About the starter motor

So it is probably the time to start understanding more about the make up of the Ferrari F355 in greater detail, so to me the most logical place to start is with the starter motor. Interestingly, this has proved to be far more challenging than I expected.
A look through the workshop manual only displays the engine from the left hand side like so:

The starter motor is actually on the right hand side towards the back which I have highlighted below:

As you can see you don’t get a very good idea of what it looks like.
I then tried to do a search for ‘Ferrari 355 engine’ but again seemed to come up short with anything that provided a good idea of what the starter motor actually looks like.

This is the best that I could come up with and have circled the starter motor for you.
Next stop was to see what the individual part itself looks like. That was easy enough as you can see below.

A search on the Ricambi site pulled up the schematic and the part number (155166) which is item 26 below.

So the large nut on the housing connects directly to the positive terminal on the top right hand of the engine bay. Will have to check that out next time I’m in there.
Now, I appreciate that a starter motor starts the car but how does it actually do that? A bit more searching turned up this really cool video that explains it all.

<img alt="" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-5hScdR0frN4/UP6ItkUo–I/AAAAAAAAHww/vj-TM6McdQo/video49ba2e1d5788%25255B39%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('e8834fda-b17d-47fa-95f5-99ce1dc19934'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "

http://www.youtube.com/v/bx3xniNw7XM?hl=en&hd=1“;” style=”border-style: none;” />

Principles of starting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx3xniNw7XM
So the starter motor must sit near the flywheel. Returning to the workshop manual I found this diagram in the Clutch – Gearbox section.

So here you can see (highlighted) the rear of the housing into which the starter motor fits and the teeth in the flywheel that it connects to.

The only other useful diagram I found was the gearbox longitudinal section shown above. In it you can see the outline of the starter motor (highlighted).
So now I know where to look next time I’m in the engine bay and I’ll get some shots and post them up as there doesn’t seem to be many around for the Ferrari F355. I am also much more knowledgeable about exactly how the starter motor functions (you just gotta love YouTube haven’t you?).
Here’s another good video that explains more about starter motors in general.

<img alt="" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-irIhOdwmhvA/UP6N_aPOKxI/AAAAAAAAHw0/3YF48CQqXJs/video4a42c8e15b47%25255B10%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('0a53e81c-3b28-47e3-85cb-48eea5913490'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "

http://www.youtube.com/v/ITFW2PkqXWw?hl=en&hd=1“;” style=”border-style: none;” />

Starters and Solenoids–Explanation of how they work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITFW2PkqXWw
I get the impression that the Ferrari F355 starter motor is like the last one mentioned in the video.
Finally, here’s a a great video that show you how to diagnose starter motor issues.

<img alt="" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-vIrP_xd7S_Q/UP6N_8KBVaI/AAAAAAAAHw8/hYhddRy0LZk/video548fde08c80a%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('4c2f8c91-4895-4d5b-a8cf-1ac5abd24cd7'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "

http://www.youtube.com/v/0mKrx-fMi_8?hl=en&hd=1“;” style=”border-style: none;” />

How to troubleshoot a starter problem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mKrx-fMi_8