Buick guy rebuilds a Ferrari 355 (Image heavy)

Discussion in 'Members Rides' started by Leviathan, Feb 4, 2017.

  1. Leviathan

    Leviathan Inmate of the Month

    ...since I've been horribly absent for a while figured I should post up a recent project that's kinda rare.

    This is a Ferrrari 355 Berlinetta 6-speed that I took the engine out of, rebuilt for reliability (It's a Ferrari, little old me is not getting any more power out of it!), then put back together. There's way more details in the bottom end work and the head rebuild, but I'll save that for another time. These are the bits with the best pictures.

    It is pure, weapons grade, mechanic porn:

    Starting out, had to use a scissor lift due to how the car is built. 4 posters wont work.

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    Mostly ready to come out now, this is a shot of the clutch and exhaust systems. Clutch is at the back, takes about 90 minutes to change....but by murphys law, they last forever.

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    Engine out and ready to be stripped down. There's a few Buick hoods, doors, and 455 engine parts in the background...

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    Timing system. This is what was getting scary as the tensioners are hydraulic and never designed to last 20 years. The bearings are a single roller system which is, well, crap for reliability. Notice the little holes on the cam gears...that's how we degree a cam on a Ferrari 355.

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    Headers. These were built with 308 stainless and WAY too thin so tend to overheat, balloon, then crack. The stainless heat shields surround them are ugly as hell too. It took longer to remove these from the engine than to take the engine out of the car. :Dou:

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    The cams were pristine despite the abuse. Every nut, bolt, washer, seal, and gasket came off this car like it was put on yesterday. All the hardware was top-notch...but strangely come parts were dirt cheap crapola! These heads were actually rebuilt, but that's a whole other posting....

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    The alternator for instance is a plain old nippondenso you'd find on Toyotas and Dodges. It sits 2" from the headers so the circuitry fries. Upgraded the rectifier, regulators, and added heat shields. New from Ferrari is $800...self rebuild is $75.

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    Same story with the A/C compressor. $1200 new. Or you can work out which model Sanded compressor it is, buy the better model, and pay $138. I swapped the heads so it looks exactly like the factory unit. here you see them side by side.

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    Headers...not so lucky. I bought 3 different sets and flowbenched them all, and looked into thier reliability. One of the cheapest sets actually won.

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    Some cosmetic work on the valve covers. The red color didn't match the other black parts of the engine so I redid them in crinkle-black paint, cooked in our oven. My wife was less than pleased...

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    Timing. This was a ton of research and exceeded the factory process by quite a ways. Dwell was accounted for, built this rig to get the timing on all cylinders, and accounted for minor variations in the cam grinds. Took about 20 hours in total.

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    The new bearings from Hill engineering had some clearance issues. They would fit, but with some heat expansion could have hit the brackets. Added 0.025 of clearance then polished out the brackets to remove any stress riser. Rebuilt the bushings with new poly so they pivot perfectly. These will no longer be the weak point of this engine.

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    Headers going back on after a double coating of black ceramic dip. Eliminated the cats with a custom Y-pipe.

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    Rebuilt the shifter...

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    Took all the smog pumps and piping out for...umm...testing. I'll put them back in soon. Promise.

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    Put back together with some custom wheels. Everyone who helped out signed the inside of the plug wire covers.

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    ...and out for test drive! Put on 1500 miles since then and she is running better than new.

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    Thanks for reading!
     
  2. flynbuick

    flynbuick Guest

    Super work on a super car. It took a lot of courage and skill to do this.
     
  3. breakinbuick11

    breakinbuick11 Platinum Level Contributor

    This is inspiring. I always wondered if any Buick guys were into the super car scene. A 97-05 Ferrari 550/575 is my dream car. Someday. Thanks for sharing!
     
  4. Matt Knutson

    Matt Knutson Well-Known Member

    That's sweet! Nice work - cool car.
     
  5. 70 gsconvt

    70 gsconvt Silver Level contributor

    Very nice.
     
  6. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    Wow, your a brave man to take that job on. Is this your car? What happened to the engine that it had to come out? What the mileage on it?

    Did you rebuild the whole engine or just do the service on it? And out of morbid curiosity, what would that of cost at the Ferrari dealer as opposed to what it cost you? Where do you get parts for a Ferrari from?
     
  7. sean Buick 76

    sean Buick 76 Buick Nut

    Cool nice work and great documentation of the project! I want to hear exhaust!
     
  8. 70 gsconvt

    70 gsconvt Silver Level contributor

    As someone who used to own a 1970 Maserati Ghibli, I know they can be a lot of fun. There's nothing like the sound when those engines get over 3500 rpm's and they really start to sing. Just gotta be prepared for that annual maintenance that they all need. But if you can rebuild the engine, you should have no trouble with that aspect of it.
     
