[Quaid]

I have a Ferrari 355 Spyder which came with a sports exhaust. It means this car is VERY LOUD which makes the hairs on my arm stand on when during bouts of acceleration, but my question is this, does a 355 really need a sports exhaust, or is the standard one good enough?

I haven't really heard regular 355s running at full chat, so it's difficult to know if the sports exhaust amplifies or overpowers the tuneful engine.

 

[Andrew]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum. This is a very good question that you ask. As I'm sure you already know generally speaking adding an exhaust will of course add horsepower (in this case probably minimal). The factory exhaust is a nice high pitch on the F355 and to my liking. I see no need to improve it, if it is an improvement at all. Here in Japan they actually like to ruin everything. I have seen some very hard turned Ferraris all of which I thought were too loud and on the rice side. Basically it all comes down to personal taste. I think the factory is good enought. BTW is this a Tubi you have? I would love to hear yours. If you by chance have a digital camera that can take video you can upload an .mpg or .avi clip for us to hear.

 

[Stradale]

If you have a Tubi then the 2 tail pipes are just straight through pipes. But with the original tail pipes one of the pipes has a buttefly valve that's pnumetically operated and opens at 4,000rpm. That gives the 355 the high pitch sound at high revs. Whereas with the Tubi you get just one sound that gets louder as you rev.

I have a Tubi system for my 360 but I used the original Cat and original tail pipes. Only the muffler is Tubi. As with the F355, the 360 tailpipes has a butterfly valve as well and that is what makes the high pitch sound after 4,000 revs. The Tubi tail pipes are just too loud. Nice on the track but deafening in town. That's the other reason why I removed the Tubi tailpipes

 

[Quaid]

Yes I have heard of the Tubi exhausts for the 355, though I hear the one for the 360 delivers an absolutely unbelievable sound. Any chance of an MP3 of your car revving?

I shall endeavour to upload some samples as soon as I get a spare weekend.

 

[Stradale]

I'm not good with them electronic stuff, have to wait for my son to come back for his holidays.

But if you want to improve your car's performance, first fit one of those performance air filters. BMC or K&N, it will compliment your sports exhaust. What type of exhaust do you have. My friend's 355 Spyder has the factory "Challenge" exhaust, stage 1 (I think) and the sound is fabulous. He got it from one of the 355 Challenge cars that was scrapped. That exhaust sounds better than the Tubi.

 

[j brosseau]

really how much more power are you gonna get from a tubi or other aftermarket system? a couple percent? as much as i have read, ferraris are probly the best tuned cars from the factory. so really to extract more power is in the head and internals. the tubi will better suit a highly modified car more than a stock one. think of it like this. take a honda civic that most "ricers" drive and add a one of those shitty sounding coffee can sized mufflers. now, that is suppost to be a aftermarket exhaust, which it is but really to get any real power from that motor you need to add bigger cams, tweek the head, and rework the fuel and ignition. a motor is a motor and a ferrari motor really works the same as a honda. sad but true.

 

[Stradale]

You don't want to touch the engine. That's just too expensive. But if you're keen to personalise your car then changing the exhaust and the air filter is the cheapest way.

If you want to go the whole hog then there's Koenig and other tuners who can remap the ECU, put twin turbos and such. But that is not what I'm advocating here.

 

[gthomas]

Sorry, but an exhaust system will improve even a factory non-modified engine.
Most manufacturers use mass producers to make them.
Most exotics are still the same way.
Let's look at what an exhaust does.
An exhaust is designed to help extract the gases out of the cylinders(scavenge effect). Normally aspirated engines have a period of overlap, when both intake and exhaust valves are open(critical period). This difference of pressures causes it to try to suck in gases that have already been fired.
Headers: Aftermarket headers will have a larger diameter and will help reduce the scavenge effect during the critical period, which will result in more gases flowing out, resulting in more horsepower.
Catalytic converters: Aftermarket ones are made for high performance, which results in better flow, giving more horsepower.
Cat-back: Again,larger diameter pipes equals better flow, aftermarket mufflers are specifically designed for better flow, also equals more power.
Koenig has a cat-back system for the Enzo, so even Ferrari factory systems have room for improvements.
And cats available next month.
K&N filter will help improve flow into the engine.
On my vipers**cough*cough** an exhaust system(headers, cats, cat-back) is good for about 50-55 horsepower, filters(conical K&N's) another 10.
Granted, it will not be as high on an exotic, but an improvement, nontheless.
Lambo's gain in the 30's.
BTW If you don't want it loud(race exhaust) they make quieter ones.

 

[Bart]

Me, I stay with what Ferrari thinks is best for my thing.

That is all.

 

['75 308 GT4 (Peter)]

A sports exhaust will give a marginal performance gain, but mainly to improve asthetics and durability. The ANSA's that graced the rear-ends of the '70's Ferraris were the absolute garbage in terms of quality of construction (worst looking welds) and durability (just untreated mild steel, so within a year or two, they'd completely rot out). The U.S. spec cars that use the thermoreactor type also weigh over 100lbs!

On the other hand, mufflers have come a long way and a stock 355 muffler has a pleasant noise (although too quiet for my tastes), doesn't weigh that much more than a SS version and are better made (still by ANSA, but progressed into the 20th century!).

 

[Quaid]

After listening to everything's that been said, I have decided to go back to the factory exhaust and dump the sports one.

It's just too damn antisocial!

Driving through the village today where I got married I was ever so slightly embarrassed that I was deafening all the pedestrians. I know Ferraris are supposed to attract attention, but this is ridiculous!

So it's a quick trip to the dealer for a complementary swap-job for me.

Ta for all the advice guys

 

[ze_shark]

Is it correct to say that what a tweaked exhaust adds in high end horse power, it looses in low end torque ?
I'd be surprised that an exhaust line can add both at low & high revs.
If that is true, I am not sure that this is the right thing to do on a 355 engine ... especially as the original exhaust note is so subline.

A 550 might be a different proposition, low end grunt is there. However, all tubi-equipped car I tried are extremely loud at idle and very low revs, to the point where you can barely hold a conversation at trafic lights. Funny for a while, but I bet you get tired of it.