Hello, new member

Congrats on your dad's purchase! Nice wheels yourself.

There's not a lot of "easy" horsepower left on the table with these cars.

Mandatory reading:

So you've bought a 308/328..........
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103221


Larini is one option for an aftermarket exhaust, not the most popular but certainly an option.

The Ferrari 308, unlike many cars (e.g. Corvettes), does not have a rich tradition of butchering it for performance gains or major personal customization / modification at the expense of originality.

That said, there are a lot of smart things people are doing these days - e.g., converting to carbs or to EFI, turbocharging, and supercharging.


BTW, your car is more than a GTSi - it is a "QV" (Quattrovalvole), that is, four valves per cylinder. This also means you have the 16" rims, which is a good thing.

 

Welcome +1.

I would suggest, following on what Mike posted, that you live with the car, learn about it, and drive it a bit before modifying anything.

First, there are no 23-year old cars that are perfect from the day of acquisition. So your dad may be investing in some catch-up maintenance, possibly a major service unless you have records that it was done in the last 3-5 years (Ferrari recommends every 3.)

More importantly, the technology of the car is a bit dated now, but it was nicely balanced (power/chassis/brakes) when it was designed. You can have quite a lot of fun with the horsepower already there. It is a real drivers' car.

Finally, Ferraris tend to be judged (at resale time) on how original they are. Spoilers, aftermarket wheels, scoops, striping and other 'improvements' popular on some cars are death to a Ferrari. I would limit improvements to things like the exhaust, upgraded brake pads, maybe an updated stereo if there's an old one in there.

 

welcome +2

Agree with the above, live with the car for a while, I've had mine 8 years and although I first wanted to change things....I haven't! Enjoy the ride

 

How many miles, and what's the S/N?

 

Welcome aboard!! Great Car !!

(wow finally a 308 on the FerrariChat.com banner popped up.)

Good luck!!

 

I would not modify anything untill a major srvc. is confirmly done.

 

Absolutely. Until the belts are changed, cam and ignition timing checked and adjusted, and has a general tune up, you have no idea what the car should be like. You need a proper base line before deciding what, if anything, should be done.

Ken

 

If the major service is overdue by a month, probably not a huge risk. If you have no clue when it was done, I wouldn't drive the car much, if at all, until you have that done. A slipped or snapped cam belt will set you back more than $10,000 (conservatively...)

Again, a Ferrari engine is not a GM small block V8, and its design may not be forgiving of bolt on mods. Also, boosting power without restoring/upgrading the suspension/brakes could be more dangerous than fun. Take a look at the size of the brake rotors on his car.

 

Mike N: There’s some very good advice here. Tell your dad to get the service done, then just enjoy the car for a while. Most new owners find that over a few months some additional needs for repairs arise. Get them taken care of too. By that time your dad will have grown to know the character and personality of his car and will have a better idea of what mods he might want done. I’ve owned three Corvettes and can assure you that, as Mike328 and Jon have said, a 308 is not remotely similar. You can put a bundle of money in the engine and still not have a really fast car. And if you don’t know what you’re doing it’s easy to mess up the balance of the car with more power, bigger tires, and harder suspension.

Finally, computer literate or not, your dad really should spend some time in FerrariChat. There’s a wealth of info here that isn’t readily available in books or magazines.

 

for a quick 5-7 hp increase right away, buy a K&N. Mike C and I dyno-proved this last Jan. on our 84 308's.

Next is the Hyperflow Cat

Finally is the Stebro (or Tubi but the Stebro has more sound options thru the use of removable inserts which I think is really cool).

These are the easiest, quickest, most dependable performance upgrades you can do right out the gate. Still, this will net you less than 15 hp but the rest of the performance options are much more costly (and these 3 options aren't cheap) and complicated.

Do your service and these 3 things then check back in with us.

 

You can probably start here: http://www.stebro.com. I suppose you can try www.google.com for variants.

I got my K&N from http://www.partsamerica.com though I suspect anyone performing the service could take care of that for you.

Seamus