What the ???

Well looks like an opportunity for someone to stick in a V8. Can't determine the engine but if it is a GM V6 you should be able to put in a GM V8 if you don't want to spend the 10K to re-convert it. It would be interesting to see how they did the conversion and what trans-axel they used.

 

I was just looking at that. I saw the headline with V6 and thought it was a Fiero. I started looking at the pics and was thinking, "man at least they did things right on this one, it looks like a real 308". Then came the horrible realization that it WAS a real 308 with a V6 tossed in. Some people will never understand the soul is gone!!








And the countdown to the first guy who argues it's actually OK starts now........... (edit..should have read post #2!!)

 

I'd sure like to see a 308 with a Yamaha SHO V-8 or maybe a Northstar V8.
Bill
ps I'd never do it to mine but 300+ hp would be nice

 

Mmmm :-(

 

Did'nt even take an hour. Pretty sad.

 

A Ferrari without a Ferrari engine.

Isn't that what in concours would be called a "no point" vehicle?

 

Okay, I wasnt gonna look at it. I thought it was probably a pos car and not worth the time to even look. But I did. WTF, thats a nice car. Well except for those ugly FUBAR wheels. Why spend the money making the car look that nice, and put that bastard abortion of an engine in the car, its beyond me.

And for those of you who think this engine swapping crap is okay, up yours. This is a Ferrari. Mr. Ferrari built his reputation in racing, and racing takes an engine. The car part is easy, its the engine thats hard. Always was, and it still is. The engine is the heart and soul of a machine. Always has been. Kids for generations wanted to get past the fenders, climb past the wheels, and see that engine. Grown men, 80 somethings, they want to get thier eyeballs in and see that engine. Airplanes are another good example, guys want to see that motor. Kids by 2 1/2 are going zoom zoom, putter putter.

Jaguars for generations went to great lengths to build engines that were absolutely stunning to look at. Polished aluminum cam covers and cover plates. Polished plates and covers. Polished manifolds. Polished acorn nuts holding everything together. Ceramic coated exhaust manifolds with more polished acorn nuts. A man took great pride in showing that bugger off, opening up the hood, or bonnet, and standing back with pride as the kids and old men gushed. Now you flip open a Jag hood and find...a small block Chevy?

Excuse me for living, but this was, is, and always has been the crudest POS motor on the planet. No offence to you "chebby guys" but its about as crude as anything China ever made. I actually think thier engineering has improved to the point that they could build a replica Ferrari V-12. Oh wait, they can! But a Chevy small block used crude cast iron, with sheet metal covers fastened to some of the poorest machined surfaces anywhere. In the case of valve covers they didnt even machine it, just squished the cork (cheap) gasket against the rough (unfinished) casting. And of course, to make it look better they spayed the thinnest coat of the cheapest paint of any car in the world on that motor so it rusted off in two years.

Wanna compare HP? At anything approaching one HP per cubic inch, the life expectancy of a GM motor falls off dramatically. To make anything more takes tons of aftermarket parts and machining. Yet the Ferrari, Jag, name most of the hot euro cars up into the early 70's, made tons more power per cubic inch. Take our beloved 308 at 178 cubic inch, which was originally claimed to make 255 HP and can easily make close to 300 with mostly stock stuff. Thats almost 2 HP per cubic inch, and it will run all day at race speeds that way and cry for more. Do you know what you would have to do to a small block Chevy to get 2 HP per cubic inch and have it live on a race track all day and still be in one peice?

We ought to start a new project, of converting Corvettes and Cadillacs to take Wisconsin V-4 engines, and use the same excuse the hack mechanics who didnt know how to work on Jags used to give everyone for putting that abortion together. The V-4 Wisconsin is a simpler engine and easier to get parts for, and almost anyone can work on it. If they are stupid enough to think a V8 sounds better than a V12, they probably would like the sound of a flat head V4. Besides, in this case the Wisconsin motor would actually be a better engine.

 

I don't understand why people ruin a perfectly good car. But, I think BillyD is right, if they are going to do it they should at least use a 32v northstar. My dad had one in his STS and it is a strong engine. But, I totally agree with Artvonne...this is BS.

 

If we are talking a whole lump, like say a 308 engine and gearbox, I think it was quoted to weigh about 400 pounds. So the motor alone maybe weighs 200-250. Less than a HP per pound. The aircraft companies would have killed for a motor like that in world war 2. Heck, they would kill for that today. I know a small block weighs about 700 pounds. If we use a flat 300 HP, your talking 2.5 pounds per HP. Add the gearbox and your up to about 850 pounds. Because the motor produces all its power and torque at low RPM, it would probably pull away from a stock 308 for a little ways, even maybe that V-6 abortion. But the real deal will fly by you at 100 per and never look back.

