That 355 is looking great Ali! Enjoy it!

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to boursachi again."

 

further testing done. car sat for at least 5 hours in ~15 deg C weather since last time i drove it and experienced the problem of the car losing its smoothness rolling from a dead stop.

this time, reverse was great. so was engaging 1st then 2nd then 3rd etc
everything working beautifully. taking it to 6th, downshifting to 4th, giving more throttle taking it up to 160kmh or so and back into 6th.
let the system downshift from 6th to 1st at lights. roll from 1st back up to 6th. no issues.

HOWEVER, when i get back to my neighbourhood, i decide to stop, and engage the car from second. immediately i could sense a difference. and sure enough when i tried engaging 1st again and moving the car, it went back to being a bitch all jerky and jumpy.

so, i am guessing that as long as i move the car from 1st, i'm golden.
as soon as i engage 2nd from a dead stop and move the car from there, the problem comes back.
this could however be a heat-related issue (car warming up), but i highly doubt that

i asked my father if he remembers whether he tried engaging 2nd from the dead stop when he first drove it last time. he says he could have done that but cannot be 100% certain. i believe he did.

let the car sit for about 25 mins, tried it again, car was still warm - coolant temp was around 70 deg but i tried anyway and reverse/1st/2nd were NOT smooth

so what is to follow:
test the car tomorrow again once it has sat and became cold, or had time to reset everything - whichever is the reason

i am 85% hopeful and expecting that the car will shift fine from 1st and reverse and all that. and i will try to NOT engage 2nd from a dead stop the whole journey + even when i come back to my neighbourhood.

will test the car again, same day, 30 mins later, same thing.

after tomorrow, if i am feeling cocky i will test it a third time and when i am back home i will engage 2nd. i am expecting the problem to re-occur

if it does, i will have identified the issue and will learn how to set the car/clutch to roll from 2nd just as it does from 1st and be done with this matter hopefully for good!

wish me luck keep you posted, and thanks guys

 

gentlemen, keeping this thread up to date instead of forcing everything into a single post
i re-did the self-calibration again upon corresponding with an incredibly nice mechanic in Cyprus. i did this because whenever i tried engaging 2nd since the 1st time i did the self-cal, the car would get very bad again and the car would be a nuisance moving from a stop (even in 1st if i used 2nd once before from a stop).
i also found, twice, that after a while of use the car would get jumpy a bit (but much better than before) from 1st gear as well. this has first happened to me when i took a long way home from the gym, and also when my dad drove the car to the gas station and shut down the car for the refill. hence:

so, i re-did the self cal and up until now, used the car 5 times (2 times were purposefully shutting off/back on with 3 and 5 minute intervals to emulate what happened at the gas station with my father) and i used it again today for the gym. so far so good.

i am still to muster the courage to try and get it to roll from 2nd, but i will save that for later. for now, i will keep using it to see if i get any trouble with 1st gear after use, god forbid. we shall see, so far so good. think i'll take it out tonight in the AM again.

good news is that apart from the clutch calibration, there really are no pressing matters to address except the interior - which is already underway with the ac vents. i need hood/bay struts, and to look at the motor of one of the headlights (which is why they are raised now as default).
yellow calipers and shields are a possibility, but right now i couldn't care less about that stuff!

 

a lot has happened since the post above
but overall, all is well and it has been a long time coming

 

My F-car will be in Yellow, I want a black interior. Love the F35, drive it in good health.

 

Nice shots bro! Your car is epic.

 

thnx gents
mohamad yellow 458!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! doooooo it
i told u abt the one at the dealer couple months ago, yellow with dark navy and yellow inserts, all cf
track it down and do it

 

That was the demo drove it last year..I'm waiting for the scud version.

 

it was Nael's right? i understand it had less than 5k km and they wanted 70k kd for it. isnt that supposed to be good? i cant touch prices like that myself but the market seems to support it

for now i am looking forward to driving a 430, i wish to NOT drive a 458 until i cN afford one; ie when it makes itself affordable

 

Not sure if it's Nael's I asked it is a demo, I drove it in Feb 2011. Salesman told me it is going to be for sale October >

If I am getting an F-car, big chances of getting it from Lebanon. My friends cousin is the dealer, I can get a better price possibly. Nael's a friend of my uncle, though the service is not so great. The cars from Lebanon dont get the orange reflector on the bumpers like the GCC cars.