Ferrari 360 space saver spare wheel

Ferrari didn't supply a spare wheel as standard on the 360 (and 430) but you could add one as an option. Instead they supplied you with a can of tyre sealant which would get you to the nearest garage for a repair.

I wasn't so happy with this option and equally at the price of a new Ferrari spare wheel available here - http://www.eurospares.co.uk and that's just the rim. There is some talk about Volvo space saver spares fitting, but then I spotted a genuine Ferrari one on ebay a few weeks ago. I won the auction and now have a spare. It's never been used - result :)

Extending the alarm fob range from 2' to 40' on your Ferrari 360

Yet another common issue on the Ferrari 360 is the alarm and central locking fob range. You tend to have to be very close to the car to be able to disarm the alarm and unlock the doors - like less than a metre away. I came across this post on FerrariChat which talks about the poor position of the alarm unit antenna in the car which is in the fuse box and under a metal plate - shielding it from signals!



So you remove the fuse box behind the passenger seat (UK RHD) then fish the wire out with a hook from behind the metal cover:



Then just fix the antenna along the top of the plastic fuse box with some tape and reinstall the fuse box cover trim.



Result = key fob range > 40' Cost = £0 or $0

White powder in the engine bay of the Ferrari 360

Ferrari 360's are renown for dumping white powder all over the engine bay - it's due to the heat insulating material in the exhaust disintegrating and leaking out of the outer casing on the silencer.

I have a Nouvalari muffler on my car, but I also have a stock muffler which pumps out the usual white powder form the casing. Ideally I would want a stock exhaust muffler because I want the car to be as quiet as possible around the neighbourhood so I started investigating whether I could solve the white powder issue.

I examined the stock muffler and worked out that the outer casing is only attached in a few places so relatively easy to remove - which I did. Now check out the insulation material which is about 10mm think and just all in bits. With the top and bottom of one half of the outer casing removed the insulation just fell out of the remaining cover sections form the other end of the muffler.







With it all gone now I figured I can find a new alternative heat material in sheets, cut to size and slot it into the casing and reattached the casing sections I removed, tig welding in a couple of places as per factory.





So this is why you get white powder and there is a possible solution for rebuilding the muffler - these mufflers are not cheap (£1600-£2500) so are well worth saving and without a fix you will be cleaning your engine bay for ever.

Keeping your Ferrari 360 charged over winter

Rain rain go away. We are having a rainy time in the UK at the moment so the roads are damp and the sky is murky. This means I've not been out in my car for over a week!

Problem is the various electrical systems on the Ferrari 360 (and 430 etc.) drain the battery quite quickly and even after just a week of non-use the battery can be low enough to cause problems. I encountered such a problem a few months ago. The car had been left for a week and started fine but the dash clocks didn't "boot" up - nothing from any of the gauges. The Ferrari 360 has a battery cut-off switch in the boot and turning off then on again fixed my problem - kind of a reset something I guess.

So after this I researched the most appropriate charging system. Ferrari make their own, but it is a little expensive and many owners go for the CTEK charger and battery conditioner which you can find here: http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/ctek-xs3600.php



CTEK MXS3600

You can install a subtle plug connector that comes with the CTEK unit behind the passenger seat which attaches (electrically) directly to the main power bus. So now you can just plug the charger in and keep the battery topped up all the time so your car is always ready for when the sun comes out :)

Sticky switches on the Ferrari 360 355 and 348

Modern Ferraris have suffered from stick switches and other dashboard items for nearly 20 years now. It started with the Ferrari 348 followed by the 355 where Ferrari coated various interior parts with a rubberised material. After a few years of regular use such as power winder switches and door pulls the coating starts to peel off - quick still in hot countries.



Here's a picture of one of the window switches on my 360 Modena. Actually the window switches are the only bits of the interior which have peel so far so maybe Ferrari have improved their coating - well a bit anyway.



I dismantled the switch so I could get to the toggle part to basically scrape off all the rubber coating. It didn't take much effort to remove it all then put the switch back together. The toggle part is now a littler shinier than the switch case, but it looks much better than having a partially peeling coating.



You remove the switches by removing the centre console which is only held in my two dome head allen bolts, so the whole job takes less than 30 minutes and costs nothing.

You can send your plastic parts away to www.stickynomore.com who will strip and re-coat your parts with a much better quality material. These guys get good reviews from www.ferrarichat.com forum.

Tatty cloth insulation tape in the engine bay on a Ferrari 360

Heat and age has taken its toll on the cloth insulation tape dotted around the engine bay on my Ferrari 360. The glue has dried and the tape has become unravelled hanging down in places.



No problem though as I bought some Tesa cloth wiring loom tape on ebay (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140550857403).



There, good as new. Time will tell as to how well this tape will stay stuck. My engine bay is particularly hot as I am running a Nouvalari silencer (muffler) instead of the stock one and they have less insulation than the factory silencer.