F355 GTB Will I Fit!

[lotuselan7]

A question to all you large guys out there.
Looking at buying a F355GTB remotely (live in japan)
Im 6'4" 15 stone and long of limb, will i Fit?

Ive found the car for me:
Red / Black leather and Black Carpets
Manual (a must)
GTB (dont like convertabiles)

Cant wait?

Any advice on corrsion issue under lkick plates and on buttresses welcome. If car has strated to bubble and being repaired would you still buy car or is it a no no.

Cheers.

[AndrewW-G]

Yes, Ferrarispider is by all accounts an outhouse with feet and he fits in one

[jazzybee]

lotuselan7 said:

A question to all you large guys out there.
Looking at buying a F355GTB remotely (live in japan)
Im 6'4" 15 stone and long of limb, will i Fit?

Ive found the car for me:
Red / Black leather and Black Carpets
Manual (a must)
GTB (dont like convertabiles)

Cant wait?

Any advice on corrsion issue under lkick plates and on buttresses welcome. If car has strated to bubble and being repaired would you still buy car or is it a no no.

Cheers.

DK Engineering? Lovely looking car

[lotuselan7]

Thanks guys good to know, yes its the DK car. I just need to be sure Im doing right thing by getting a 355 rather rather than newer 360. The whole thing re resale has influenecd me I must admit.

Been a Porsche man many many years, nearly bought a '96 355 in 2001 and then nearly a 2000 360 in 2007 but never quite got their. Hope Im doing right thing.

[Mroad]

I'm almost 6ft 3in and fit just about OK. The main issue is the steering wheel position which can only be adjusted for rake and even on it's highest settings it doesn't give much leg room. It also means a typical Italian long armed driving position, not ideal.
It can be cured though with steering wheel spacer (or boss, spacer and new steering wheel with'96 on airbag equipped cars). I've just done mine and it is a vast improvement. The steering wheel mod is fairly common on the later cars due to aesthetics, the wheel is not as nice as the early cars.
Also bear in mind I have the factory Carbon seat option on my car which are more comfortable than the standard sports seats however they do have less adjustment. I'm sure I had more leg room when testing a sports seat equipped car.

From what I understand the 360 is more accommodating space wise than the F355 so there should be less issues. I can't confirm though as I haven't tried one, only the F355 does it for me!

Just to add.
The buttress issue is something that will happen to all the F355's at some point (bar the spyder obviously!). Unless serious surgery is done to alter the seam that causes the problem it will also come back. Obviously better to buy a car with no cracks but not a real issue if it has them, just budget for it when you buy (£500-£800 per side to fix).
The original steel kick plates rust, again they all do it. Just replace with a carbon items to prevent it, about £300 for a set. Most cars will probably have had this done by now.

Edited by Mroad on Thursday 4th March 09:19

[nwates]

lotuselan7 said:

Thanks guys good to know, yes its the DK car. I just need to be sure Im doing right thing by getting a 355 rather rather than newer 360. The whole thing re resale has influenecd me I must admit.

Been a Porsche man many many years, nearly bought a '96 355 in 2001 and then nearly a 2000 360 in 2007 but never quite got their. Hope Im doing right thing.

Ive just gone from the GTR R35 to a F355 GTB . The DK car looks nice , My 355 needs one Buttress done
can be fixed , but better to wait and half both sides done and a full rear end re spray then.
I've seen ones where they've welded internally along the seam and this apparently stops the problem, but you need to get the engine out go really get in there to do it, then repaint afterwards as the welding blisters the existing paint.

Edited by nwates on Thursday 4th March 09:55

[W111AAM]

lotuselan7 said:

A question to all you large guys out there.
Looking at buying a F355GTB remotely (live in japan)
Im 6'4" 15 stone and long of limb, will i Fit?

Ive found the car for me:
Red / Black leather and Black Carpets
Manual (a must)
GTB (dont like convertabiles)

Cant wait?

Any advice on corrsion issue under lkick plates and on buttresses welcome. If car has strated to bubble and being repaired would you still buy car or is it a no no.

Cheers.

Looks like you've beaten me to it! I've recently sold my TVR and i'm now in a position to make the step up to 355 ownership. Again, like you I only want a Manual GTB. Spoke to DK yesterday about this car but as I'm off skiing I can't get down to them for a week or two.

Nick Cartwright have a similar car for sale at the moment. Does anyone know anything about it? (The car pictured isn't the actual car).

[neil-f]

I am only 6'2" the F355 fitted me fine except with a helmet on the headroom was very tight my car had standard seats. You get more room with the race seats in the F355 (Clarkson had those in his GTS).
Cappsy had F355 he is 6'4" I think!

[pistolp]

does clarkson still have his 355?

[neil-f]

No his F355 was given away(a few years ago)in a Sunday Times competition I think!

[tomtom]

I'm long legged and 6'2 and found the standard steering wheels didn't give me much 'vertical' legroom. So I bought a flat-bottomed Momo Type 88 wheel and fitted that instead along with a boss to bring the wheel out a little; much better. It's an option if you struggle.

I have a decent photo somewhere but can't remember the URL right now.

[SpeedYellow]

You'll fit fine and DK are one of the best Ferrari specialists in the country. I've got a 355, which gets used most days, is now very high mileage for a Ferrari at 55k miles and drives better now than ever. I had until a week ago a 360 Spider as well, the 355 is such a fun drive and more a 'Ferrari' that I didn't use it much so hence it's gone and the 355 has stayed.

The one thing you'll prob want to do to give you more space is change the steering wheel and put an adjustable boss on it. Mine has an old F40 wheel on an OMP adjustable boss. Gets rid of the traditional Italian driving position by bringing the wheel upto 100mm closer. Transforms the feel and comfort of the car.

[SpeedYellow]

[MitchT]

What does that steering wheel say on it? It looks like an F40 logo but it's a 328 wheel, not an F40 wheel.

[SpeedYellow]

It does say F40 and it is off a real car that was upgraded to LM spec. It was a late cat adj car.

Edited by SpeedYellow on Thursday 4th March 13:57

[SpeedYellow]

[Midds]

At 6'6" I CAN drive one, but the F1 is the only sensible choice as your left leg cones out of the way. Went for 360 F1 which has more room and less offset on pedals