Modified Ferrari 348

Thanks guys.

But I wouldn't do it again in a hurry. It was months of running around getting all the bits and pieces together. Plus we found a few botch jobs done on the car in the past.

One important thing it did teach me was that a Ferrari at the end of the day is just like any other car. It's engine is just like any other car. Only difference is that some parts are bloody sight more expensive!!!!

When I first got it, I had never worked on a car before. Now I can do a full oil change and manage to fix some minor faults myself. Thanks to various forums and other owners, there's a great support structure for the 348. Probably the best one around for a particular Ferrari model.

Here's some of the things that were changed and fixed over the last few years.

The suspension needed work. The dampers were sent of to Bilstein to have them refurbished a year earlier. Bilstein told me that Ferrari dampers should refurbished every 3 years. Not sure if I believed them, but mine hadn't been done in over 12 years at that point. Cost £60 plus vat for each damper.

The rubber bushes in the suspension had rotted away. Couldn't get 348 ones so got 355 bushes which were 20% stiffer. Cost around £650. A year later a mate of mine had soem poly bushes made up that cost less than £200.

Brake discs needed replacing as well. Cost £75 each.

Decided to change the suspension springs recently. Managed to find an original unused set in the USA. Experimented with some stiffer springs as well, but it was way too stiff for London roads.

Here's what the suspension originally looked like:




Had the wishbones powder coated. Cost around £40




So far I've only broken down 2 times. Once was due to a faulty alternator which I had fixed for £40. The other time was due to overheating which was due to a lump of metal stuck in the thermostat. No idea where the metal came from although we suspect it was from teh original casting. The car tended to overheat on hot days though so I decided to change the rads and fans. Can't remember the cost.

Here's what the original fans looked like when we took them out. Explains why it tended to overheat.

Left hand radiator.



Right hand radiator.



How it looked with new rads.



After from a faulty sensor (£12) everything was fine afterwards.


Remember the botch job I mentioned earlier? Here it is. Rather than replace the alternator bracket, someone had wedged it into position. New bracket around £40. Makes you wonder what other short cuts were taken as well.

Here's what it looked like:



Replaced by a new one:




Found a broken oil pipe. New one from Ferrari £650. Managed to get it fixed for £50.






I painted the cam covers myself. Specilaists charge a few hundred pounds to do it. Cost me the price of two cans of paint.

The before:



The after:

I was hesitantt first, as I have two left hands and no mechanical experience, but it was a great learning curve.

The great thing about the 348 is that anyone with a bit of mechanical skill can work on the car themselves and save a load of money. Plus many parts can be sourced elsewhere.

Taking the engine out is actually the easy bit. Putting it back in is a pain in the a*** to do as you have to line up the bolt holes. It took us about 5 hours to take the engine out. I reckon next time we could get it down to around 3.5 hours. A lot of it is spent draining fluids and double checking things. Some guys have even done it using a the two trolley jack method. God knwos how they did it, but it's possible. We ahd teh luxury of a lift.

I originally wanted a 355, but didn't have the funds at the time. So I decided to get a 328. I initially avoided the 348 because a lot of people said it was a piece of crap and the worse Ferarri ever made.

Here's two recent magazine articles where they mention the 348. Classic cars and Performance car.





Luca di Montezemolo also stated that the 348 was the worst product Ferrari ever made. Having owned one, he wasn't very impressed with it at the time.

Then there's Andrew Frankel who rated the 348 as the worst Ferrari in his Top 10 worst Ferarri's ever made..

[i]"But only one of all these cars I've mentioned is entirely unworthy of the greatest road car name of all; after all, even an automatic 400i has a certain gentlemanly charm to it. The worst Ferrari I have ever driven is the 348tb. It was quite quick and quite attractive but these more obvious strengths cloaked for only an instant the fact that the car was no damn good to drive. To improve its packaging it had its gearbox slung transversely across the back of the car, which turned the sometimes obstructive Ferrari five-speed gearshift into a thing of piggish obstinacy.

