In the last episode, I had discovered that after all the sanding back and painting I actually needed to fill the crack. I also discovered that the paint takes a lot longer to actually dry that I thought.

The end result was that I was now at the point of having patched the crack whether to paint over it before taking the car out for the weekend, or doing the sanding and painting of the epoxy after the drive, even though the car would be dirty.

I ultimately decided that there was no need to rush (which took a lot of discipline on my part) and that I would wait until after the weekend run. So on Sunday night, after the trip out in the morning, I broke out the 600 grit sand paper and commenced what I thought would be short process.

The reality was that I probably needed coarser sand paper to cut through the epoxy, because the 600 grit got clogged pretty quickly. Not having any coarser sand paper I continued on for well over an hour sanding, sanding, sanding and sanding some more.

To be honest, it got the better of me and I was now so sick of sanding that I just wanted it done. I tided it all up and then applied the first coat of paint over the patched crack.

The above result at the end of the painting process certainly looks much better but if you look closer you can see that the surface is not completely flat. The ‘scar’ where the epoxy is can be seen upon close inspection.

To get a totally smooth result I probably should have used a machine sander, however the risk with that is that if you sand away too much then that is generally more of a problem than not enough. Thus, I decided that given all the constraints it was the best I could do.

I left the paint to dry for another week and took the car out for a long drive with the Ferrari Club on Sunday.

So if the above is what it started out as, this is what it looks like now.

If you look closely you can see the area that I have painted and the ‘epoxy scar’ that perhaps could be sanded back more but generally at this stage of the game i am pretty happy with the result as I no longer see white fibreglass poking through red paint work.

With the weekend drive over it was now time to put a second coat over the first. I had been advised that I should sand the first attempt with 1200 grit to ensure there are no imperfections that would show through the second coat.

I would need to clean the area before painting so I asked someone whether methylated sprits could be used. They advise that I should use polish first then use metho. In the end I decided to wash the area first with car detergent. I then rinsed and dried the area. I then applied some of the cutting polish that came with the paint repair kit I had purchased.

The cutting polish took some of the paint off onto the polishing rag. I panicked at first but then remembered that that this is what the polish is supposed to do and the paint I was cleaning had no clear coat on it yet so it was raw paint.

I got an even greater shock when I then tried to use metho, because it started to take the paint off in much greater volumes. This left part of the surface I had attempted to clean sticky, like the paint wasn’t dry. Cursing my luck I now had to decide whether to proceed with the sanding and second coat.

Impatience won out and I decided to proceed with the second coat. I therefore cleaned the area again with water to remove any metho. Once it was dry I then proceeded to lightly sand the whole area back with 1200 grit.

Doing so took the gloss off the surface and did expose some of the white areas previously sanded. This was probably more to do with applying the metho than the sanding.

With the area sanded back, I once again cleaned it with water, ensured it was dry and then broke out the red paint. The question here is, how much do you apply? Do you apply a nice thick glossy coat or the bare minimum? I went for the thick glossy coat figuring that it is easier to take away than add later.

After closely examining my work, I touched up a few areas that where inconsistent and then stepped away. As always, I could see some small areas that I REALLY wanted to paint more but I disciplined myself after previous impatient attempts to call it quits for the day.

This second coat will now have the rest of the week to dry and after a trip out on the weekend the next step is to apply the clear coat.

Dry paint, dry.

If you though this blog was getting boring well thanks to my stupidity I now have another ‘little’ project.

As you can probably see from the above picture I was reversing in haste and managed to collect a raised road divider with a sign sticking out of it. The result of that was a lot of black scuff marks on the bumper but also a crack as you can see just above the exhaust pipe.

The impact also broke off some pieces from the under tray lining but the crack in the bumper is the really annoying part as it is a vivid reminder of how stupid and impetuous I am.

No use crying over spilled milk, time to work out how to get it fixed.

I have spoken with Sal at Racing Red and he can get it fixed but as you would expect it is bit more than few hundred dollars to repair, which I totally get.

The crack appears to only be on the exterior, it doesn’t appear cracked all the way through, so in theory it shouldn’t be ‘too’ hard to fix right?

If I tape it off, stand back the crack, touch it up with some paint I would think that would be adequate in preventing me from constantly seeing the reminder.

Hmmmm…let me see what Gary at Prestige Auto Dent Removal says first while I do some more research into fixing this myself.

I would think that if I tried to fix it up and stuffed up I could simply take to Sal and get it fixed?

Anyway, another chapter opens in the reference manual of my life with the F355. Stay tuned as this new story unfolds.

In a previous post I covered how the car had gone in for registration and required the CV boots changed amongst a few other things. One of the things that needed looking at was the tyre valve on the passenger’s rear, which was proving hard to use. When the car was retuned after having the valve changed to a genuine F355 one it was ‘discovered’ that both rear wheels had gashes on them.

