Hi Rob or others, Can someone with a 355C tell me the thickness of the sheetmetal Item maked #8 in this 355Challenge book? Or better yet just the overall thickness of the extra challenge support and the part already on the car? Thanks! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hey FBB, I'm at work at the moment but when get home tonite I will check for you and report back. regards, Vern
Cool...I did not know you have a 355C. You really live right. Open MT roads and awesome flyfishing...You lucky dog!
Hey FBB, sorry it took so long to get back on this, must have lost my way or somthin'. Anyway the thickness is double the road car spec. of 1.5 mm, ie; now 3.0mm. I found this info on page 30 of the 355C manual. "From the car serial no 104236 a reinforced shock absorber housing is installed(sheet thickness is increased to 3.0 mm instead of 1.5mm. This addition causes a little interference with the spring so some triming is nessesary". If you want the challenge car book that ferrari printed I think they are still avaliable, Part no. 95990399.
Hey Vern, Thanks for the info. My 348 is getting the front stiffened. My cage is to be welded to the suspension in the front and I'm thickening up the shock mount.
Is that Mr. Fatbillybob or just fbb, sorry just hankin' your chain, LOL. Your welcome on the info glad I could help. You must use the 348 strickly for track use. At what point are you tying the roll cage to? Is this a factory challenge ('94) or converted earlier car? sorry about all the questions just like the C cars. Hey, If its not too much trouble post a pic love to see it.
Yup, track car only. I'm thickening the shockmounts ala 355C. The 348 and 355 are basically the same car except the 355 is stiffer and the only known different part is the shock mount and the later 93 348 subframe common to the 355 in geometry. Yet the 355c can run huge springs I think 2200lbs (I have it written down) in the front with a giant rollbar too = very stiff. To me the 348 is a wet noodle and others complain the 355 is a noodle too. But IMO the 348 is worse and is never had the heavy spings the 355 uses. So my goal is to get my 348 handling to be better than the 355C. I am bending a 10 point cage myself from 1.75" 0.120 wall DOM tubing. That tube is stiffer and heavier than I need for the weight of this car but I'm going for stiff. After the shock tower reinforcement I will be welding a plate similar to the shock tower stiffeners you see commercially available and it will be on the top of the shock mount inside the bonnet. The a piller part of my cage will pierce the firewall and be welding to this point. Then I will weld across from shock tower to shock tower. I'll have the a pillers welded to the unibody frame by gussets and the roof the same to the roll hoop. I've got door sill tubes planed too. I post some pics for you to see. I have zero interior and my car is light! However, the cage will add back in some tonage. I think I'll move the steering wheel too. I always hated the left position of the wheel and the right position of the pedals don't you?
That role cage sounds interesting should be plenty stiff. Your right on the front spring rate on the 355C. I replaced my frt with a 950lb. which is still stiff but much better. 2200 lb is a lot for street use we're talkin mega stiff, LOL. I changed the rears to a 450lb. to keep the ratio on the frt/bk close to what it was. I assume the heavy frt spring was to controll oversteer and frt dive in a race setting. I don't drive mine that hard so I don't know if I have upset my handling or not. So far it sicks like glue. Your also correct on the swaybars there huge with rod end joints also. I have heard the 348 were not structurely all that stiff but I guess they were made for the street.What you are doing should take of any noodle effect. My 355C was raced in the series for 3 years and I don't see any fatique anywhere so far and I have been in and out of that thing since I bought it a few years ago. I have driven these cars for a long time so I guess I'm used to that wierd pedal offset. Regards, Vern
