All rego’ed up

As the year draws to a close, the car has completed its annual service and registration. The only outstanding item is the small cog for the air conditioning, which seems, for some reason, much to hard to get 3D printed! Thus, the solution maybe to look at getting it injection moulded. But that too will have to wait until the new year. Man, what a drama that little part has been. I’ll get it sorted, but wow, who’d thought?

The next item on the agenda is now a car hoist to make storage easier. At this stage my thinking is around a four post hoist like:

from somewhere like Tufflift.

although a simpler one like this:

May do the job just as well and be a fair bit cheaper. I’m in the process of research across a number of different suppliers and I’ll start getting more serious about this in the New Year. For now, it is time to site back and enjoy driving.

Singin’ in the rain

Even though it was a wet and rainy day things couldn’t be better because the F355 is back and fully operational!

The failed hose ended up being Part Number 161609 (pipe from tank to radiators delivery pipe).

Which has now been replaced. The split appears to be right at the point when it bends up from the transverse pipes as shown above.

At the same time, the re-conditioned cats were re-installed as well as the suspension warning light being rectified. All that now needs to be done is to replace the broken gear in the air conditioning unit. At the moment I do have a replacement gear for that but I’m having a number of copies made, just in case!

The car will need to go back to Sal in about a month’s time for its annual service and registration. Hopefully, by that time I’ll also have the replacement gear, which can finally be fixed, and that should be it!

It looks like it is going to take about a year, mainly thanks for COVID, to get the car fully operational without ANY residual issues! However, in the meantime, even though it was quite wet today, it was a joy to take the car out for an extended drive. It’ll be even better to do likewise when the sun is shiny, but that is for another day. I’m stoked that the cats are back, there is no warning lights on the dash and no green liquid under the car.

Next project is to get the 3D print of the broken gear sorted. Updates on that when it happens. Stay tuned.

Green, green go away

After a month’s wait for the opportunity to be repaired, I decided that the safer bet was to trailer the F355 over to Sal for a diagnosis of the coolant leak. Watching the temperature gauge constantly while driving on the freeway and potentially having to pull over is not my idea of fun.

Loading onto a tilt tray is always a nerve racking experience and this time was no expectation. Inching along, holding the car by the clutch is not what these cars are designed for. However, being manual, it is probably much easier that using a F1 gearbox. The worst part is simply not being able to see where to align the wheels and relying on someone else’s hand signals, again, is not fun. But, we got there and up on the trailer she went.

Even on such a short trip onto the trailer, the car was still losing coolant as you can see.

The puddle created, when stationary, is about mid-vehicle. This means the leak is somewhere between the engine and firewall.

I waved the car farewell and awaited word.

The diagnosis is that the top hose to the header tank (driver’s side) had a small hole resulting in coolant being sprayed upwards into the engine bay. Luckily, not a major job after all.

Hopefully, I can also get the cats refitted and the suspension warning light resolved.

I am still in the process of getting the cog for the A/C control 3D printed, so I have a backup of this rare part. The replacement of this cog will have to wait till next time it seems. Next time, in fact, won’t be too far away as it will soon be time for the annual service and registration.

At the moment, the car remains at the doctors having the coolant leak, exhaust and suspension repaired. That hopefully won’t take too long and we’ll be back on the road again after many weeks.

Green is not my favourite colour

After a long hiatus, the F355 was about to go out for a longer run in the spring sunshine. It was also an opportunity to wash the grim off as well. During this process, I notices some coolant leaks (spray) near the firewall, just behind the driver. It had sprayed onto the underside of the engine cover and across the middle of the engine, near the braided connectors as you can see above.I cleaned off the area but upon arriving I notice it had returned.

Ok, this is a current issue that’ll need to be addressed. The amount leaking doesn’t appear to be huge, and I topped up the coolant tank, so the car should be drivable if needed.

After letting the car stand for about an hour upon my return, I check underneath the car and found a steady drop, drop, drop of coolant leaking from right in the middle of the engine. Again, nothing tremendous but enough to have me worried about getting it fixed asap so it doesn’t get worse.

The nine year anniversary

Here’s the summary of another year’s ownership of a F355. You may want to catch up on previous episodes:

One Year Anniversary

Two Year Anniversary

Three Year Anniversary

Four Year Anniversary

Five Year Anniversary

Sixth year Anniversary

Seventh year Anniversary

Eighth year Anniversary

The ninth year they say is pottery

It’s been another year of extended lockdowns and restrictions on movements so comparisons from previous years have gone out the window.

Costs

Total costs for the previous year were actually a little higher at around $11,000 due mainly to insurance (as always) and the annual engine out service and clutch replacement. No doubt the costs would have been much higher without health restrictions.