The one in the in the second picture above was on the same rim that has the faulty valve. Now the tyre people were positive it wasn’t them but I am pretty sure I would have notice something like that on the rim before hand but unfortunately couldn’t be 100% sure. So was I was now also up for 2 rim repairs. (Note to self – next time photograph all rims before going to tyre place).

So off came the old CV boots as you can see above.

and on went a shiny set of new boots.

As mentioned previously, this was something that had been noted when I first purchased the car so it was not a surprise that they needed changing after all these years. Now with them done it should be right for quite a while.

You can see the heat shields that the boots sit under to protect them from the heat of the engine.

The other thing apart from the CV boots and the tyre rims I had done was to get the drivers seat ‘refurbished’ somewhat because it had become worn on the outer side where you slide in and out of the car. It is something that is always getting rubbed as I enter and exit the car (which I still can’t do gracefully in the confines of where it lives). This means that this outer part gets worn more than the rest of the seat so I also had that ‘repaired’ and ‘protected’. It will need doing again over time but it certainly looks much better. At the same time they also fixed the cushion on the seat at the front just under my legs as that was also (not unexpectedly) also wearing.

With that all complete (including an oil change after my oil incident) I rolled out of Racing Red and headed home. It is always amazing how heavy mid day traffic is when I am returning from a service. This time wasn’t as stressful as last time but it still wasn’t as free flowing as I reckon it should be at that time of the day. Must be just me!

With the car all tucked away I paid for my third party insurance (green slip) and registration online. Car registered for another year, done! Also, since there are no longer any registration stickers the car needs no further work, just get in and drive from here on in. Yeah.

All the repairs, including the unexpected ones to the rims, did make the bill more that I wanted but the majority was for repairs that I knew were coming and needed to be done. In the long run they all add to or maintain the value of the car so I have no hesitation in paying what is required here. Speaking of ‘known’ repairs, next year’s annual service will require the engine to be dropped out of the car and the belts changed. This should be completed every three years and dropping the engine out of the F355 is a ‘unique’ part of the maintenance of the car. Another ‘known’ issue that I’ll probably get taken care of at the same time is to get the shock absorbers re-conditioned as they were showing signs of leaking when I purchased the car. They are no worse to day but hey, while the whole engine is out why not refurbish the rear shocks as well eh? Next year’s annual service will make this years look cheap I feel.

All part of the joy of owning a F355.

So another year has rolled around and it’s time to get the car serviced and rego’ed again.
When I received the third party insurance (green slip) renewal for the the coming year the price was over $250 more than it was last year. That’s strange I thought, I wonder why that is? The attached covering letter from the insurance company suggested that I contact them to ask about multi-policy discounts. I might just do that, given my daily drive is also insured by the same company.
Lucky I did, as it turns out that because the F355 is comprehensively insured by a broker it isn’t listed via a ‘known’ insurance company on the other company’s list. This means at green slip renewal time they remove it from their system and thus the car goes back to not having comprehensive insurance. This results in a higher green slip premium.
As soon as I told them that the car was comprehensively insured the green slip fee dropped back to what it was last year (around $540). I understand why the green slip insurance company did what they did but I also note what would have happened if I hadn’t called them up to check why the premium was so much higher. Moral of that story is to always check things out when the price jumps like that. I made a note for renewal time next year.
So with the rego paper received it was time to get the car over to Racing Red for the annual service and registration. Aside from the service and rego there were a few things that I need checking out or more information on.
– The passenger rear tyre that had issues with a faulty valve previously that resulted in constant deflation, but had been replaced last time was proving hard to get the air pump on to insert air. Turns out that when they repaired the valve last time they had used a replacement valve that was not a Ferrari original. Not unsurprisingly given those valves aren’t too common. Luckily, Sal said that he had a spare and would get them to make a change.
– The suspension was still lower on one side when compared to the other. I’d had the car adjusted earlier in the year and the car was handling fine so I knew it wasn’t an issue but I was curious as to why this was? Investigations to be made.
– I quizzed Sal about the oil levels and temperatures after the recent ‘episode’ I had gone through. I was especially interested in why the oil level varied so much from cold to warm. Turns out the oil expands that much! Wow, didn’t know that. Also interesting to find out that the car shouldn’t burn that much oil at all. The only way is over consumes oil is if it is blowing smoke. That means that it shouldn’t need any oil between annual services given the low kilometres I do. Ok, roger, got that.
– After having to recently replace the battery in my daily drive car I wondered whether I should be looking to change the battery in this car? There was no indication of issues so no real need it turns out. If the battery is weak then it will crank the engine slowly when starting. That’s the early warning sign to watch for. Although I could get the NRMA (road side assistance) to change the battery, the best bet is to get Sal to take of that. Ok, check.
– Signs of leaking shocker absorbers. An issue highlighted during initial inspection and checked last year. Need to see whether they have degraded to the point where it needs addressing. Investigations to be made.
– During the initial purchase inspection it was revealed that the inner driveshaft CV boots were swollen and deformed. The CV boots are basically rubber housing that fits over the axles at either end.

