F355 Challenge questions

Can anybody please help with some insight into some F355 Challenge questions:


(1) I measured the left/right ride height and I think the left side sits higher by 0.25"; would this be a problem? My accuracy could be 0.25" in the measurement but it's consistent between the front left/right and rear left/right corners;

(2) The car "Slow Down 1-4" light stays on -- I thought these lights were linked to sensors in the cats but this car has the headers connected to straight pipes and short exhaust mufflers on each pipe. Any thought on what it could be? The lights all come on for the check (including the Slow Down 5-8) but the 1-4 light one stays solid right from the start of the engine and doesn't go away when the engine warms up.

(3) May be related to (4) below? The brake failure light comes on upon engine start and stays on for a while (few tens of sec to 1 or 2 min) but eventually goes away.

(4) The ABS light blinks on/off and eventually stays on. Any thoughts? I would assume the Challenge has the same ABS behavior as the regular F355? Or could this be due to an ABS bypass, etc.?


Thank you.

 

Dan,

Where are you measuring ride height? When I worked on a FC team, we measured ride height on the scale/alignment rack, using a hard point on the chassis - like the forward mounting point of the lower A arm for the front. Similar in rear. Choose same point on each side and be sure car is level on a very flat surface (why we used the alignment rack). We also used a small machinist's ruler in 1/32" increments. It would be very tough with my crappy old-age eyesight now!

You've probably got all that covered - thought I'd throw it out "just in case".

Good luck.

 

No-absolutely I do not have that covered, hence my asking here for feedback

Thank you for the tip; I was just trying to do due diligence on a car I may want to buy; hence the measurement was done based on left- right-side points on the chassis (to the ground) using a somewhat coarse caliper. Didn't check for even ground/etc. so that may count if there was any slope to influence the car stance.

I was just looking to see whether there may be gross issues with L/R balance.

 

One side higher by ~6mm isn't necessarily a problem. Someone could have intentionally put "cant" into the car, but that's doubtful. I would corner weight the car and try to square it up. Almost every 355C has been bent by now.

My 355C frequently shows CELs and sometimes the SlowDown lights. I try to go faster, and ignore them.

The ABS light, however, I would not ignore. Challenge cars use the stock ABS, with different parameters. Two minutes seems like a long time for the brake failure light to stay on.

I put a dual master cylinder unboosted setup on my 355C, like a GT3 cup, and it is fantastic.

Mark

 

The slow down light is most likely the cat temp ecu, just unplug it if you have no cats. I would unplug and remove both of them if you are running no cats, it'll save (minimal) weight. Check for the ABS fuse to see if it's still in. I had my ABS unit fail (street car) due to a burnt ground and the light just came on and stayed on, the flashing seems to indicate the computer is ok but it has some issue elsewhere in the system - maybe a speed sensor?

 

Mark,

I get the CEL 5-8 when my F355C idles. It goes out when I get underway.

Barry