Well enough procrastinating… it’s finally time to get some order in my digital shoebox of photos, so I figured: "What better way than to start a build thread?" That'll force me to sort through the photos and notes I've taken, bit by bit, on a regular basis and avoid having to tackle the whole shemozzle at the end... when I definitely will be more interested in driving the car than writing about it. The problem I’ve seen with many rebodies though, is that too many of them end up looking like accidental explosions. They start off with someone banging away on something that would be best left alone, and end up with parts strewn all over the place with no hope of being reassembled, let alone ever being driven again. So I vow to keep this thread alive until the only semblance of an explosion near this car are the ones inside those eight high tech cylinders, and the one I feel in the seat of my pants as I hit the gas.

So like the title says, this thread is about building a Ferrari F355 coupe on a 3” stretched ’88 chassis powered by a ’97 Northstar and Pontiac G6 six speed manual transmission. Not exactly breaking new ground, except that I think I’ll be the first one to start and finish an F355 build thread here on PFF. To start the show, a little background first: About ten years ago a friend saw my completed 308 rebody with 305 TPI and decided he wanted something similar. He bought an '88 GT auto with 97,000 kms on the clock and, after buying and returning his first F355 body kit from IFG due to stunningly poor quality panels, he got an exchange for one that was head and shoulders better. (That doesn't say alot if you 've ever dealt with IFG bodies though.) He lost interest in the car after having had the frame professionally stretched the necessary 3" behind the passenger compartment and installing the rear quarters and doors. I bought it as-is a year ago and have been working away to do it justice ever since. Afterall, an '88 GT deserves better than to languish as an unfinished kit.

So here it was in all of my excitement as the transport truck pulled up in front of the house to deliver the car to Nova Scotia from Cornwall, Ontario.



For the price that was being offered, I bought it sight unseen and wasn't disappointed. Obviously it would need lots of work, money, space, and patience to make it look anything like a real F355, but I'm no stranger to this kind of work as my 308 kit was no better when it started its life. Here it is once it was unloaded and dragged up to the back of my workshop, and like everything else, it soon found a happy spot among some cool other cars.





Edit: Seeing how this build thread has grown to an unwieldy number of pages, I've decided to add an index here at the beginning to help new and old readers alike find certain phases of the project more easily than by having to scroll through it all:

Pg1. Introduction & Northstar teardown and inspection.

Pg2. Northstar engine case separation, block machining, installation of threaded inserts.

Pg3. Rebuild of case halves, installation of crank, pistons, heads, and rebuild of starter.

Pg4. Installation of timing chains, oil pump, chain cover; disassembly and modification of intake manifold.

Pg5. Intake manifold painting & rebuild; throttle body rebuild; installation of CHRFab valve covers, oil filter mount, water pump, and water pump manifold.

Pg 6. Installation of pulleys, rear main seal; alternator rebuild; fuel rail installation.

Pg 7. Fuel injector harness and serpentine belt installation; F40 notching; jackshaft bearing support fabrication.

Pg8. Fuel injector cleaning; F40 to engine installation; stock engine/trans/cradle removal; three-view stock '88 cradle drawings; front cradle cross member removal; Held parts for '88 rear 6" track width increase; rear strut to coil-over conversion; rear knuckle rebuild.

Pg9. Cross drilling Corvette C4 rotors; installation of rear brake caliper, rotor, pads; three-view drawings of F40 transmission, and stock rear knuckle, strut, links, bearing, rotor, and complete rear suspension assembly; discussion and drawings of stock '88 rear swing arm length, roll center, camber change, toe change, and anti-squat.

Pg10. Stock front suspension removal and cross member refinishing; Held parts for '88 front 6" track width increase; installation of Held front suspension components and Corvette C4 brakes.

Pg11. three-view drawings of stock '88 front cross member and stock upper control arm.