Now the inner CV boots are the ones that are closest to engine.

They become deformed because they are so close to the engine which gets mighty hot when it is running.


The above shots show you that the right hand inner CV boot is actually torn and starting to throw out grease, so time to get them changed.
This was something that was mentioned in the initial inspection and checked last year around this time so it is not a huge surprise that it needs doing, so the go ahead to replace both inner CV boots has been authorized but given that replacement parts are required this may delay the return of the car a little. That’s not a huge issue, and I’d rather get it done right.
I wonder whether the CV boots have ever been replaced? Probably not given the low distance the car has travelled prior to my ownership, so it is something that is known to deform over time with the heat of the engine although there is plenty of chat out there on the forums about the standard heat shields in the car not providing enough protection for the CV boots. That’s something I’ll get checked as well but given they have lasted this long I don’t think there should be a problem.
So that’s where we stand at the moment, repairs underway and further updates to come once I know more.

The saga I’m about to reveal all actually started with my other car. I had departed at around 5am for a trip to the Gold Coast (about 10 hours driving) and had just passed the last freeway service station. All of a sudden, while boring along the freeway, the check oil light came on.
In a mild panic I pulled off at the next exit to find a service station. When I did, I purchased whatever oil they had and poured about half a litre into the engine and proceeded on my way without further incident. The following week I put this car in for service and deduced that the issue had simply been a long time between services. My fault for failing to be diligent.
This incident then got me thinking about the fluid levels in the F355. The first thing was the water level. Here’s what the owner’s manual says:
Regularly check the level of the coolant in the tank, only when the engine is cold, the level must not fall below 2.8 to 3.1 (6 – 8 cm) below the filler cap.


So the expansion tank for the cooling system is located at the top, in the middle of the engine (item 6 above) and when I unscrewed the cap I did indeed find the water level to be a bit low. I therefore topped it up with about 1 litre of water, which was more that I expected it would take to get the level up.
Now checking the oil is a different matter. The owner’s manual says:
Check the oil every 500 miles (800 kms) by means of the dipstick under the oil tank filler cap.
The level must always be kept between the “Min” and “Max” marks on the dipstick.
Note: To check the oil level, leave the engine idle for a few minutes (oil temperature above 158 degree F), then stop the engine and check the oil immediately.
Unfortunately, what I took away from that was to check the oil when the car is warm, which is not completely correct. You MUST check the oil immediately after the car has stopped running as I will explain further.
So after taking the car out for a drive I left it for its customary cool down period (45 – 60 minutes) and then checked the oil.
 

The oil tank is the back right hand side of the engine bay (if looking at the engine from the rear). It is item 1 in the above diagram.

The oil filler cap (item 5 in diagram) has a dipstick connected as shown above with the requisite “Min” and “Max” lines.
After removing the cap, wiping the dipstick and checking the oil level I discovered, much to my horror, that no oil level was registered! Now in a mid state of panic I checked the level again and failed to find any trace of oil. The ‘red mist’ descended.
Oh no, I thought. The engine has no oil. What will I do? Then I remembered the oil I had purchased for my other car previously and only partially used. I retrieved that and poured about half of what remained into the F355 oil tank. Checking the oil level again, I still found no trace of oil on the dipstick. The panic level increased as I poured the remaining oil into the F355 oil tank. A final check after this still failed to reveal any traces of oil in the F355 tank.
With no more oil available I started making plans to immediately rush out and pick some up. As the ‘red mist’ of panic began to subside, the more logical side of my brain kicked in. Surely, the oil level couldn’t ‘disappear’, I must be missing something.
I was. After some research the important part of the owners manual I had dutifully neglected was:
Note: To check the oil level, leave the engine idle for a few minutes (oil temperature above 158 degree F), then stop the engine and check the oil immediately. 
The reason you need to check the oil level immediately after stopping the car is that the F355 has a dry sump configuration. Now I had no idea what the difference between a wet and dry sump was. I don’t feel too bad now because nearly everyone else I asked didn’t either. So here, in a nutshell is the difference between a wet and dry sump.

The above video details how oil works as a lubrication system for an engine. It resides at the bottom of the engine in a  ‘sump’ where it is pumped around the engine for lubrication and cooling.

