NO RETEX

Jack is also sometimes critical of the way of making the Italians and in particular the Ferrari (not everything is rosy), he noticed several cars and now can be compared with criteria but would like to assume that the models from 2000 are a little better designed.

If for any need to unscrew the spoiler under the gate or Pininfarina badge on the side then we must prepare to pay a big bill because it takes time because it should remove a lot of parts like fenders, radiators, oil of water, air collectors ... just to access two screws that hold the spoiler and badge clips.

It is true that not much thought but a simple takedowns previous analysis of the engineer in charge should solve this problem of lack of RETEX because small-series cars can not expect the returns to experience. The end is very ugly to submit a repair bill exorbitant due to disassembly, because the owners of Ferrari pay anything, until one day a client comes to them like cars well aware of them.

With how easy it is to modify the logo replacing the front attachment of a hitch in the form of "L" and leave the rear with washer fixation autoclavante and make a hole giving access to the screws on the spoiler in the air collectors radiators .

Finally, beside minor defects that gives you emotion.

SURPRISE

Jack has dismantled the exhaust pipe to repair, when It was in his hands he realise that it was not the standard. He cleaned it, took some pictures and sent them to several companies to ask for repairing it, his surprise was that in the manufacturer plate put something like "tube style", then went to internet and saw "Tubi Style", a pleasant surprise! because it is the very best in racing exhausts for Ferrari, as with Capristo.

The first picture below is of Tubi Style´s catalogue and the others are the Jack Ferrari exhaust, the brown color is due to the heat of  its 8 years of use, it has a date of manufacture in Sept of 1999. Upps… last century!!!!.

LATEST PARTS

Though Jack have bought the necessary original parts for the repairing, the reality is that the not essential ones have not been bought yet, he will focus on them from now on.
The table below details a list of them with all data, are parts that Jack must find and if not found will manufacture from scratch.

OMP PARTNER

While dismantling Jack kept on researching on commercial parts F355 to transform into the "racecar", summing up we are talking about: seats, their carriers, harnesses, fire extinguisher and steering wheel.
The official supplier of Ferrari racing in 1995 was OMP therefore the search was very short, nevertheless Jack still had doubts about the stearing-wheel and setting the chassis harness.
The seats are, although without the insignia of Ferrari, the GRIP model, and brackets to the floor of the car are in the OMP catalog and are specific for the F355.
About the stearing-wheel Jack found nothing he ought to use the serial one until 1996, but Jack prefers the modern removable above all to facilitate entry and exit of the car.

NOW THE RIMS

Continuing with the racecar look Jack tried to find the rims of the F355 Challenge Cup and it's amazing but got a price reasonable. He found them in Germany, specifically bought them from a competition team that sold all the material of its F355 Challenge Cup.
The wheels are Speedline brand, Corse model, magnesium and white colour, 18 inches and specific to the F355 Challenge Cup. When he began to look for them asked for the price, new cost around € 4600 VAT included. There were only six complete sets and no more were built. Again he searched the entire Internet in Hong Kong one were sold, in southern Spain 3, he balanced the idea of gathering a complete set from several suppliers vendors. Later came out another vendor in central Spain (Madrid) who sold five wheels with tires for 3000 € and just when he was about to go for them contacted by mail with a particular seller from Germany selling a "F355 Challenge racecar, asked if he had tires available, replied yes, and so managed the purchase them of 1500 €.
Three of the four wheels came still with slicks tires competition. The complete wheels are huge, almost does not fit in his wife's car (Peugeot 206 SW), they seemed The Flintstones flintmobil, the rear tires are about 295/680-18, the front ones are 235/645-18. Notice the comparison with 195/55 R15 tires.

PROTECT THE INTERIOR

Jack took this week to remove the side panel of the left door, the hit one, including the mirror that was in shreds, even bent a little bit holder on the door, also used a while protecting the dash so as not to damage the leather or another element, also protected the wiring of the central tunnel.

There are so many pieces that are out of its place that would be impossible for me the
reassembly, but Jack is very methodical and tiny, that makes him take a long time, but he does not care if it takes a year or two, the importance is to do the job with quality.

Here below are photos of the dismantling of the mirror and protection dashboard.

THE PUZZLE

Now it was the turn of the inside, Jack was devoted to dismantling also clasified and took note of each part he was taking, it is a real macropuzzle. It is a very minute job that made slower the dismantling, but Jack found it very necessary not to lose a staple and make easier the final assembly. In this process it was essential to have all documentation gathering all little parts of the car.

Jack told me he got so touched when dismantling some emblematic parts of Ferrari, the ball of the gearshift, the typical rack gears, and of course, the "Prancing Horse" of the rear of the car grill. There's an individual picture of each part.