Pg 12. three-view drawings of stock '88 front lower control arm, knuckle, bearing, ball joints, tie rod, and complete front suspension; 3D coordinates of major stock front and rear suspension points; discussion and drawings of stock '88 front anti-dive, roll center, swing arm, and roll axis; stock front suspension kinematics graphs & discussion on stock '88 suspension vs Held 6" track width increased control arms vs Held 6" increase with 2" drop springs and 3" wheel base increase.

Pg13. Stock '88 rear suspension kinematics graphs & discussion on stock '88 rear suspension vs Held 6" track width increased control arms vs Held 6" increase with 2" drop springs and 3" wheel base increase. More kinematics graphs and discussion of the effects on '88 front geometry by swapping out 2" drop springs with 1.5" drop spindles, and shortening and relocating the upper control arms; modification of front cross member and Held upper control arms; discussion and drawings of potential modifications to '88 rear suspension including raising the cradle and links, and adding larger wheels and tires.

Pg14. A continuation of the discussion from page 13 including shortening springs, and modifying the fenders; rear suspension kinematics graphs & discussion of negative effects of above modifications; discussion and brainstorming of alternative short and long A arm (SLA) geometry to solve problems identified with McPherson strut design.

Pg15. Continuation of discussion and design of SLA concept; three-view drawings of '88 rear frame; discussion and drawings of pushrod and bell crank coil-over shock concept; three-view drawings and discussion of conceptual SLA suspension in full jounce and rebound.

Pg16.Refinement of SLA component locations; kinematics graphs and discussion showing benefits of SLA design over previous McPherson strut designs; three-view drawings of new '88 cradle design to support SLA suspension and Northstar engine and F40 transmission; three-view drawings of prototype SLA suspension; final wheel selection.

Pg17. Wheel and tire mock ups; new cradle fabrication; three-view drawings of Northstar and F40 transmission mounts; fabrication of engine and transmission mounts.

Pg18. Continuation of engine and transmission mount fabrication; engine bay preparation (removal of decklid hinge boxes, dog bone mount, and various brackets); first attempted test fit of new cradle with engine and transmission; strut tower trimming.

Pg19. Second attempted test fitting of new cradle with engine and transmission, with further engine bay modifications; third test fitting of cradle with engine and transmission following revised engine/transmission mount relocation on cradle; parts list for SLA suspension; removal of F355 body from chassis; QA1 coil-over build up.

Pg20. Upper and lower lateral link mount fabrication; discovery of upper forward outboard link interference with wheel rim and discussion of possible solutions; flipped knuckle design drawings.

Pg21. Kinematics graphs and discussion of impact of flipping knuckles side to side; fabrication of outboard upper lateral link mounts (on knuckle); relocation of lower lateral link mounts due to knuckle swap; fabrication of new upper inboard lateral link mounts; mock up of 5 link design (less bell crank and coil-over); mock up of bell crank and lower bell crank mount; Nissan 300ZX headlights; design and fabrication of trailing link mounts; upper knuckle camber bolt fabrication; suspension travel cycling to determine jounce and rebound limits due to chassis interference;

Pg22. Upper frame rail notching for jounce clearance; upper frame rail reinforcement fabrication; discussion on crashworthiness; 1:1 bell crank ratio design; coil-over and bell crank drawings at full rebound, jounce, and ride height; redesign of bell crank to 1:0.88 ratio; three-view drawings and discussion of bell crank mounts; bell crank fabrication;

Pg23. Bell crank completion; bell crank mount fabrication; cabin firewall cross member fabrication;

Pg24. Coil-over mount fabrication; shock absorber discussion; final rear suspension and cradle welding; 2nd test fitting of engine, transmission, cradle with suspension; Youtube video of suspension travel;

Pg25. Discussion on axles, CV joints, tripot joints; disassembly and measurements of Fiero and Cobalt SS axles;

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 03-18-2014).]

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'84 3800SC, XP cam, 3.2 pully, HPTuners, N* TB, 4sp, SPEC 3+ clutch, Aluminium flywheel, pacesetter headers, F355 body kit, weight reduction

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Subscribing.

--Allen

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Is this where I insert something witty?