Worse, while other Ferraris were undoubtedly unforgiving on the limit, this one was a sociopath. I once spent a morning at a test track with some very experienced drivers and, in a safe and controlled environment, found out a little more about its behaviour. And we discovered that if you were less than lightning quick with your reactions, there'd be more chance of persuading Margaret Thatcher to vote Labour than stopping the 348 from spinning. It was also hugely expensive.
[/i]

http://www.channel4.com/4car/ft/feature/feature/97...

Then you have all the other negative comments on the forums:




As you can see, not a lot of good things were said about the 348. Hence my initial decision to avoid it.

However, I liked the shape of the 348 and started to do some research. The more I read about it, the more I cam to relise that there was a lot of misconception about it.

Teh early 348's were rushed into production and as with all early Ferarri production numbers had a few gremlins that got sorted over teh following years. The biggest complaint was about the handling, which according to some journalists was dangerous and liable to kill you. Obviously tehy had never driven a 911 before.

What they forgot to mention was that it tended to happen when the driver was at the 995 of teh performace of teh car. Not something most of us woudl ever reach on the road. Anyway, ferrari made a few modificatiosn to teh car. A raft of tehm were done in 1992. These modesl had the battery located in the front wheel arch front for better stability and to piss of owners who had to change the battery.

As with most marques and especially with Ferrari, the later the production model the better the car. However, most of the early cars have now been sorted.


Here's my response to one of the above posters. It gives more insight into the 348.

That can happen to any car and Ferrari parts supply is not exactly the best in the world.

EDIT: I had my alternator rebuilt. Plus, I got a coupel up updated and better quality parts for it. Total cost £105. It now works perfectly.

I know of a Stradale that had an engine replaced in the first few months of ownership. Again, just one of those things.


As I said earlier, the 348 was rushed into production and some of your problems no doubt relate to that.

I think the Targa's still leak.

I have to admit, my front end does get light at high speeds. I'm having the suspension bushes & springs changed. Also contemplating an additional lip spoiler if the problem persists. having said that, a friend of mine overtook me at 170 miles per hour in his late spec 348 and his car was rock solid.


Early cars did have handling problems. Post 92 cars were beter handling.

Many 348's take part in the Ferrari Hill Climbing championship and last year it was won by a 348.

My 348 has been driven by a Andy walsh, a well known race driver, and all he said was that my one tended to understeer, which was more due to the old front tyres than anything else.

EDIT: Many 348 owners complain about the handling. The bihhest problem with teh 348 is that it is very sensitive to even minor suspension changes. Most haven't had a geometry set up done in years. Sometimes even teh set up from the factory can be wrong. I had a full suspension set up done a while back by Damax. Robin is a professional racer and helped develop the Ascari race cars. He removed 29 suspension shims and put back 14. Adjusted the ride heights and set teh cambers. The car was transformed.

I've done trackdays and airfield days without a problem.

My battary is in the front wheel arch. It was put there on later cars to help with the weight distribution and handling.

I've had a flat battery quite a few times now and have never accessed the battery. There's a couple of connection in the engine bay where you can connect a battery charger or booster quite easily. I've also got an accumate which I plug in when the cars parked. Have'nt had a flat battery since.

Electrical problem. Nothing more. i get it on my AC system. For a while the fans would'nt work which made driving in the rain a pain in the behind. Replacement AC costs around £1,000, but as with most things Italian... it fixed itself and has'nt been a problem since. Fingers crossed!!!

EDIT: I've had a coupel of flat batteries and it's never affected the air con on my car. The problem with my air con where teh fans stopped working kept coming back more frequently. Turned out to be a dodgy fan motor. Took it out myself and had it fixed. cost: £40, a few hours of my time and a couple of cuts to the hand.

I think you just had bad luck with your car to be honest. In two years of ownership, I've only had two major problems. One was overheating and the other a split coolant hose. Both of which have now been overhauled.

