Twin Turbo F355 'Down under'

He has not made the car into a dedicated drag racer by any means, it is still his daily driver. But what I have read from the articles, Tony also has a car that he does use for drag races.

In addition, for those who do not want the possibly overwhelming power of the Stage 2 kit that Tony has, there is the Stage 1 which puts the power output in the 475whp range, more power than the F430 that has been released, but only by about 90HP.

So even for those who love the F355, but want slightly more power, this kit is perfect, or at least, I can see no fault in it. While not blistering fast like Tony's car, it is still quick enough to get others out of your way on the track.

But having OEM upgrades is the best bet, but when OEM will not acknowledge the fact that more power (to a degree) is better, than where does that leave the owner? Example, F355 exhaust manifolds cracking. I am sure that someone from FNA has seen this info and/or owners have brought this to the attention of FNA, but what are they doing to fix the issue?

 

Why would they care? The law in most countries is that manufacturers only have to even stock std parts for cars until they are 10 yrs old... why would they develop better parts when the need to supply is about to end altogether... as 355 is 10yrs old now....

They'd be happy to hand it over to the aftermarket.

 

we are all guessing on what ferrari would really think on the aftermarket issue, is there any way we could find out for sure?

 

well judging what I read about the 550 LM (in Autocar, Jan 05 issue) they aren't all that pleased about it. That car cannot be called a 'Ferrari' 550 LM and also isn't allowed to use any of the Ferrari badges/signs etc.
How they feel about private people doing it I have no idea about....I suppose as long as they keep selling cars they should be happy

 

from what i have heard, Ferrari doesnt sell cars, it builds a family

 

so Ton, what's the latest news on the 355TT front ?

Any more RWHP to report ?

And how is the engine holding up, you are our long term tester here after all

 

Hey Guys,

Just looked in on the thread again. What happened to all those lovely posted pictures of the turbo installation?

If they are missing, can they be reposted?

 

Most of the pictures are still available on my site. Here are some links to them:

http://fiautosports.com/Ferrari/images/TT%20F355%20bay.jpg
http://fiautosports.com/Ferrari/images/f355_smoke.jpg
http://fiautosports.com/Ferrari/images/Ferrari%20Intercooler%20driver%20side%202.jpg
http://fiautosports.com/Ferrari/images/16630Ferrari_Intercooler_driver_side_1.jpg

There are others, but I need to fix the link to them.

 

Great pics. THANKS

Hope you can link the rest, intresting pics like that shouldn't be lost. They serve as an inspiration to the rest of us.

Do you know what happened to the idea of getting a kit together?

From the last postings, it seemed the posts degenerated into a 'muddle', with lots of disagreement. I think what was attempted was great. Time and use, of course will tell, if the project was successful or not. As F-car owners or fans, we should encourage everyone and not belittle the effort of others.

Look forward to the other pics.

 

the kit was for sale. We had alot of people interested, but no one wanted a F355 Twin Turbo kit. There were a few purists who said a Ferrari should never be touched. A few others wanted long term reliability, which ton's car, IMO, did have. He ran over 8000 miles in the F355, his daily driver, in February, and he should have driven over 12000 miles so far since getting the kit installed. But regardless of how much info people recieved on this board, it was just not accepted.

We contacted a few magazines, submitted product releases, and no dice so far.

 

im still very against this little project, it churns me up inside to see what someone has done to a perfectly good 355. if its the power you cant get enough of, i say you import plastic cars from hong kong or something to snap things on, that would leave me with nothing to say

 

Is it wrong for people to want the best and have more power? Why? Because it is a Ferrari? But if it was a Diablo it would be alright?

Ton loves the F355 and wanted to maximize its performance. And it looks like the kit was a success in every sense of the word and no one can say otherwise.

 

That's a ridiculous thing to say. He hasn't ruined the car. He didn't drop in an aussie V8 or something. He's now got a very powerful and apparently reliable car, which can be brought back to totally standard for very little cost and in a very short time. Where's your logic? (not that I plan to do it...but I would)

 

you're kidding right ??!!

