Ferrari Sales Bay Area - Ferrari 360 Modena - General Buying Tips - San Francisco Motorsports San Rafael

Ferrari 360 – General Buying Tips

 

General Buying Advice

Here is a list of general buying tips when shopping for your 360 Modena.

1. Demand to see the service record and maintenance history on any 360 Modena you look at. The first question you should ask the salesman is whether or not the car is due for service. This is particularly true for the major services at 15K and 30K miles. The car is due for its 15K service at the 5-year point regardless of mileage. At these service points the timing and cam belts must be replaced. These services can run around $4K - $7K. If you are getting a particularly good deal on a 360 Modena, it may be because it is due for a major service. If it is, be sure to work it into the price of the car. If the car has any holes in its service history, move on.  

2. Get the car personally inspected by a Ferrari certified mechanic. Any trustworthy dealer or private seller will allow you to take the car long enough to get it checked out. Only a trained mechanic can detect everything that may be an issue – things you won’t see. Don’t ever use a mechanic that is hired by or associated with the dealer or private seller – even if the service is offered for free. Have the mechanic tell you how much clutch life is left and that the exhaust manifolds are structurally intact.

3. If the deal is too good to be true, then it is. You should not be paying less than $100K for a 2004 with similar mileage and optioned like mine and no less than $80K for a 1999 of any ilk.

4. Never buy the first car you see. Look at and test drive many.

5. Be sure that the car has all of the original books, tools and records. Things that often go missing are the battery tender, seat covers and the key fobs. You should get two keys and 3 fobs – one red master fob and two black fobs. You use the black fobs and put the red fob in a safe place. If you are not given or lose the red master fob, an expensive re-key of the car will be necessary.

6. Always try to talk to the original owner. Be wary of cars that have had too many owners – e.g., more than 4 in a 5 year period.

7. Try to get a car that has been driven less than 2000 miles a year on average. For a 2004, that would be a car with less than 10,000 miles on it. Mine came in just under that at 9800 miles.

8. Talk to the mechanics that have serviced the car. They will be listed in the service record.

source: http://teamspeed.com/forums/458-430-360/22724-updated-2-11-10-barristers-ferrari-360-modena-buyers-guide.html

 

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Ferrari Service 360 Modena Bay Area - Maintenance Tips and Issues - San Francisco Motorsports San Rafael

Ferrari 360 Maintenance

 

Maintenace, is this car going to break down and cost me a fortune? Actually, the 360 Modena is a very solid car and only has a few common issues.

1. The clutch can and will wear rapidly on the F1.

2. Transmission on pre-2001 F1 models needs upgrading.

3. F1 shift from 1 to 2 can be rough, indicating clutch wear.

4. Camshaft variator on early models were subject to recall.

Less common but other potential issues include:

1. Motor mounts on early models can crack.

2. Gasket leaks (like the one I experienced with my gas cap).

3. Alarm system is sketchy and can cause premature battery wear.

4. Bearings and seals in clutch assembly.

5. Starting in late model 2000s the exhaust manifolds are integrated with precats. If intake cam timings are not set correctly there is a good chance that excess fuel will get dumped into the manifolds causing the catalytic substrate to sinter. Extra care must be taken to set the timing by a degree wheel rather than going with the cam shaft factory marks.

6. When any service is done, the owner should ask for a before and after printout of any error codes that were detected and what was done to correct the problem and showing key parameters like exhaust cam angles, cat temperature, oxygen sensors (big gremlin here) and other errors recorded. In short, you must become a bit of an expert on your car.

7. The 360s all still use belts instead of chains. For the F430, Ferrari moved to an all chain system. Thus, for the F430 there is no need to change the timing and cam belts at 15K and 30K miles. This makes the F430 a car with a lower maintenance bill than the 360.

Use a few rules of thumb to be sure that your 360 Modena runs smoothly. always let it warm up from a cold start for at least 5 – 10 minutes. At a bare minimum let the car  run until it idles down. It is best if you get some heat into the oil before taking it above 4000 RPMs. You don’t want any metal-to-metal contact in the engine.

In general, if you adhere to the factory recommended maintenance schedule, the 360 Modena is one of the most reliable Ferrari's on the road. Unfortunately, no maintenance can be done by the owner due to a large amount of proprietary electronics in the car. Very few independent service centers have the diagnostic equipment but San Francisco Motorsports can take care of all your service needssually your only option.

source: http://teamspeed.com/forums/458-430-360/22724-updated-2-11-10-barristers-ferrari-360-modena-buyers-guide.html

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Ferrari Sales San Francisco - Ferrari F355 Buyers Guide - San Francisco Motorsports San Rafael

 Ferrari F355 Buyers Guide

Mechanicals

With 1009 bhp per litre, the F355 engine had the highest specific output per litre of all normally aspirated production cars when it was first manufactured.  With a full 8,500 revs available it's a hoot.  Service it regularly and it will deliver with suprising reliability. Here's what to watch out for.