EDIT: Had it over 3 years now and still love the 348.

Have got it somewhere on disc, but can't find it.

More pics.....









Next to a friends red 348

A mate of mine in the trade, reckons they'll be below £75K by next year.

I remember when you couldn't get a 360 for less than £100,000. Now they are down to £40,000.



The Lotus esprit?

A Sport 350 was actually on my shortlist along with a Noble and.....errr.....a Boxster S.


Thanks. If truth be told.... the son of the 430 Scuderia owner also liked the 348 more than his dads Scuderia. I have to give him a ride next time I see him.

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Nice to hear such comments as I tend to get a lot of crap from other Ferrari owners for modding my car.

I'm not smart enough to do all teh work. My mate George did the engine out service and the suspension refurbishment. I just help out and learn as much as I can. One importnat thing i have learnt is that Ferrari engines are just like a normal engine. In fact, my 348 engine is a lot easier to work on than my Honda Accord engine.


Stripes are gone from the car.

I had a back to metal respray done and changed the colour from mettalic black to flat black.

Although i do miss the stripes.


Yep, it was outside KHPC where i paid a visit.


I used to do 5,000 miles a year and drive it as often as I could. Don't get much time to drive it these days though as I've got a 7 month old baby.

Unfortunatly it was too low and I kept scraping the front spoiler. It's a little higher these days.


Thanks Ian.

No worries re the Poseur run.





Quick update:


Yesterday I purchased a very special engine for my car. It's from a 348 that raced at Le Mans.

A custom engine built by Ferrari to race at Le Mans it is based on a 355 block (although the 355 wasn't launched at the time the engine was built) mated to a 348 engine. It was further enhanced and modified by the team that raced it with titanium conrods, Cosworth internals etc. I believe it's now a 3.5 litre engine rather than a 3.4 litre.

It's currently pumping out 480bhp and redlines at 9400rpm and was more powerful than the Micholotto 348's that raced at Le Mans. The bhp figure comes from an engine dyno rather than a rolling road/hub dyno and makes it more powerful than a 360CS.

Only 6 engines like it were ever made. Of the other 5 engines, one is in the 348 Le Mans race car and the other 4 are believed to be in various race cars, assuming they still exist.

The 348 took part in the Le Mans 24 hours race in 1993 (when it was crashed into by Eddie Irvine) and again in 1994 where it retired with clutch problems on lap 57. It has also been raced in the last few years as well although I have no details of where.

Over the next few months we'll be adapting it to work in a road car as well as making a few technical modifications. It's not going to be easy as I want to be able to pose down the Kings Road as well as blast along on track days. I also want to concentrate on acceleration rather than overall top speed.

I was hoping to install a 360 F1 gearbox, but it won't fit. For the time being we'll use the existing 348 gearbox and maybe strengthen it. I'll be investigating the underfloor panelling as well and I need to sort out a rear spoiler as well.

We haven't decided on which ECU system to use, although at the moment the Motec M800 looks favourite and it will allow us to have various maps which i can choose at the push of a button. eg: for road use, track use, or ******* scary as hell use. We'll also be installing the racelogic traction control system that I already have and a quantum racing adjustable suspension system.

The plan is to have it ready by January 2010. Once finished it will be one of a kind. A road going Ferrari with an original Le Mans race engine. According to those in the know, it will be as wild as an F40 but without the turbo lag.

Haven't seen the engine myself, but below is a pic that someone else took.

Also a video of its sister car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYsQWOoySY8

Thanks everyone.

When we start the work I'll stick up a new thread in the Ferrari section.

So far, I've got the engine, but the weak point is the suspension system. i had it refurbished a coupel of years ago, but I don't think it will cope with tHe increased power. Plus, it was designed nearly 20 years ago.

So I've just ordered a quantum racing adjustable suspension kit. It's a lot lighter and uses modern technology. Plus I can change the setting manually from soft to hard. Should have it in 6 weeks time.

