Peter, you are correct that I want this thread to remain on-topic, and with valid information. I am not sure if the F355 with larger/smaller tires would give a faster or slower top speed though, but thickness should not matter (unless wheelspin were to be an issue of course), but at redline with the final gear, it should be a set speed no matter what power adders are available or installed. With a longer final drive ratio, for certain, the car would be able to reach speeds past 220mph. But I do know that most cars reach their wind limited top speed before their gear limited top speed, but the Ferrari may (most likely) is different.
how to ruin a perfect car and loosing thousand of dollars! sorry dude but I honestly think a Ferrari is as good as she is. Wanna more power? buy an american muscle car...
Ah, the purist Ferrari's are outstanding car's. There is no doubt about that at all. But some people still want to keep the Italian style and have the horsepower.
if l new of the joy the ferrari was going to give me now l would have payed a lot more than what l did. my ferrari is my muscle car fiauto sport my rear tyres are 305/45/18s
After 'lurking' for quite a long while (before I officially signed up), I've noticed the quality of the writing at F-chat to be disintegrating at a geometric (if not exponential) rate. Sir, it is LOSING, not "loosing" and perhaps you meant to ask WANT MORE POWER? Instead of "Wanna more power?" And, what does this mean? "...I honestly think a Ferrari is as good as she is." Furthermore, it is customary to start every new sentence with a capital letter. Sorry if I've offended you "dude" but proper grammar/spelling/syntax is taught for a reason. Why should readers take you seriously IF you don't care enough about your own opinion to proofread what you wrote? Also: ton, what I wrote above applies to you as well. It is KNEW, not "new" and PAID, not "payed." There really is no excuse for this gentlemen, especially when we're even given the ability to edit what we wrote AFTER we post it. Sorry for the detour. Back to the thread. Power is intoxicating. Power is Machiavellian: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So...if you could get a huge boost in horsepower at minimal cost (to the rest of the car's systems and components -- not the price of the kit), why not? A timelessly beautiful Ferrari body wrapping around what is essentially a heart transplant? As soon as I get my 355GTS...count me in for the TTkit
Ferrariphile, thanks for interest! However, we have brought this kit to the US and EU market thinking that there would be alot of interest, and there has been a ton. We thank everyone for their inquiries. However, no one has yet to move beyond interest to talk further with us about this kit. We are moving onto the 4th month of offering this, and we have not moved beyond the first stage of talks. This is not an indefinite item for sale. If there is not further interest beyond what we have already received, there will be no more kit. We cannot continue to offer this and we will move on soon. Hopefully, Nizpro will offer a 360 Modena TT kit and allow us to bring that to the US market. I understand that there is skepticism out there. I welcome and invite any and all questions about this. I hope that I have answered most everyone's questions, but please do not hesistate to call, pm, or email me with any questions.
John/ton, It would be REALLY useful to see some compression / leakdown test results from Ton's car, even if its just a result 'as is' now. I think this would help you generate more interest for the kit, if potential buyers can see how the engine has stood up to the kit, that will give more confidence. I must admit, Im VERY surprised that you have not had to change any of the internal engine components to support the increased power. Presumably to support the turbo you have had to reduce the compression ratio.. how has this been done? raised the head slightly etc? Thanks for your replies in advance.. Ade
I've had the pleasure of a ride in Tons car, and it is truly awesome. The amazing thing is that it looks, sounds and behaves just like a normal 355, and if you drove it sensibly, the passenger need not even know it was a monster. But when you open it up..... JEEEEZUS CHRIIIIST, is an understatement. It lets fly in a manner I have never felt on 4 wheels, and even on 2 wheels I don't think I've matched it. It is totally happy too. It starts at the flick of the key and it settles at idle just like any other 355. I am amazed it has hung together as long as it has, but facts are facts. It has now done a lot (ton?) of km since being converted, and it shows no signs of pending failure yet. It also does virtually nothing but demo's, so it gets driven much harder than you would normally. I think he'll lose his licence long before the car expires! I can't wait to get it to come to some club track days... it'll blow lap records to oblivion for road tyre cars, and many slick tyre cars too.
Put into perspective, any current model 1000CC superbike is faster accelerating upto about 320kmh for a cost of less than 20K and probably much quicker around a track too.
The F355 TT is faster than some of those Superbikes. Ton has raced 5 on a straight road and not lost once. I am not sure if he has taken on a 1000cc, though, nor on an actual track either but you can also make that statement with the Superbike against the McLaren F1, Ferrari Enzo, etc. As soon as I can get the compression test results, I will post those up.
John, I was just being a smart alec. Superbikes will do 9's out of the box these days, when ridden properly.
And the bike will destroy the car. A bikes takeoff is it's weakest point. Also areodynamics from about 250kmh on see the bikes at a great disadvantage.
Stephen, you really need to get a ride in Tons car. Makes your 550 look like a golf buggy...with a flat battery I'm not saying the bike will get beaten, but it will get the shock of it's life...