    Last edited: Feb 5, 2017
  9. Smokey15

    Smokey15 So old that I use AARP bolts.

    /\/\/\ All of the above X2.
     
  10. sriley531

    sriley531 Excommunicado

    Wow!! Well done man, that takes not only skill, but some serious plums to dive into a car like that. Well done sir!
     
  11. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

  12. Leviathan

    Leviathan Inmate of the Month

    Thanks for the kind words guys, glad you enjoyed the pics.

    Good questions...

    The car is mine...had it for 7 years now and have been wanting to do this project since the day I got it. I finally had the time to do it right and research it all.

    It has 29k miles on it now. That's middle-age for a 355, they pretty much explode at 90k since they put a lot of those miles on at well over 7000 RPM and 180 MPH.

    I did the belt service and a 3/4 rebuild. The bottom end was pristine. The heads, accessories, and electronics were all rebuilt. The headers, injectors, bearings, smog gear and several seals were all upgraded after some research and some engineering. The smog and cats were also...er...removed for testing and the ECU's were given some interesting changes. There's a ton more I can blather on about....

    The service is about 5k from a good Ferrari shop. A rebuild like this one can run 25-35k if you pay full price for parts from Ferrari itself. This one cost me a ton of weekends, several fights with shipping companies, a near imprisonment at Canada customs, 1 sq-ft of skin, 5% of my sanity, 3 bottles of scotch, and a couple broken sockets.

    The parts research was the BEST part of the job. I love digging into the design and finding out where the parts come from to see how they work and how 20 years have changed the design. I got most of the parts from the factories that make the parts. Had some great chats with engineers at Bosch, SKF, and Ferrari itself. The electronics are all Bosch (the ECU's are from a VW Corrado!), the bearings are SKS, the compressor is Sanden, the alternator is Denso, and the rest are common seals. Only a few pieces are Ferrari and I found a great supplier in the UK for those. The rads were custom built in the US. The most exotic bits are the headers and the custom Y-pipe from Japan...but modified right here by a local shop to have the correct splitter baffles.

    For the service manual, I have the one they publish as well as the one they don't. Had to translate it from Italian.

    Was a ton of work and headache....loved every minute of it.
     
  13. CJay

    CJay Supercar owner Staff Member

    Thanks for the reply Clint. You had my wife looking at 355's on Ebay after I showed her the picture of your car. My first mistake. She showed me one on her tablet and I had two words for her- Absolutely not!! :Dou:
     
  14. 70 gsconvt

    70 gsconvt Silver Level contributor

    You truly hit the nail on the head with respect to researching parts and finding out where they all came from. Ferrari, just like most other manufacturers, got a lot of parts off the shelf from the big parts companies. I had my car in the late 90's before using the internet was so prevalent. It probably could have saved me a ton of money if I could have researched for parts for service. MIE in WA or OR was the only game in town for a long time as they bought out the factory of all the spare parts. And when you needed something, they knew they were the only game in town that would have what you needed and they made you pay.

    Should have kept that car. Back then, it was just a 25-30 year old european car. Bought it for $17K. Sold it a year later for $!8K. Today, you can't touch even an average one for around $175K or so. I've actually been looking around at various future greats.. Lotus Esprits are sure cheap right now for the performance you can get.
     

    Attached Files:

  15. Brian Albrecht

    Brian Albrecht Classic Reflections

    x2
     
  16. Brian Albrecht

    Brian Albrecht Classic Reflections


    Is that the one with "You A Crazy" on the front cover LOL
     
  17. Aaron65

    Aaron65 Well-Known Member

    Right now, my Corvair's engine is in a thousand pieces on my garage floor, and I'm at the point where I look at the pile of parts and hope I can get them all back together in the correct order. I can't imagine how many times you must have had that sinking feeling on this project. :)

    Great work, and beautiful car! Few '90s cars have held up as well (aesthetically) as a Ferrari 355. I remember when I was a kid in high school and the 355 came out; I thought it looked soooo much better than the 348.
     
  18. Gulfgears

    Gulfgears Gulfgears

    Wow, what courage to tackle that job!

    I rebuilt my AFB and thought I was going to be inducted into the automotive hall of fame for that. This is world class bravery!

    I really dig the Ferrari red valve covers from the factory, but change is good.
     
  19. Mike B in SC

    Mike B in SC Well-Known Member

    This was like watching an episode of "Wheeler Dealers"! Your name isn't Edd China, is it? :grin:
     
  20. JOE RIV 1

    JOE RIV 1 Well-Known Member

    niceeee!!!!
     

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