This is what the damper looks like.




I also managed to find a set of very rare wheels that were made for the micholotto 348's that raced at le Mans. They are brand new, but are centre lock designs, which means a lot of modding for it to fit. I have to decide by midday wether to buy them or not so i'll be ringing around specialists to see if they can fabricate the hubs for me.

They are 18 x 8.5 and 18 x 11.




Here's a mod i did last year. It's an engine start button from a Honda S2000. Cost £50 from ebay.

Passengers love it when I ask them to press it to start the engine.

I also got some carbon fibre panels and stuck them inside. It covers the crappy looking original rubber surfaced bits.



I'll post up pics from the back to metal respray I had done later today.

Everyone told me not to... but I couldn't resist!!

Sent an email confirmation a couple of hours ago.

Just have to figure out how to put them on.


Significantly less.

No problem.

Going to do some FOC track days next year and maybe some Lotus on track ones.

Weakest point on the car is actually me as I'm crap at driving. So next year I'll be ddoing courses and learning how to handle the car properly.

Here's some pics from the back to metal respray I had done earlier this year.

It was originally mettalic black, but I decided to chnage it to plain black so that the colour looked deeper. The mettalic tended to make it look grey. The job was done by my friend Al at www.alsaautomotive.co.uk.

Turned out that the car had been resprayed before for cosmetic reasons, but they did a crap job.

The windscreen recently got cracked when another Ferrari picked up a stone and it hit the screen. The rear screen was also cracked due to delamination. Total cost for both screens was around £3,500. No... that's not a typ... it cost £3,500 to replace. Fortunatly I was covered by insurance so I only paid £40.

There was rust under the windscreen and the paint was bubbling on the front and rear bonnets.

Depends on the way the car is set up, but most understeer. Mine certainly does.

As for being tricky, all mid engined cars can be a handful on the limit. Depends a lot on the driver as well.

I found this quote on another forum.

"I remember there was an article in Forza or Cavalino magazine that had legendary racer Brian Redman drive the 348 and he responded to all those "tricky to handle" comments and said clearly its a matter of how good a driver you are, theres nothing wrong with the car."


It doesn't help when at the reecent launch of the 458, the President of Ferrari (knob) said it was one of the worse Ferrari's ever made. It's at the start of this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Kc9rdYxQA&fea...

Yes. Cost £125 and it's made of fibreglass. It's suposed to help with high speed stability, but I haven't noticed any difference. It's still scary as hell over 130mph.

Going to take it off and put one of those 2" race splitter on when it goes back to the paintshop.


Oh yes!!! It's great.

I got it when I was 39 and had always wanted one. Most people think that all Ferrari owners are millionaires, but most of us aren't. I had to get it on finance and a lot of sacrifices were made along the way. Including my ex-wife. Unfortunatly, it wasn't a literal sacrifice in her case.

In just over 4 years I've only had 1 person give me the finger as I drove past. Everyone else gives the thumbs up and ask me to rev it or take pictures. I even leave it parked in public places and never had as much of a scratch so far. Everyone, including little kids recognise it as a Ferrari, but 90% of them don't know what it is as they rarely see one on the road. In London, there are countless 360's and 430's driving around... but I very rarely see a 348. It gets mistaken for a Testarossa quite often as well because of the side strakes.

When i first got it though, i was constantly nervous when i drove it. I kept listening for a mettalic sound in case teh engine went bacg or the gearbox broke. I think that happens with most first time owners.

If you have the chance to get a Ferrari do it. Beg, borrow or steal the £££ to get. Evo's, scoobys and BMW diesels will keep up or beat the early Ferrari's, but Fezza's just have that magical aura.

It can be a bit scary on that forum.



Slightly off topic, but does anyone want to hear the story about how I had a nutcase (another ferrari owner) stalk me on various forums and tried to intimidate me? I don't think many people outside the Ferrari community know about it. it's quite... errr.... interesting.