1985 Mondial With Turbo Worth Considering?

You may want to post pictures, the serial number or the VIN number and someone here may know the car.

James in Denver

 

Get Norwood in Dallas to check it out.

 

Aren't Norwood a sponsor of this site - in which case might a quick phone call to them allay your concerns ?

Then again its probably not the only Norwood turbo Ferrari so the chances are there's others referred to somewhere here

 

Quick search of FChat reveils the following threads:
1/13/08 owner of a Mondial Turbo posted for sale: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=181824&highlight=Mondial+turbo+norwood

11/12/07 conversation about turbo/super charging Mondial (and 3x8s): http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174372&highlight=Mondial+turbo+norwood

1/19/06 conversation about norwood turbo'ing a car: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90505&highlight=Mondial+turbo+norwood

10/18/06 general convo about turbo/super charging the 3x8 cars: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=123458

Just helping

James in Denver

 

A 1985 308 QV motore' is ripe for a Turbo, , , , without any mods.
here's why:
1) Ceramic coated pistons.
2) Low compression ratio.
3) SS valves.
4) large oil sump.

These allow the motor to enjoy a 1 Bar boost, , with pump gas.

Edwardo


Bob Norwood Loves this car.

 

The seller sounds sincere and seems to "not be hiding anything". A lot of our fellow F-Chatters here cringe at the fact that an F-Car (regardless of type) has been or will be modified. Although most are quite supportive and very informative, in the end, its your own opinion about this particular F-Car that matters. No disrespect to anyone but it seems as if you had found "the one" you're looking for!

 

I used to work with Norwood and in his and my opinion all V-8 series Ferraris should be Turbo. I remember a doing work on a black mondial coupe in 1998, what a great car to drive. I do not remember the cosmetic condition

 

yes, But if you want to add an intercooler to that car,,,, you might just as well upgrade the older HalTech E1 to the latest Model. Next, Bob would have to run it on his dyno,,, probably get 50+ more HP, , , but, you still have to change the oil each 1,000 mi,, or after each track event. (BTW, that car has Never been tracked.)

Edwardo

 

That looks like a nice car. The wheels and tires are probably worth $2K alone, so I don't think $28K is a bad price at all. Miles are not ridiculous (3K per year?), but I would definitely have it checked out, mechanically. Anyone who would turbocharge a Mondial is looking for better performance and probably "enjoyed" the car more than usual. The price is a bargain if mechanically sound.

 

I think you should go ahead and buy the car and take all that silly turbo stuff off and put it back to stock. I'll give you a few hundred for the old turbo setup to help you out.

Something to think about though, driving a 80's technology turbo is fun, but a different kind of fun. Instead of the instant throttle response you probably enjoy with the BMW (or a stock Mondial) you'll probably have a good bit of turbo lag, with full boost not coming on until 3K or so. Just my guess, I havn't driven one of these but it sounds like a few others on this board have. Normally a turbo, especially an older single turbo, means in order to enjoy the rush of power from your fun car you have to keep your foot in the gas longer. Not really a good idea if your kids are riding along. I have a two kids also and find I'm not always responsible enough to keep off the boost. So before dropping the coin on the turbo car, decide if a normally aspirated one that is more fun from 0-40 and has that classic Ferrari exhaust note that the turbo wont would be a better choice than the turbo that wakes up and pulls like a monster from 40 to 140+.

Then make the obvious choice, buy it, that car is awesome!

Good luck.

 

You are right when you say the Motor was not designed to take the extra pounding i think there might be problems down the road

 

If you originally wanted a 348, why are you not looking for a T Cab?

 

He needs four seats for the kids- I can relate to that. I have thought of getting a Mondial or 308 GT4 myself, but my babies' mamma has such a fit when I want to take them for a ride in one of the fun cars that it almost isn't worth it. meanwhile she can't back out of the drive without a cell phone stuck to her face.