Rattling Bypass Valvle

The F355 has a system for controlling the exhaust output through the use of something known as a bypass valve.  The bypass valve opens up at higher RPM, allowing the exhaust gases to take a more direct route to the tail pipes, thus increasing power and noise.

This means your 355 is quiet around town but when you open it up it screams somewhat.  The benefits of the bypass valve are less if you have an aftermarket exhaust fitted, because even the low RPM sounds with the valve closed will be louder.

Over time, the bypass valves seem to wear and eventually they begin to rattle when the car is idling. There are a few solutions to this:

• Put up with it, and do nothing. This is by far the cheapest solution.
• Replace the valve with a new one. They new one will wear again.
• Replace the valve with a straight tube (no bypass). This increases idle noise levels.
• Wire the valve open.  If you wrap some strong wire around the valve to hold it in the open position, you will stop the rattle but increase idle noise levels.
• You may be able to find a that does an aftermarket bypass valve.

Cracked Manifolds

This is a very common issue and every car will suffer from it eventually. The problem lies in the design of the manifold. When constructed, the tubing is bent to the point that i becomes relatively thin, and with the manifolds running at a very high temperature the metal eventually cracks.  This results in a ticking sound at idle and if you put your hand inside the engine bay you may even be able to feel the air compressions that result from the leak.

This problem can be sorted in three ways:

• You can get a new manifold from Ferrari. I would not recommend this option because this is a design fault and Ferrari have not redesigned the part. Therefore it will fail again and with manifolds being around $3,500 per side this is not cost effective.
• You can buy an aftermarket manifold. Tubi does one but it is very expensive. 
• You can get you exisiting manifolds reconditioned.

Removal of the manifolds can be a reasonable job or a fairly big job, depending upon the side that has failed.  Looking from the rear of the engine, at the right side there is an oil tank (the car is dry sump) whic must first be removed before the right manifold can be removed.  This adds a few hous to the job.  The left side can be removed more easily.  The right side will go first.

Electronic Suspension

The electronic suspension has two settings - sport and comfort mode - and these are controlled by the use of electronic shock absorbers.  At the top of each shock is an actuator that cntrols the stiffness of the shock.  These have been know to fail and can be relatively easily replaced.  If there is a problem with the electronic suspension, there is a warning lamp that will light up on the dashboard.  It will come on at ignition time but should go out shortly afterwards under normal operation.

Heater Valve

The heating system operates via an electronic valve that moves to allow hot water through the heater matrix across which air is blown to warm it up.  There are a couple of possible reasons for failure. - either the aircon ECU has failed, which controls the position of the heater valve, or the motor on the heater valve itself has failed.

Sticky Throttle Pedal

Most cars suffer from a problem whereby the throttle seems to resist your foot pressure at the top, of the pedal travel. this tends to make it a little tricky to drive slowly in traffic until you get used to it.  The early cars had a slightly different throttle mechanism and these can be upgraded with the newer parts (there is a quadrant on the throttle cable that was updated). However the problem was never fully corrected by Ferrari, so most specialists when they service the vehicle lubricate the throttle to help with the issue.  After lubrication the behavior is always improved but id doesn't usually last until the next service. 

Valve Guides

The truth is that if it happens it is very expensive, but only a small percentage of cars have actually experienced the problem and most of those did so fairly early in their life.  There is no guarantee by a later car (97 or 98) is much less likely to experience the fault.

The first cars built used bronze valve guides, and these very soft guides tend to wear too easily.  Once worn the guides allow oil to leak past them and this results in the engine burning oil.  Left unchecked, the oil will eventually run low resulting in significant engine damage.  The results of a compression test can give you an indication as to the condition of the engine in respect.

Later cars had their valve guides changed to steel.  It is not possible to tell which guides your car has just by lookin gat the build year or registration number, because Ferrari seemed to use both materials for a while. To find out, get the car's chassis and engine number, and query Ferrari eith through a dealer or directly. 


source: http://www.the355.com/mambo/content/view/26/29/

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Ferrari Service Bay Area - Ferrari F355 Service Schedule - San Francisco Motorsports San Rafael

Ferrari 355 Servicing Schedule

Your 355 will need servicing on an annual or mileage basis, depending upon how
much use it is getting.  The recommeded minimum is an annual service, but if your
car is covering sufficient mileage it may require servicing due to miles covered rather
than time.

There are several types of service that the car will need:

• An annual 'lube service - which includes changing of the usual fluids such as oil, brake etc
• An annual plus additional work that requires doing every two years or at certain mileages which ever comes first
• A major service - Cambelt replacement every 3 years or 36,000 miles which ever comes first

The detail about what is required when is included in the table below. This is from the 355 owners manual.

