Test drove F355 today. Need advice on purchase.

The "whining" on start up is the airpump
The transmission sound normal from what ive read. I will start it cold and drive through my neighborhood and it sometimes wont even go into 3rd gear, I DONT push hard though, if it wont go i just skip it, by the time i hit the main road (like 2-3 minutes later) its shifts perfectly.

I like the color, Id guess 55-65 is a target price

 

My guess is that either the valve guides were already replaced or they will never need them. Generally shows up by now. Nice color combo. Glad it was a manual shifter. A different gear oil will help the stiffness. If bought under 60k, I'd say good deal.

 

Awesome car.

 

I'd look at some other cars before I jumped.

 

I know that car. I love the color combo but Monaco blue can look violet in strong sun.

My main worry is that it has an aftermarket windshield and the airbag covers have been replaced - so it makes you wonder if it had an incident on the front end. Do your due diligence and get answers to your questions. I have not seen a carfax. Staples in a dash are almost as bad as using duct tape...

Robb

 

Like the blue and the fact that it is a spyder. Would make a nice addition to your collection.
Don't sell the Porsche. I love my Porsche but the spider is a completely different driving experience. Buying a car that is not perfect gives you something to do and gives you a chance to learn about your new toy.

 

Some minor issues to fix but sounds/looks fantastic! By the way, those minor issues could still be $1-2K to do right (dashboard leather repair, if your ashtray needs to be replaced a few hundred, etc...stuff adds up) but important thing is to start with a good car. I really like the color combo on this car!

I have that whine too- it's not from the motor, air pump as someone else said (it's a high pitched annoying thing...actually wasn't working when I first got my car but my mechanic fixed it when I took the car in for the first fluid change in my ownership- the first time I heard it when I picked up my car I thought there was something wrong....then it stopped after a couple of minutes. Does it every time when the car is cold.

For the shifting, a gearbox oil change may help, or perhaps adjustment of the shifter. On my car I never force the shift when cold- just skip to next gear and try to not ride clutch too much in then next shift. My 355 sometimes will go into 2nd when cold, but 3rd will be tough, whereas my old 360 didn't like 2nd when cold- common and gets easier when oil is warmed up. Also, I never go over ~3K rpm when oil is cold...I have a routine where I driver her easy until that oil gauge gets up towards 12 O'clock. Some people just idle the car for 5 mins, but I prefer to drive the car easy to let it warm up. It is tricky as I don't want to lug the motor either- the first few miles from my house are flat or downhill, so I can be anal without lugging the motor...can go closer to 4K per the owner's manual before oil is warmed up, but like I said I'm a little anal. Once the oil is fully warmed up I shift at higher RPM, and I'm not afraid to do occasional 7,000-8,500 shifts when the setting is right

Who is your mechanic? Will they do a PPI on this car? Do they (a) know what they are doing with Ferraris/F355s and (b) are they reasonably priced?

A rule of thumb (very rough) is the valve guides cost 2x what a normal engine out belt service is...if that is accurate $20,000 sounds high for the guide job.. the 1997 I bought last winter just had the valve guide job (and belt service) done by a Ferrari dealer and it cost ~$15K- I expect a very good independent to be less expensive than the $15K. (here in NJ, we have a few independents that are better with 355s than the dealer, although one of the independents local to me is pricy and probably charges closer to what a dealer charges, so you have to be careful)

The only pet peeve I have with the car you looked at (this is minor) is the owner put the cavillinos too low...they should be higher. Maybe take them off if they aren't the higher quality ones here and follow his directions for placement:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/ferrari-parts-collectibles/455497-ferrari-scuderia-fender-shields-badges-enamel-carbon-fiber-6.html


The ones on the car now should come off with just a little bit of hair drier head and slight pulling without damaging the paint.

Good luck with the hunt (whether or not this particular car is the one you end up with)! Coming from 3 air cooled 911s, I will say there is no comparison to the 355/360/most any Ferrari for the experience. Be prepared to pay up for service however...air cooled 911s are downright frugal to own compared to a 20 year old Ferrari (and the Ferrari isn't as bank vault bullet proof like the air cooled 911s either). Also, I don't usually do short trips with the car like you are contemplating- seems better to put aside some time to drive the car and let her warm up vs. short spurts. The car is very special and each drive is special to me

 

Auto elite- Vinny Latino and Mark... They are in Tenafly NJ

 

Very nice color combo ....

 

Sounds like you're in love. Congrats!
Don't think about it too much, just do it. Enjoy. Drive it like ya stole it. Regret nothing. Do it all. Now.