There are still a few repairs that the car requires, but I am not expecting any major additional costs in the coming year (fingers crossed).

Travel

The car has passed the 92,000 kms mark and, provided restrictions don’t return, I would expect it to go very close to crossing the 100,000 kms mark in the next twelve months. In the last year, the car has only done about 5,000 kms, about 25% less than what it would normally do simply because of the health restrictions.

Low points

Unfortunately, the refurbishment of the cats wasn’t completed until after the annual engine out maintenance was complete. That means they have been laying around for almost twelve months now.

Another hang over from the annual service was the suspension warning light,

which is more annoying that anything as it is on every time you drive the car. The idea was to get this fixed be replacing an actuator when the cats were replaced. Alas, restrictions have delayed that also.

The final annoying repair this year, that is currently also still in limbo, is the small gear in the air conditioning timing actuator,

clip_image001

which has perished. I’ve managed to locate a replacement part (which wasn’t easy), and get it shipped to me. However, before I get it put back into my car I’ve sent it off to get some 3D printed copies made so I have spares. Unfortunately, once again, health restrictions have delayed this process significantly.

Apart from these minor annoying repairs that need to be fixed, and they will be, the health restrictions have meant I have been restricted in the driving I’ve been able to do. Luckily, the F355 has a battery isolation switch that prevents the battery going flat.

To keep the car ‘maintained’ I have taken it out every couple of weeks for a few laps around the block. The main aim is simply to get it up to operating temperature and have all the fluids flowing through the pipes to prevent aging.

Fingers crossed that our restrictions will end shortly and I can get back to regular drives as both the F355 and I have missed them.

High points

I can’t really point to many this year unfortunately due to restrictions, However, the car continues to start and drive when asked. The new clutch has also made it a much easier car to drive as well. All in all, the car has endured hibernation remarkably well.

Value

The value has perhaps bumped up a little in the last twelve months, possibly due to asset inflation. I see similar good quality examples like mine being offered from around the $300K mark. As noted last year, rosso corso is certainly not the most common colour on offer these days!

Summary

We live in extraordinary times as they say. I count myself blessed that I have been able to maintain my ownership of the F355 over the past twelve months, even if there have been major restrictions in my enjoyment of doing this. I look forward to shortly getting all the remaining repairs completed and the banishment of warning lights from the dashboard so I can truly enjoy the F355.

As always, I’ll keep you posted of updates about the car as they transpire. These have been limited of late simply because the F355 has spend the majority of its time lately in hibernation, awaiting the opportunity again to roam free on the roads. That day isn’t too far away now!

Gear of misfortune

So the issue with the 63307100 Timing Actuator I’m having issues with turn out to be with the gear inside as shown above.

Given the teeth are all broken the easiest option seems to be to replace these but new and second hands are hard to come by. Seems like 3D printing might be the best option for a replacement.

Let me see what I can find and report back.

Parts hunt

One of the concerns with a aging car is in the scarcity of replacements parts. Looks like I may be up against that at the moment with the following part:

63307100 Timing Actuator

Which enables air flow to be directed to either the windscreen, central vents or feet. The part is currently unavailable to buy new and as such sourcing a used part is hard to find and expensive.

So far, no luck with any supplier I have contacted. I’ll keep trying and share the results.

The original drive day

This post is a copy of a post I did a few years (2010) before I became an owner. If I’m honest, it was kind of a dry run to see what driving an actual Ferrari was like. I thought that I’d move it here into a new home so other may enjoy.

Power up the flux capacitor………………

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

My time had arrived to go on the Ferrari drive day provided by Prancing Horse.

The starting point is the Prancing Horse base in Marrickville Sydney. When you arrive you are greeted by the following site:

Our mounts for the day (from R to L, 328, 355, 360, 430)

Four shiny Ferrari’s (328GTS, 355, 360 and a 430). Best of all they seem to be in need of some drivers!

I think I’ll take the one on the left first (from R to L, 360, 430)

After overcoming my shyness I whip out my camera and start taking shots. Soon the other drivers for the day also rock up and we all introduce ourselves. The guys from Prancing Horse now shepherd us inside and read the riot act. No not really, but they do make sure we understand the value of these machines and that we are responsible for them. Most importantly we are cautioned against doing anything stupid while driving as these cars are like nothing else most people have even driven!

We sign a few documents, take a breath analyser and then get take back outside for a briefing on each car. That over we now draw lots for our vehicles and co-drivers. With 4 cars and 8 drivers we will each take turns at driving and being a passenger in each car.