Purchased parts are not in these photos because I’ll show you when Jack receives them.
Jack always liked race-cars and now he had the great opportunity to amend the F355 of his dreams to quit as the F355 Challenge, for that reason Jack also dismantled carpets and all soundproofed to leave the floor bare to weld securing the lugs which engage the hooks of the harness racing.
This work is carried out fully reversible to leave the car with original seats and safety belts or backets and harnesses. This way one day could go for a gentle drive and another day drive much more racing.

NEW ORDER

After another search throughout internet Jack has found and bought the rear-mirrors, always secondhand. He ordered to Eurospares with the help of Fran. As always here are the photos.

Its conservation status is correct, they are nothing special, the only thing is that very few have been made, no other Ferrari model use them. Taking into account that the F355 all versions have been made nearly 12,000 units, so the smaller series production units the more expensive parts are. The price of each mirror if new would cost around 900 €.

WHAT A RANGE OF SCREWS

Jack continued with the process of dismantling: back roof rack, the rear lights, exhaust heatproof fabric and seats. Some parts are perfectly out but others need previous takedowns of other parts before that normally should not be removed, there are a variety of nuts, bolts and washers, perhaps too many. Hereunder you’ll find the pictures so you can see how the car is dismantling.

Some people asked Jack how is the trunk of this car? He always replied that it was ideal to go shopping with wifes because it was so small that barely fit two bags with 1 dress each, ji, ji, ji,ji, ji,(laughs) this way they would not spend much on clothes. Obviously the concept was clear! not the magnitude. So we've got some pictures of the trunk and put inside an A4 sheets folder, as a reference, the battery place, this way everyone can get an idea of its capacity. By the way, for those who do not see it clearly, trunk is on the front and there is no spare wheel, originally it is equipped with a puncture aerosol
as the one in the Peugeot 206 CC.

VIGO MOTOR SHOW

This week Jack and I went to visit Vigo Motor Show, the photos uploaded are the best I saw because of new cars only caught my attention, and not visually, the more than 500CV BMW M5 (120,000 €)


Jack thinks cars are not made as they used to. The BMW M5 was started to catch attention punching it, then Jack told me the smoke didn’t smell of gasoline butof gas heater, just hot air. Jack says that the authorities that protect the environment will be very happy but he still prefers to burn some fuel. It is a typical human contradiction because obviously Jack wants to protect the environment.

Electronics also seems excessive, some is good but he says they should follow the example of the Japanese and make cars more simplified and eventually with less breakdowns. "In Europe you get a sofa-like seat, massaging and armrest, going so comfortable that you fall asleep and then they invent the alert detector rail or drowsiness. For professionals in the steering wheel is nice but I think most people only use them to show off with a neighbor or friends when you buy the car, because 70% of the owners two months later no longer use even half of the equipment of the car." But I think if Builders provide them is because it is demanded.

INTERIOR

The week after Jack took some parts of fiberglass to repair to a nearby workshop, more over he kept on dismantling and clasifying parts at the rythm his daily tasks allowed him. The truth is that everything is of high quality, almost all nuts are self-braking, bears fixing screws in the threads, all screws have a surface treatment such dichromate, is no h int of rust, even in the plate that was hit and lost his painting 10 months ago, the steel plate is Zincrox type, electrolytic zinc applied on one side of the sheet of multiple layers of chromium and chromium oxide.

This Ferrari went through treatments such as phosphating and electrocoating body as any modern car, but on the outside although it has several protective coatings on the final color is monolayer, ie not as the current large series cars carrying a layer of lacquer that provides color and finally a varnish, but the last layer is the spot color with natural shine. Inside all layers are painted in black. I should point out that modern Ferrari have a final ceramic varnish that can keep with scratches but it is not the latest hit in paint that heals (Scracht Guard Coat ") Nissan's patented and it’s already sold in the Infiniti EX37


Talking about disassembling you can see screws are not hidden, it is true that this is lost in quality and refinement in appearance but in return the parts can be removed without forcing them.

LEFT SID CAR DISMANTLING.

Jack was very anxious to dismantle the left side of the car to begin the repair with the aid of the parts he had bought the week before. Then began the task to lay bare the body with the clear view of the damage, took special care not to damage or break any parts he removed all the screws, staples, and small parts, classified them not to lose and to assemble in the right place a long time afterwards. This was very important because breaking something or lose it would cost extra money in the best of cases, because it could be that they wouldn’t be for sale.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

After being properly informed about the purchase conditions for two second-hand parts found in site www.eurospares.co.uk Jack decided to buy them, of course first had to advance the money and then wait patiently for the arrival of the goods to his house, although he just waited three days it seemed to him an eternity.

Jack was very surprised because in one way or another many people gave him valuable information in order to obtain documents and pieces all over the Internet, so he always tells me that without this support and without the so powerful tool "internet" he could not make his dream come true, so much that he’ll feel eternally grateful.

Hereunder I leave the photos of the two leftside parts bought in the luxury junkyard of England.