Never seen a superbike "destroy" a Supercar. I have a video with a Ducati 999 edgeing out a Lambo G by .4 secs. Another with a 996 TT beating out an R1 at Laguna Seca. I'm not an expert but isn't a superbikes biggest advantage at takeoff. It sure can't be braking and cornering on a track vs a supercar (ie. GT3,CS..) back to the subject. John, this is the #1 tread that I keep up with. Wish someone can step up so we could at least get an magazine write-up/article out of it. maybe you'll have more luck with the 360. Keep us posted.
a writer from motor and wheels has driven the car and l will let the words of the writer speek for themselves. motor hot tuner autumn 2005
Ton, I will respond to your email and get the article up. kimoSabe, We are doing a product release in the upcoming Modified L&E. As far as more media coverage, I have talked with L&E about a write-up on it, and they would be willing to go to AU, but they would prefer to be in the US and get the story done here.
Steve, this car is proven to be faster than the F40 in a straight line. As far as a tuned F40(or any car for that matter), the amount of horsepower is fairly limited (for a street car anyways). Over 800hp gets kinda un-ruly for a daily driver. But who wants to find out?
Phil My tweaked daily driver S600 has 640hp and over 1000Nm. so I know what a quick car is like. The kit sounds great and I'm seriously considering Scott's old 355 Challenge, which is currently advertised, as a donor car. What I'd like to see, is the car out on a few track days, pounding out lap after lap with no problems. Nailing a 600hp car for a few seconds at a time is not representative of the sort of treatment it would get on a race track.
Stephen, if you are interested, we would definitely like to speak with you about the car/kit. Here are some quotes from Motor-Hot Tuning, due to be released in Autumn 2005. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I recently purchased a 97 F355 Spider and have been researching performance upgrades. The turbo conversion that you offer sounds great for pure speed performance, but there are a lot of questions surrounding it. The primary concern is quality, as you have only tested with one car... and that was for under 10k miles. Sure the car has performed great and has been driven hard that whole time, but that is no guarantee that another car would have the same results. Perhaps your current test car came off the production line with a slightly better quality. Perhaps the parts in your kit were created with exceptional quality since they were being manufactured knowing that the business was depending on the quality. Reproduceability is a major factor in quality assurance. Next, what about the other costs associated with the upgrade? You've stated many times that the stock clutch is capable of handling the power. You haven't touched on the fact that a customer will want new brakes, probably an upgrade suspension, and maybe new wheels/tires. What kind of price break are you really willing to offer someone who steps up to test? And what happens if the test fails and the car's engine is blown? Do you wash your hands and walk away? This isn't something that insurance will cover so the customer will be left out in the cold... taking the financial hit for doing a feasibility study for your product. That said, I'm not trying to bash the product. The current car you have is awesome and is no doubt a supercar in its own right. But would you be willing to furnish a 355 engine with the modifications that a customer could then swap into their car and test? It seems that an interesting deal needs to be struck to make this sort of thing happen... since the Australian example is a one-off modification done for someone who obviously is a risk-seeker with plenty of financial backing. I'm risk-neutral and have enough financial backing to buy the car (albeit with financing) and the kit... but I would be seriously screwed if the test failed and I was left with a car without an engine. Hopefully this spawns some more interesting discussions rather than the standard "purist versus modder" and "performance" arguments.
As with all risks.. if you can't afford to lose it, don't take the risk. Worst case as far as I can see.... blown head gaskets?? No big deal really. Busted driveshafts... No big deal Busted clutch... No big deal. Busted gearbox... bigger, but it won't make you sell your house. The biggest problem I think is the chance of crashing the thing...... It is SO UNBELIEVABLY FAST, that you really MUST have some proper driving instruction. For your own safety and that of others.
Let me answer some of your questions. As far as other upgrades, that is the customers choice. While big brake kits are recommended first (turbo upgrades are usually what I recommend last so owners can get a understanding of new car dynamics before massive power adders), the F355 has great stock brakes, suitable for the race track, as stated by members here who do track their cars. Suspension wise, it is the owners choice as there are many options available. No other upgrades are required to run the kit, but iIf you want to upgrade the entire car with brakes, wheels/tires, suspension, and the kit, we can certainly discuss this. But those are not supplied with this kit. Possibly if members would like a complete performance package, we can put that out. We are not going to supply an owner with a F355 engine and turbo kit. This is more of a risk that we will not assume, and would be out over $50,000 if the owner decided to ride the 9000rpm all day and blow the engine. Anyone can destroy a motor, even an NA one. And as far as Nizpro, they have been developing high performance motors and creating custom projects for several years and the success of their business does not lie with this kit. They brought this to market based off the response from members on this board. And as far as us providing insurance on your motor, we cannot supply this. While we do believe in the kit and have no doubts about the level of performance, we take no responsibility for the owners actions should they choose to exceed the limits of the motor and the turbo kit. No tuner/company in the world would make such a claim as it would open the flood gates for eliminating personal care of your own car. Ton's car is not a one-off modification, but a custom turbo kit with hundreds of hours of design work, tuning, and development invested in it to produce reliable, and daily driven, performance levels surpassing most everything on the planet, that has been put into production. The quality is second to none and the choice of components is also the best on the market. We are offering a large price break to the first US car to receive the kit. Nizpro is wanting to get this kit on a US car and for that owner to write an honest opinion of the kit, and for that is giving us a large discount which we are passing even more on directly onto the consumer.