Its the same with all those Jags. The GM motor would pull those big Jags off the line better than either the inline 6 or the V12, but they ran out of poop at 100 MPH. And that big lazy 12, most never knew what it could have done if they had really looked it over. Just a set of mild cams alone would push the HP over 400 because the originals are soooo wimpy. And that inline 6 was a hot motor too with a little bit of work. I once drove an inline 6 XKE with a set of DCOE's that was almost as fast as a 427 Cobra. We timed it 0-100-0 in about 12 seconds. But when your a hack mechanic with Chevies in your eyes, and know really nothing about engines, I guess you cant expect them to know whats good. Far as I am concerned they ruined all those Jags and totally cheapened the Marque far more than the quality problems of the cars did. Thats probably the main reason I hate seeing anything GM on any other car. I like them about as much as I like wood ticks.

 

I think I may know this car from when it was new. I am not kidding either. I am going to dig around a little and find out for sure. I hope I am right because I have been wondering what happened to it. It was actually the very first 308 GTSi I ever laid eyes on in the flesh (metal?) back in 8th grade.

The guy lived about 2 miles from where I lived and it was an 81 or 82 308 GTSi red/tan. The engine destroyed itself after he let an Amoco gas station do a major service ( I am NOT making this up - I knew of the station and talked to the owner personally). He eventually sold it to someone who was planning an engine swap to an American V8. I had heard that they did something to it along those lines but I never followed up on it. The person who bought it for the "upgrade" owns a business here in town and for the past couple of years I have been meaning to stop by and ask about that old 308.

It is a long shot that it is the same car, sort of...
I live in Bham Alabama, not too far from Knoxville. How many 81 or 82 308's with a tan interior and an engine swap to American iron can be in the south? A couple hundred maybe? Hell no, probably one. Who knows, but stranger things have been known to happen.

I actually have a stack of photos of that car that I took in Aug of 83 when it was still a Ferrari. I cornered the owner while he was trying to leave a car stereo shop one afternoon. He was nice enough to let me burn a roll of film before he drove away. I was 15. Funny thing, years later he became a patient of mine. He even remembered that afternoon 14 years earlier. Small world.

 

Wow, how do you really feel about American engineering?
I'd hate to be one of those losers that can't engineer their way out of bag and produces such horrible wasteful engines. Geesus! Well, actually I am. Wait till you see Ferrari or Jaguar build engines at the rate they built small block Chevrolets and sell them in the same price bracket and see if they're still art ! Let's try living in the real world.

But putting the V6 in was silly and a waste of time & materials. Shoulda been a V8. If you can drop a small block into a Fiero, then you should be able to put a V8 into a Ferrari with a Fiero transaxle! Do that properly and it'll smoke any 308 on the road until that overmatched trans gives up. I have no idea if they're durable in V8 Fieros or not, nor if there are beef up packages available to help.

 

Can somebody help me to put a small block chevy V8 into my Modena please?

 

Sure, can I have your old engine?

 

Buy it now for $19,900 the seller must be nuttier then the person who swapped the engine. If he was smart he would junk the engine and sell this as a parts car.

 

I just can't resist commenting on this one. I saw this car whilst investigating the thread on the other 308 with bad wiring - I'm not even going to go into that.

This car reminds me of the last scene in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" with Jack Nicholsen smiling and that big scar on his head. LOL. I had the same feeling of a spirit that had been gutted. What a shame! I hope someone can bring her back to her former glory.

-Rjay

 

I have a GM engine in a cool looking car.......the original 327 c.i. solid lifter 11.25 to 1 compression 340 hp crude pushrod 6500 redline V8 in a 1962 Corvette. Off road exhaust (straight through) sounds wonderful. Upon starting it explodes to life scaring the horses and children. With the orig. 4.11 posi rear end it was good for 135 mph per 1962 literature. It was all about drag racing in those days. It will smoke the 308 to 135 mph. Then the 308 has what, another 10 mph? Don't talk to me about cornering though.

My 308 sounds great too, just different. If I absolutely had to sell one, it would be the 308.

Cool cars are just that. I love them all.

 

There was a yellow 308 with a GM v-6 about 4-5 months ago that sold for around $20,000. I know people are scared of the maintenence costs, but instead of going to these measures they should let someone who cares about the car fix it. Don't cheapen one of the real cars...buy a kit if you don't want to maintain the real thing.

 

But if they buy a kit then they can't say they own a Ferrari.....IMO the nut that buys this car still can't say they own a Ferrari.

 

Lol. What did St. Enzo say? Something like "You buy the engine, we give you the car for free..."

That's pretty much how I'd price this one.

 

THATS JUST WRONG!.... funny thing is it's probably worth that much in parts... so maybe the dealer isn't as big a crack head as we think

 

I went back through my files from when I'd just started looking for a Ferrari and found photographs and the following info on this car. The owner was Mr. Jerry Dorr from Fairfax, VA. He'd owned the car for 1 yr but was selling it because his fiancee hated it. The asking price, at that time, was $24,500 (he was into it $30K), but ended up selling it for $23,500. The conversion had been done by a company in Florida at the cost of $20K--Fiero V6, Getrag 5-speed, new clutch setup (over $1K), original exhaust from catalytic converter back, new rear subframe, all gauges supposedly worked, had been recently painted, new Momo wheels (didn't know they manufactured road wheels as well as steering wheels) and tires, no A/C, no spare, no reverse lights, steering shimmy complaint, non functional heat or defrost, etc. I passed and, as some of you know, bought an 89 GTB last August.