There are heaps of these cars out there and Ton just happens to be into drag racing and though "bugger it, let's see what happens when you turbo a 355 engine for fun"

he did it right and has disproved many a Ferrari myth that they will go boom due to their "fragility"......

at the end of the day it's just an overpriced car that has a mystique about it from the racing history and if you have the money and inclination why not ??

I suppose I bastardised my car because I put a non-standard exhaust on it plus better brake pads and rotors, uprated suspension, etc....and then again Ferrari must have bastardised the 308 by building the twin hairdryer special called the F40 because that is all the much loved F40 is , an evolution of the 308 with 2 hairdryers (one nell of an evolution though )

 

nothing to report .The oil level (use ) has not changed . The car does not like ice cold starts. The engine does blow black smoke when pushed at first and if you are in traffic for a while and then boot it again.
I wanted a ferrari 355 spyder decause l love the look ,its italian,and sounds great. It just doesn't go that fast.So my therapist said make it go faster.So l did. If it churns you up inside maybe you need to A seek therapy or B when your in melbourne go for a ride in a fast ferrari.

 

can you get the compression checked at the next service to see if there is any internal wear that may give an indication of the strength of the engine ?

if you already have a baseline of data for that obviously

I love the thought that a hairdresser car will blow away these ricer specials

any thoughts of tracking her or just like the thrill of straightline oomph ?

 

Bring it to a club track day and dangle it under the members noses... or lap them all of course.

I've said it before, the car is fine to track at Winton or PI, but I'd miss Calder or Sandown unless you can disclipline yourself to brake appropriately......

And don't be afraid of not driving it right.... with that much grunt you could drive it any way you damn well like, or of course, I can provide a driver for you.... (no, not me!!)

 

I second this request, are you going to get a compression test done out of interest? How often and how much are you topping up the oil level?

It would be very interesting to see how the cylinder liners and the valve guides look (if you rebuild the engine). Ive kept my worn 355 components, so we can compare pics

 

nothing to compare . my engine is strong and good
l have not added a drop of oil since turbos were added.
I have not done a comp test
we have put the car back on the dyno two weeks ago to see if power levels had dropped and to monitor the motec under loads .Carbon copy of test 1 month ago .This tells me comp is still the same as when we started
if anyone would like to compare engine output and or see how well there engine is performing nizpro is willing to put on a dyno night for ferrari cars .Lets really see how much ferrari are lying about your power outputs.Mine in stock trim made 215 rwkw's with a borla system .aicons challenge made 207 rwkw's. If my 355 engine liners were distorted and or had bad valves it would not make the same power over and over .It would be getting blowby and using oil and l aint doing either.

 

any more videos?

i just had to go back and watch that one from Dec, would like to see more of it in action.

 

Ton,
How are things going on the car? You are approaching what, 9 months of a solid 603whp and no failures yet? Did the dyno day happen? Are there any more videos or publications of the project?

 

you must be dumb or something. The F40 may be just a V8 with hairdryers snapped on the back, but thats what ferrari decided on. The look and the sound of the f40 is amazing, and it has been the outcome of months of work by ferrari, not just some guy in a shop

 

Wow! I've skimmed through the thread plan on reading it more later on. Although I think it's interesting when people turbocharge naturally aspirated Ferrari's, while it's not my cup of tea I respect it and face it for the money you can't beat the gains!

I have a customer interested in something similair in the states so if that project ever gets off ground I shall keep you all updated. (F355)

Forza,
Kevin

 

think you need to recalibrate your sarcasm detector dude. here's a tip, if moretti even slightly mentions anything about PP or his cars you can just whip out the rolleyes smileys and apply liberally.

 

I take it you've never heard an F40 idle ???!!!

they sound like a sewing machine until you put the boot in and wind up the hairdryers, very disappointing sound for such an iconic car.

If you knew anything about the history of the F40 you would know that it took years and several evoluziones to get it "close", even after they made the F40 there were still some LM and GTE versions to come for the seriously crazy track junkies and they were done by "some guy in a shop", it just happened to have the Horse out the front.

The only persons who can refer to me as dumb are PP, Scott and Carl but that's because they know I am dumb, you my friend are an interloper of varying fractional meanderings with quinntessential border mania.

Throw those last few words into babblefish for the mentally disadvantaged and it comes out as "knucklehead".