So, after 18 months of search, I have finally done it ! Bought a mint 355 challenge. Dec 96 car with the 98 update kit. Car has 29 000 Km on the clock, never been shunt. For the last 10 years was used by a gentleman driver as a track day car. Frankly the car seems mechanically perfect. Obviously it has the odd paint chip but bodywork is also very good for a race car. Apart from a service, the to do list includes: - Fitting front headlights - Fitting horn - Fitting handbrake - Fitting airboxes - Getting suspension sorted for a 75% road / 25% track use with ride height compatible with speed bumps (yes I know it's a compromise but I'd rather lose a few tenths and NOT ground the car) - Getting road tyres on one set of wheels (the car has 3 sets, 2 with slicks and 1 with rain tyres) I will need a bit of help from the challenge community to complete the tasks above. 1. I am trying to establish whether the wiring harness is still original and if all the connectors are present for the headlights. Please see the picture below, can you please confirm this has to do with the headlights ? I guess there is a separate connector for the headlights lifting mechanism that still underneath the washer bottle ? 2. For suspension, I am thinking about getting ride height set at the max of the spec of a normal 355 as I really want to avoid grounding the car and my access roads are very rural. With that in mind, I am thinking just different springs, a bit stiffer than normal 355 but keeping the challenge anti roll bars. Any thoughts ? 3. For tires, there seems to be various views on what size to fit on the speed line wheels. I am looking at 225 / 40 front and 265 / 40 rear. Was thinking Michelin Pilot Super Sport. Any experience / feedback on the topic ? 4. Exhaust system has been simplified. the Y and cats are gone and te car has a custom made exhaust manifold, test pipes, exhaust box. This set up achieves decent sound without being too extreme (apparently 95 db at the loud end). I will get through emission testing this time but probably will at some point replace the test pipes with sport cats. A few pictures attached with the connector and the car with an engine view. The color scheme is pretty unique... reminiscent of Calder... at least that's one aspect of the car my wife appreciates ! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well done, Thibaut! Congrats on your new purchase! Before we get too far; since you'll be using the car for the road, I highly recommend you reinstall air filters. It looks like the prior owner has deleted both air filter housings, and routed the air intake directly into the bodywork. As for your suspension, raising the car to stock F355 Berlinetta spec, or maybe slightly lower should suffice. In my neighborhood, I found my street F355B to have insufficient clearance and had to crab the car over most thresholds. I know my F355Ch will not clear any of them at the stock F355Ch ride height. The tire sizes you quoted should work; that's the stock sizes for the street car. The Pilots are good street tires, and should work reasonably well in the rain too.
The airboxes will definitively go in asap. As far as the headlight harness question, may be this additional picture helps as it seems the relay box is on the other side. I understand for previous posts that may be a sign all the connectors needed are there. Another shot of the front compartiment. Image Unavailable, Please Login
If you don't plan to encounter too much rain on the street, consider "R" compound track tires with a few lines of shallow tread- something like Michelin Pilot Sport Cup or Toyo R888. 235/40 F and 295/35 R will fit if you want to go wider.
Thibaut A., Great Find! I am doing the opposite, Street car to 99 Challenge Spec. Well attempting might be more correct. The cost of parts are $$$$! F355 H&R Springs (20% stiffer over stock) should do you good with the Challenge Sway Bars. I noticed you dont have the Suspension Actuators on top of each shock; this controls the damping and ride (Normal & Sport). While there check to see if you have the Challenge Suspension ECU (located under the passenger dash), its a different number then the stock Suspension ECU. While were talking suspension I also noticed you dont have the OEM Cross Drilled Challenge Rotors? Nothing wrong as they are both great selections as the crossed drilled are harder to source and are known to crack over hard usage. Pirelli PZero Tires are Very good for Street and ocational track days. Great in the Wet both off and on Track, something to consider. Best of luck on your project. Sounds like fun. Ciao, Stanislaus R.R.
Hi Stanislaus, Yes it seems the active suspension was deleted at some point. I was looking at the damper ECU in the front compartiment like the road cars and clearly it's not there. I need to check under the dash, passenger side. But I was never convinced by the system on the 550 so I don't think I will attempt to reinstate it. The previous owner dumped the crossed drilled for slotted as they are much more durable. I am not necessarily looking to bring it back to full original challenge spec, at least at this stage. Specific parts are prohibitively expensive and don't add much at this stage. Anything I will remove to get the car street able will be religiously kept. H&R springs look like a fairly safe bet. Will look into it.
hi, give jon a call at gt cars .. he has just finished doing all the jobs on my car 98 spec car ... though I do only have 1 headlight ... we put pirellis on btw... whats the vin last 6 numbers .. I will see if i have any info on it Rich
Hi Richard, I spoke with Jon. Actually he is helping out with the handbrake. Just bought the set of Michelin super sport. The car had michelin stickers on so I guess I had little choice. I am hopeful I can have a pair of functioning headlights. VIN is 104674. I have the list of owners since the start. What I am missing are the results of the car while it was used as challenge. Need to talk to Ferrari France... If anyone has infos. Best T
I used Migliore to do the work on my car which is an original LHD factory delivered race car from the first year of the F355 CH and is now road legal.
Wow, this is a great build! It is very interesting to see the 355 without the secondary cat y pipe. I have always tooled with the idea of doing the 355 exhaust like this, can you share your thoughts on the performance with the exhaust? Did you notice any increase or decrease in performance with the new setup? Evan
I haven't had a chance to drive the car properly so can't report on the exhaust. But It was raced / track driven like that for the past 10 years. So can't be that bad. I think the exhaust manifold is also custom 4:1. It goes straight into the test pipes. the exhaust is also custom. If it wasn't for emission testing, I'd think that is the best set-up: it's simpler, does not create too much heat.
Some progress... Michelin Pilot Super Sport now on the wheels. Various parts have been ordered, everything should now come together in the next couple of weeks. One question for the experts: the 98 kit seems to include some heat shields for the airboxes. Such shields seem specific to the challenge. They are quite difficult to source. I am guessing the purpose is to try to cool down air intake ? the airboxes are metal so I guess they do not risk much ? Thanks for your views Best TA Image Unavailable, Please Login
Just made a discovery about my car: it was raced in rallies !! Totally by accident, found this (in french), the part abut the challenge starts from the 24th minute. Now I have the name of the driver, I will try to contact him, see if he can give more info about the car racing history. Link: Emission Turbo du 24/04/1999 : Ferrari f355 challenge, lotus elise, peugeot 406
The only reason I ask is because we tried to create a secondary catbypass for the 355 that deleted the valve right before the muffler. We ended up seeing a pretty large loss in low end performance with that set up, though it's understandably different from completely deleting the y pipe all together and running the exhaust like a 360.
if i get a second i will post up pictures of my 98 car engine bay.... john has alain li 96 car which is different ... so i suppose you need to decide which variant you are going to return it to....
hi, whats your plan about springs ... ?? I have been driving mine around with the race springs and its ok on the a roads ... though it does bang on a pot hole... but on a slightly uneven motorway at 140 mph and above .... it starts to feel light .. quite unpleasant !!! setup needs to be able to cope with non track surface at high speeds .. Gonna fit fiorano springs this week and see how that feels
Will go for the FHP springs. Tell me what you think but as far as I could tell this is the best combination. I have ordered the kit from Jon and also I have a handbrake from a standard car coming from a breaker. Jon suggested this was all I needed. My mechanic will look into it when everything comes together but that could be a week or so away.