in a regular garage, with tall jack stands only, I did the belt service, and all other belts, for a total of about $180. New belts, bearings and tensioners from Superformance in England came quickly and easily via DHL. The car looked great but had been through four owners and had been neglected in many ways. The dealer who sold it did plugs, coil packs, battery and the crank sensor. Ratarossa documented Slow Down light problems, so I installed three thermocouples and three cat ECU's from some fellow in New Zealand for a total of about $800. NOT Ferrari parts. Cost less and are way better. Problem fixed. I did the axle CV boots in a day, both sides. There was an intermittent ABS light that I've traced to a broken connection to the left rear wheel sensor. The roof mechanism sucked, so even though Ratarossa documents how to service them, I yanked the pump and made it a manual top. Much faster and actually easier. One headlight had a bad connector, and of course the sticker on the console was wrinkled. Again, Superformance. Oh yeh, engine mounts. All fluids. The only breakdown I've had is coolant leaking from the front. Turned out that it was the heater valve, which is a VW part that costs $10 on ebay. It came with a straight exhaust, so I put on some aftermarket thing that actually muffles some, sounds great, and cost $575 on ebay. It's actually a very reliable car, and needless to say, a blast to drive. I take it everywhere; I use it to buy milk at the store. I don't worry about mileage because I bought it for myself and I'm going to keep it till lI die, or Biden cuts off the gas supply. I can't say enough good about Ratarossa, because he can't afford to have expensive monkeys servicing his cars either. As he puts it, your grandmother could do a 355 belt service, with the engine still in the car. Check him out, and don't be intimidated by the cost of parts or service. Both can be reduced to levels below that of a BMW or a Mercedes.
Not really..I would suggest these owners jump on the usual parts web sites..Eurospares, Scuderia, Ricambi, tubi exhaust, capristo exhaust, Kline etc and start to research parts prices. Make sure the dollar conversion is done, and also estimate shipping. I will give you guys a short list of items to research.. 360/430 exhaust manifolds..NO FABSPEED STUFF...I refuse to install it. Hill engineering ball joint kits front and rear(they are the same btw) with boots and hysol adhesive..including the gun as most DIY guys will not have one. Cat converter many are in need of replacment. Or replace with 200 cell cats of your choice..no fabspeed Timing belt kit complete...most at this age will need the cam cover gaskets replaced along with the cam seals. Let's not forget about the water pump. They are now showing signs of failure. Any coolant hose in the area (4 at minimum without removing the intake). The hydraulic tensioners will also be looked at closely and replaced if they are weak. So price those. Coolant Gear oil Brake fluid Clutch kit/release bearing/sensor Set of ignition coils(plugs will.be in the service kit). Let's check those intake gaskets for leaks..price those too. Lower shock bushings are also banging away on most, so while you have the front end apart and labor is minimal do you replace of leave it? So price those too. Sticky interior? Price it through stickyRX..package it up and sent it. I will help with labor times once you see pricing.
The pro techs have more work than they can handle. The ratio of owners who farm out vs who DIY is 10 to 1.
This is a picture of a Deflectionator, there are two of them. The purpose is to remove money from your wallet and deflect it into their pockets. Image Unavailable, Please Login Actually, they are Idlers if you will, to prevent vibration of the cam belts on the long throw. Yes I was dumb enough to agree to them, they make me as nervous as a whore in church. So I’ll be removing them during an earlier than anticipated engine out. They also tore up my cam belt covers which will need to be replaced. As far as neglect, I only had the car for one month after purchasing it, and it stayed at SRI for the next eight months. Live and learn! And $18 for a quart of oil? Oh my God!
I'm quite shocked by that picture..sure there will be normal defelction in the belt, but if the tension is set correctly..not too loose, or too tight..there would be zero reason for this device. Am I missing anything here? Ferrari added a small deflector idler to the 360 for the alternator/waterpump belt but that was for obvious reasons you can see..but this..has never been needed... ever.
I remember laying down a big quilt on the muffler, then climbing up kneeling on it and reaching around the engine to change the coil packs and plugs. Hardest part was trying not to drop anything down to the engine tray. Then, it's time to get dirty.
As I understand it, the hoses were made from Hevea Brasiliensis, a species of rubber that is native to rainforests in the Amazon region of South America. Thus the high price tag.
I have used his hose kits in the past..I will say they are very high quality. If I'm not mistaken they are derived from the aircraft industry. They are pretty much a life time item. Are they worth the price? I suppose that is up to the person who decides to buy them.
Wow is all I can say to some of these quotes. Glad I have a great independent near me to do the items I don’t want to do myself. If I got a quote anywhere near these my wife would make me sell the car. It’s not that we couldn’t afford it just couldn’t justify the cost. Not sure I wouldn’t disagree with her either. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I love the reply — well perhaps you can’t afford a Ferrari. … It’s like the jeweler who says in front of your wife as she eyeballs the $100k pendant… “ sir certainly she’s worth it?!!”…. SneaKy salesman
I look at it this way— I’m blessed and cursed w some mechanical aptitude— blessed that I can fix things cursed in the sense that because I have some skill I can’t in a good conscience spend our family’s money on things I can do myself….particularly w the gross price differential of retail vs diy.
And I also asked about the Classiche Certification and that was an additional $10,000. Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Yep. The ball joints are chrome plated and corrode. Hill Engineering has superior stainless replacements (naturally). Tie rod ends and wheel bearing hubs can go, too, and, you guessed it, HE has superior replacement parts. If you look at the HE catalog, you can predict what other OEM parts will break. But these cars are so much fun, especially sticks. Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat
For me it's time. I have the money to pay for any repair on any of my cars, even at the dealership.. but if I do it myself I save time. And I ensure the quality of the repair. The only two things that I don't do are the clutch replacement (done in 2018) and the timing belts (due this summer/fall) as my mechanic has a 1 year warranty on the service.
It’s worth it. Maintenance isn’t that much worse than any other high-ed/performance sports car out of warranty. But! Ferraris don’t depreciate when bought right and that offsets any increased maintenance. Totally worth it imo. Paying $120k for a C8 is a lot more expensive than $120k for a F430 or 360 manual trans, due to depreciation and increased insurance (collector cars have cheap insurance if limited to 1500-4500 miles/yr) Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
To be perfectly honest with you, I just buy the Ferrari ones. They are a pretty good hose and have lasted in some cases over 20 years. No reason to change in my opinion.. I replace them now as a preventative measure during the belt service on the 360 or in the case of the 430, when cooling system is serviced for one thing or another.
I thought they were bespoke items from Purosil. Absolutely high quality, no debate. Like many things in life, it's up to the purchaser to determine a product's 'value'.
I just get similar hoses from Oreily's. I cut them off and replace them every major anyway. Those hoses will absolutely last 5 years.