 

 source: http://www.the355.com/mambo/content/view/26/29/

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Ferrari Sales San Francisco - Ferrari Museum opens exhibit celebrating works of Sergio Pininfarina [w/video] - San Francisco Motorsports San Rafael

Automotive designer Sergio Pininfarina passed away in July of this year, but there is every reason to believe that the memory of the vehicles he created will never die. That prediction is bolstered by the fact that he designed more than 100 Ferraris, and that the Ferrari Museum has just put 22 of them on display in Maranello in The Great Ferraris of Sergio Pininfarina Exhibition.

Sergio didn't 'retire' from the chairmanship of the design house the wore the family name until 2006 (he took the role of honorary chairman after that, until his death this year), but he first put his pen to work for Ferrari with the 1952 Inter Cabriolet. Since then, right through to the F12 Berlinetta, Pininfarina was responsible for a heart-melting procession of cars, which kept the enthusiasts' attention on Maranello, and brought new definitions to words like "Italian," "scarlet," "racecar for the road" and "playboy."

The exhibit is open now and runs until January 7, 2013. The various samples of Sergio's work are broken up into race, road and concept cars and span the decades from the 250 LM to the 599 SA Aperta. A couple of videos and a press release below go into more detail, and no, it's not too early to ask Santa for a trip to Italy.

source: autoblog
by Jonathon Ramsey


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Ferrari Service and Sales Bay Area - Ferrari Enzo Resurrected After Ocean Crash - San Francisco Motor Sports San Rafael

When you own one of the world’s rarest vehicles, crashing it is about the last thing on your to-do list. Unfortunately, Zahir Rana did just that (and in spectacular fasion) crashinghis FerrariEnzo into the Atlantic Ocean last year during the Targa Newfoundland event.

As expected, news of his crash spread like wildfire throughout the Internet as Rana’s Enzo wasn’t just your standard production model. The owner of ZR Auto had employed Edo Competition to highly modify his Enzo to look like the ultra-rare FXX and packed quite the punch in the performance department.

After his accident, the Ferrari Enzo was recovered from the ocean and Rana embarked on a mission to save the vehicle. Despite the many people that believed the exotic couldn’t be restored, Rana wanted to show “that with determination and the right attitude, the impossible is possible.”

So here we have it: Rana’s Ferrari FXX, as he calls it, has been resurrected thanks to Edo. We’d find it hard to believe that the Enzo was ever involved in a fender bender, never mind plunging into the ocean.

See the video of the crash.

 

 

source: http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2012/10/ferrari-enzo-resurrected-after-ocean-crash.html
by Jason Siu

 

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Ferrari Service and Sales Bay Area - Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari Modena - San Francisco Motor Sports San Rafael

Cars. The creatures towards which Enzo addressed his creativity, his fantasy, his will to impress. Cars: from the beginning of a unique life, from the passion for certain Fiat models, in Ferrari’s thoughts they have always represented a mark of progress, an element of conquest, the tool to explore new frontiers.

Cars. Not only his ones, not only the ones named Ferrari. Because before the manufacturer, there was the wise and brave manager who, under the Scuderia’s sign, let Alfa Romeo cars race, with legendary drivers such as Nuvolari and Varzi at the wheel. From the extraordinary 8C 2300 Spider Corsa, to the Tipo 158, and the P3, not to mention the P3 and the Bimotore, Enzo tried to get the best from that car company.

He thought that enhancing the race cars they entrusted him was a moral duty: he felt they were his own, intimately bringing forward the professional and existential choices that would have turned him into a mechanics Creator God.

Unexpectedly, the first car entirely made by Ferrari’s genius has never had the full legal recognition…as a child: complicated contracft clauses, after his breaking-off with Alfa, stopped Enzo from giving his name to the Auto Avio Costruzioni 815. But this doesn’t matter: designed by Alberto Massimino and immediately registered to the Mille Miglia in 1940, this is the car that marks the turning point.

In strict accordance with the official rules, the Myth’s cars will come. Ferrari’s Ferraris: the 125 Sport, the 166 F2, the 166 MM Barchetta Touring.
These is the fascinating avant-garde of a cultural, industrial and sport revolution. Ferrari’s Ferraris managed to beat Alfa Romeo cars, they inspired the daring experimentations of the Stanguellini family and encouraged roaring battles with the Maserati, the Modenese cousin represented here by jewels such as the A6 1500 of 1947, the A6 Berlinetta Pf, the Spider Zagato.
Cars. The meaning of a life. The inimitable life of Enzo Ferrari.

The exhibition «Origins of the legend» is structured on the contribution that Modena offered over time to a generation of designers, engineers, constructors, stylists, drivers and enthusiasts from all over the world with refined, well-constructed and aesthetically impeccable products.

 

source: http://www.museocasaenzoferrari.it/en/museo/la-nascita-del-mito-la-prima-mostra/

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