 

The car needs 10+ minutes to warm up. If you can't do that on at least most of your drives, I would recommend a change of routine. The car really needs a full warm-up cycle to drive properly and lubricate the powertrain.

Don't worry about the cosmetics--you can fix them at your own pace or leave it for the next owner to fix. You will want to find out what kind of valve guides this car has; the factory upgrade was "mostly" done on 1998+ cars, so a '97 would be questionable. A compression test would be a good starting point on determining the overall condition of the engine, including the valve guides.

1997 F355s never came with Scuderia shields. Only the 1999 (?) cars had it available as a factory option, and only the Fiorano Spiders had them standard.

 

Sounds like something is out of adjustment. Perhaps you could ask the seller to fix that.

I don't like the sound of staples in the dash. It may be a sign of lack of (lack of) care overall.

As well as a good PPI, perhaps you can get a few Ferrari DIY guys to have a look at it and share their biased and unbiased stories. Perhaps you can follow the PPI guy around? I saw a few things the PPI guy missed when I did that (e.g. cracks in the wheel nut inserts... Some mechanics overtighten the nuts).

When I bought my spider recently, it looked next to immaculate... but I discovered a dozen or two problems in the first few months by looking under the skin. Be prepared. The little things can add up, even if you do a lot of the work yourself (which, by the way, is a great way to get to know your car... The Owners Manual is huge, and it may take a while for you to figure out the car).

.... or a broken drive on the HVAC recirculation flap (as I discovered)

Anyway, James, there are guides on the forum about purchasing, so print these out and ask lots of questions

Good luck!

 

Will de Groot at Exoticcars is right next to you. Great guy and knows his stuff. He might even know the car.

Who did the recent engine out service? Did you try talking to them?

 

Just let the car warm up to 150 degrees on the water temp. It may take 10 minutes if completely cold. Once it reaches that temperature, shifting from first to second will be fine. There is so much help available on here. I don't consider myself that mechanically capable, but with posts and advice from other Fchat members, Ive been able to complete several projects myself. I just upgraded the very poor ( yellow and dim) low beam bulbs to Philips 9012 HIR bulbs; big difference! There is lots of help regarding the convertible top and if all else fails, you can really make it simple and convert it to manual. The only unresolved issue I see is the air conditioning, which might be considered optional by some for a convertible. The recirculating/ diverter flap freezes up on most of them and nobody seems to have a quick and/or easy fix for that one. At a service appointment this year I was told my A/C compressor had frozen up and that the drive belt was missing? Not sure when that happened? I got through this summer without a problem, but sitting in traffic on a hot and humid day with the top down might not be fun. It would be great if someone came up with an aftermarket fix to the A/C problem on these cars. Everything else is fixable.

 

Just fixed mine. It seems that either the shaft or one of the reduction gears breaks in the flap motor assembly. Easy fix, replace the motor assembly. $115. The other issue is that the shaft on the flap breaks. Again, easy fix as Hill engineering makes a replacement shaft.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Top issue sounds like the elastic straps are toast. They are NLA but easy to make or get made. Easy to replace.

 

I have a 97 I bought with very few maint records. I don't know if my valve guides have been done but my car never smokes and runs perfectly. If there was a slight leak down issue or it was a little low on compression I would still drive it. Every car that's driven often will not produce the same numbers it did new. The dash thing I don't understand but if it's in good mechanical shape it's a good driver. If you are going to drive the snot out of it there are some cheaper fixes that look factory. My 97 has 45k on it. Shows a minor accident on car fax and some chips in the paint but I love it. Only thing it's had done in 4 years is new clutch. Headers , and hyper-flows rebuilt. Headers are a standard fix so is clutch so that was expected. I converted top to manual and once you learn how to put it up its not a big deal. I bought a new ashtray once it gets sticky I will clean and paint it no big deal. I love that everything on my car works. Every button and switch. I would drive that car to California with nothing but an oil change. Some people want a perfect car. I'm really happy I can drive it with no worries as often and as long as I want. There's something to be said for having a driver in the garage. When I first got it I white knuckled it every noise I heard was a disaster coming. Now I even daily drive it sometimes for a month at a time. These are good reliable cars that are fun to drive. Just don't over think it and you will love it

 

A couple of things i would do. Make sure all dash warning lights are working, like Airbag, SDL, etc. and then I would pull codes to see if there are any pending and check fuel trim numbers. A PPI that included this would be nice. People can reset codes, so a CEL isn't showing, but it may be pending and show up in a 100 miles or so.