Most cars have what is know as a wet sump, that is all the oil resides in the sump at the bottom of the car. You use a dipstick to check the oil level when the car is cool as all the oil has pooled in the sump at the bottom and you can measure the level.
Typically, the F355 is not a ‘normal’ car, it uses a dry sump system (as detailed in the above video). Why? A dry sump basically stores the oil in a separate reservoir. This means the sump can be smaller, therefore the engine can be mounted lower in the car for better balance. A dry sump system also ensure a more even supply of oil to the engine when accelerating, braking or cornering at high speeds. In a normal wet sump system the oil can ‘slosh’ to one side when cornering preventing adequate oil supply.
Having established that the F355 has a dry sump system I understand the reason why the oil level needs to be checked just after stopping the engine (so there is oil in the tank!). So I now need to check the oil the ‘correct’ way, up to temperature and just after stopping the engine.

When I now tested the level I discovered it to way above the ‘Max’ level like so:

Having the oil at such high levels is not good for the engine as it can screw up the sensors as well as cause the engine to blow smoke.
Now the challenge was getting the oil level down. After some internet searching I came across this thread (where I also took the oil level pictures from):
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/348-355/335635-checking-355-oil-level.html
and it recommended the best option was to use a turkey baster to remove the excess oil from the tank.

Silly me considered a turkey baster an easy item to procure. Alas, there were none in my local shopping centre, so off to the Internet search engines I went.
I eventually found one that I could order form the Internet, which I did but figured, surely, I could buy one somewhere. After some more searching I located a suitable shop in a bigger shopping complex and headed off to secure it. Problem is that when I arrived, turned out there must have been a run on turkey basters as there were none to be found. “REALLY?”, I groaned. None? Hang on sec, what’s this. Hmmm, not exactly what I was after but it will do the job.

So rather than just a turkey baster I ended up with a
MasterChef Roasting & Basting Set

I figured that I could use the brush from the set to at least clean the vents in the car. You use that kind of justification when you pay more for something than you wanted don’t you now?
Armed with my baster and an assistant I ran the car for 60 seconds to get oil into the tank and started to suck out the excess. Problem is, how much do I take out? I wasn’t a hundred percent sure of how much I had actually put in. I kind of figured just over half a litre. I therefore removed about this amount.
With that complete I needed to check the oil at temperature, so I fired the car up and let it idle. As the engine heated up I started to get lots of smoke from the engine. ‘Oh no, what have I done wrong’, my brain screamed as the ‘red mist’ of panic descended again. Here’s where having someone to help you pays dividends. My helper pointed out that I had managed to spill a small amount of oil on the exhaust manifold. When this heated up the oil burnt off. Thus, the smoke.
I could see the oil on the manifold but there was nothing I could do as the engine was now hot. I no other option but to let it burn off, which I did (while still holding my breath). What had in fact had happened, even though I had been extremely careful transferring the oil out of the tank and into a container, was oil had travelled down the underside of the container, to the bottom, and dripped on the manifold.
With engine at temperature I discovered the oil level still above the maximum level. “That’s strange”, I thought. We decided to let the car cool down before attempting to remove any more oil. Getting hot engine oil on one’s skin is not fun at all, so safety first!
About an hour later we returned and drained another 0.3 litres and even then the oil level was still at the maximum. Now I’m sure I didn’t put about 0.8 litres in there. Strange. Maybe it was high to start?
With that complete, I cleaned up, thanked my assistant and put the car to bed, still concerned as to whether I had in fact now removed too much oil.
The big test was going to be the weekend run down the south coast. To be safe I decided it was best to take some oil along with me, just in case I had in fact removed too much. Turns out that even buying oil is fraught with complications.
The oil specified in the owner’s manual is 10W40, whereas the oil I had added to the engine was 20W50. Hmmmm, ok what’s the difference? Turns out that these numbers refer to the viscosity of the oil. The first number is a ‘winter’ or cold viscosity, while the second number is a ‘normal’ operating temperature viscosity. The lower the number the less viscous (or more easily flowing the oil will be). Thus, a 10W oil will move through the engine faster when cold than a 20W. For more details on all this stuff see:
http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/motoroil_viscosity/
So basically I had not only added too much oil, but I had also added the wrong type. No much I could do about that now.
The other question about oil for the F355 was whether it needed to have ‘magnesium’ or not? At this point I wanted to put the whole saga behind me so I went out and bought some Shell Helix 10W40 as my oil security blanket for upcoming journeys.
So the epilogue of this story is that the car completed the Cavallino run without incident, even with the oil getting up to temperature sitting in traffic. It has also been out on additional runs, again without incident, but I am not yet confident enough to go out without my oil security bottle.
Big learning experience here is to do EXACTLY what the owners manual says when it comes to checking the car and at least now I know the difference between a wet and dry sump. I’m still a little fuzzy on some of the details that go along with this in the F355 but I’m sure I’ll work those out in good time. If you have gotten through this whole post, then hopefully you will as well know what a dry sump is in case you ever come across one! Thanks for reading.