 

What I haven't seen here is: did you drive it? If it's close to home, see if you can. If you can get a PPI, why not a test drive? And by the same token, see if you can find a 3.2 to drive. And maybe a 3.0.

I'm there with you on the four seats. Friends of mine have various Porsches and a Lotus that don't get driven due to lack of seats for the family. I looked around for a while, until MY WIFE found one for sale nearby. She was inspired to look online while our 2-1/2 year old watched the Ferrari installment of Victory by Design for the 400th time. We got a black/tan 87 cabriolet. You might like it, see my avatar.

I can't speak to older turbos, but our other car is a SAAB 93. The turbo power delivery is a bit odd as it responds to more factors than a normally aspirated engine: engine load, speed, throttle position, etc. It is actually a lot less peaky than the Ferrari, and really pulls through the mid rpm range. I think the torque curve is pretty flat. It's got a rev limiter, but taking it toward redline doesn't really do much more, anyway. I know some cars are very different, i.e. mid-80's Biturbos, but who knows what the turbo Mondial is like. Is it all top end or mid range. Only a test can tell.

In comparison, the 3.2 motor is pretty mild until 4,500 rpm, then watch out. I think it has more torque than a stock 3.0 at a lower rpm. It makes for a more demanding engine than the torqueier SAAB, but a lot more rewarding, or maybe it's just the noise it makes.

It's really worth trying to drive any example of a car you are interested in that you can. It gives you a good perspective, and you may discover that what you thought you really wanted somehow doesn't work.

One word of caution though. To get our (now 3-year olds) seat in, I had to change the rear seat belt so it wasn't an inertial reel. Supposedly the stock ones work, but it's too much of a pain to jiggle it in. The seat will also trash the leather. I lift out the seat pad when I install the car seat and stuff the well with towels. Car seat police do not like that approach. The passenger seat has to go all the way forward to give him leg room, which doesn't leave a lot for the passenger. We also have a 7- month old, and I doubt that there is enough length back there to get the rear-facing seat in, even without a base. SO perhaps they can't come out at the same time.

My take between the 3.2 and the 3.0 was that enough evolution had occurred to make it a better product, which an aftermarket turbo may or may not remedy. All you can do is look into it. Plus I like the later bumpers.

Good luck with that, I saw it on eBay as well. I did note when looking around that 3.2's seem the least common of the Mondials for sale, and most all are red. Black is a nice color, I've gotta say. This forum is great for ideas on parts interchangability, keep up the good work, everyone. Let us know what happens.

Peter

 

Yes, only the rush is much is spread out over more rpms (about 1000 rpm normally hitting at about 1/3 - 1/2 redline depending on the setup and peak boost) and is much more pronounced as is RUSH of power.

 

I have seen the car a few times, and it looks great to me. I would buy it becasue I live in Dallas, close to Norwoods. I have not driven it.

Where do you live? Maybe you should talk to your local Ferrari mechanic and see if he is willing to work on it if you can't fix it yourself.

 

Jeremy,

If I was you, I'd at least go take a look at the car. The worst that can come out of it is you deciding that a turbo charged Ferrari isn't for you. If this car was done by Norwood, it should be very well done. I looked at a Norwood prepped 308 a couple years back and still wish I had gone and checked it out. IMO, Norwood is to Ferrari like Callaway is to Corvette and Dinan is to BMW... they are all great tuners that have used forced induction to make great cars more powerful.

Recently like you, I was looking for a new 'toy' and decided I wanted 4 seats. The Mondial and 456 were on my short list, but ended up going with a different car. Like this Mondial, my car was prepped by a major tuner that used twin turbos to almost double the output of the V12 to over 500hp. Let me tell you, this car is fun, still easy to work on, and extremely reliable (so far).

If my garage wasn't totally filled right now, I think I'd actually check this one out. The only thing that bothers me is the lack of intercoolers!

Best of luck,

-JRW