I draw the most powerful car of the lot, the 430, to start with. I slide behind the drivers wheel and listen intently to the instructions on how to make the car go vrooom. Before we head off for our trip we take a bit of a drive up the street and back to get a ‘feel’ for our rides. I can feel how powerful the 430 is but it is surprisingly easy to drive.

We head off through the Sydney morning heading south. As we start clearing the city I start to give the 430 a bit of boot and am blown away with how quick it is (not to mention the noise from the engine). I get the opportunity to test the 430’s acceleration by dashing away from the lights but ensure that I reign it in before reaching the speed limit as nothing says you are going quick than a red Ferrari.

We head south and turn off towards the Royal National Park and our first stop Audley Weir. I reluctantly dismount the vehicle and part take in some morning tea. Every is almost babbling with excitement now.

The smoking 328GTS

The big boy of the bunch. The 430

Looks good from any angle

Push the red button on the left of the steering wheel to make it start.

An experience inside or outside.

It’s soon time to head off and no one is complaining as we once again slide into the cockpit (it’s my turn to ride shotgun in the 430). However, as we go to head off the 328GTS decides to blow off some smoke from somewhere under the dashboard and won’t start. Oh no, does this mean our day is over before it has really started? Luckily not. Fortunately one of the principals of Prancing Horse has his own Ferrari 328GTS that he can lend us. What a nice man. Problem is that it’ll take him a little while to arrive but everyone agrees that we should continue.

We spend a pleasant morning further ogling the cars and smiling at other people’s reactions when they see four bright red Ferrari’s in one car park.

The replacement 328GTS arrived and we were off again, this time with me as a passenger in the 430. Now being a passenger is whole different ballgame, especially in a car like this. It did however give me the opportunity to take a number of short videos.

At the next changeover point over looking the ocean, I took control of the 328 GTS. This is a completely different beast to the 430 I had driven earlier. The first thing was that it was manual and secondly the hand brake is on the right hand side near the drivers door. The other thing about the hand brake was that it was the type that you pull up, press and release. Now, no matter what the state of the actual brake, on or off, the handle returns to the floor. Very deceptive as I was about to find out.

After only a very short distance I knew there was something wrong with the car. It took me a little while to actually discover that the hand brake was still engaged. Worse still I couldn’t get it come off. We had to therefore radio for help from the boys from Prancing Horse in the lead car to circle back and assist.

Turns out that the hand brake on this vehicle ‘tends’ to get stuck (no kidding!) but after a quick jerk up and press in it was released.

The 328GTS being a much older car is completely different to drive from all the cars. It is much heavier and you need a significant amount of strength to even depress the clutch, yet alone shift gears. It does take some getting used to. Having the hand brake on the opposite side also proved a little challenging when it came to hill starts. I again managed to get the hand break stuck on but luckily now I had seen the ‘magic touch’ I could get it off after a few tries.

We now hit the freeway heading south towards Kiama where we could open the taps a little and enjoy the ‘symphony of horse power’.

All in a line

We pulled over at the end of the freeway to swap drivers again. It was now turn to ride shotgun for the trip around the back, through the hills and to downtown Kiama for our lunch break.

We all take a pit stop for lunch

We dawdled through town to our lunchtime stop, pulling up a ‘U’ shaped driveway in full view all the patrons. What a way to make an entrance. We then summarily enjoyed a fantastic lunch over looking the ocean.

As good as it was to take a break everybody couldn’t wait to return to our steeds. I was really looking forward to this stint, as I would be behind the wheel of the 355. Although a more modern car than the 328GTS it still retains a lot of the its distinctive looks.

We headed back the way we came, through town, looping back around through the hill towards the freeway north. It was glorious to drive in the rural setting into the hills and be able to feel the power of the 355.

All too soon it was time to pull over again and change drivers. I reluctantly handed over control of the 355 and took my place in the passenger seat for the ride back up the freeway.

After the freeway run it was time for the final vehicle change and my final stint behind the wheel. My co-driver and I moved to the 360 for the return leg to Marrickville.

90,000 kilometres

Another milestone reached in the F355 with 90,000 kilometres just clocked over.

Doing roughly 150 kilometres a week means I’ll hit the magical 100,000 mark in about 67 weeks, i.e just over a year.

It is interesting that many people feel the value of the car decreases with more travel but in my experience it is far better to drive these cars than squirrel them away in a garage and drive them once in a blue moon. As long as the car is well looked after, and has all the log books with a complete service history, I’d rather buy a car with more, rather than less kilometres.

However, what I think and what the market believes are two very different things. in the end, I bought the F355 to drive not to hide away in a garage!

Onwards to 100,000, I say!

The cats are back

Finally received the re-conditioned cats back from Liverpool Exhaust. Now I just need to have them put back into the car along with the suspension actuator and air conditioning vents.