348 : A Dream Realized

I'm not rich. I can't buy any Ferrari I want. But if I was, I'd still be buying the 348. I just love the lines. It truly is a dream car to me....entry level or not......

 

Well I'm home and the cars awesome!!! Totally loving it!! Keep looking in the garage.....like every 5 mins. Drove it for the first time to take it in for a smog check. It's a California car now. Ran perfect on the way there and the way back. One small problem though. On the way home I'm noticing an almost whistle like sound at low throttle positions. RPM doesn't seem to matter as much as throttle position. Car runs excellent otherwise. At the end of the smog check, with the engine off, he checked the "carbon cannister" system by pinching a line coming off the cannister. Pic attached. It's the lower of the 2 lines leaving the cannister, snaking to the left in the picture. He said it led to the "gas cap". Not sure if that's true or not. He then looked at the cap and said he couldn't do the test because of the older style cap. Anyway, when he pinched the line I thought I heard a snap. It may have been the locking plyers he was using snapping down. Not sure. Is it possible this line is leaking? Is it an important line? Would it whistle if it was leaking? Will take a better look tomorrow and try to pinpoint the sound. Again, the car runs great. Just a noticeable whistle at low throttle positions....and not all the time. Any info would help. Thanks again to everyone's support!!!!! I'm in heaven right now. I just want the car to be perfect...........Lou
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Yeh, I know the wheels are backwards. The previous owner rotated the tires/wheels. I don't think the tread is unidirectional, so not too worried about the tires. May get some 355 wheels soon anyway!! Do 348 owners not rotate tires? Don't think the sound is from the strakes. Will have to spend a little time on it tomorrrow. Do your strakes cause whistling?? Are those cannister lines pressurized enough to cause whistling? It's the bottom one that was pinched. I don't believe that would hurt it...but who knows. It looks fine. I'm definitely not a mechanic but have an idea of what's going on. Will send more info....maybe even an audio clip of the sound...if I can.......thanks again, Lou

If you can send a pic of the vacuum lines, that may help a bit. I'll consult the manual and see what I can find..................

 

The plastic fittings look good. He applied the pliers quite a few inches away from the fittings. I'm assuming that the line itself is flexible and that it's not plastic inside. Again, my sound may have nothing to do with the cannister or that line. The car is brand new to me. So maybe the sound was there on the way to the smog check and I just didn't notice it. I just didn't know if those lines had enough pressure in them to "whistle" at all. Thanks for the reply.........Lou

 

Just tried it. Yeh, there's plenty of pressure. Definite "whoosh" sound. So does that mean that the line I mentioned from the cannister is OK? Again, I watched as he clamped the hose. I just wasn't expecting the "snap like" sound. It could have been the pliers locking shut. I've never used pliers like that.....so maybe it's the sound they make when locking. Thanks for the help. Kids asleep now so I can't go rev it up. Would love to though. Thanks again....let me know what you think......Lou

 

I don't think it's from the strakes. I think I remember hearing it at a very low speed. Again, I think it has to do with throttle position. If the kids weren't asleep, I'd start it up and see what I can find. It's definitely noticeable. Coming from behind. I'll have to run the car in the driveway and experiment with throttle positions to see if I can't duplicate it when standing still. The car runs strong and never misses a beat....so I'm hoping it's something small. Thanks again for your help......Lou

 

Thanks so much. I've only driven it twice....but go out to the garage every 5 mins to take a look at it!! It's like owning a piece of art. It's so different to drive than my Mondial, which I've had for 10 years. Everythings stiffer. Hard to smoothly "tap" the gas. Throttle seems pretty stiff at first. Easy to floor it, but hard to give just a little gas. Speedometer almost seems off to me. Maybe it's just that I'm sitting closer to the ground. Seems like I'm only going 60 and the Speedometer says 75. Usually sitting close to the ground gives a sensation of going faster than the actual speed. Will have to bring a GPS just to see if it's right. Off to the DMV tomorrow to pay the taxes!!! Looking forward to it even though it's going to cost me....as I get to drive it again.........hopefully I'll locate the whistle...........Lou

 

Also, anyone know what exhaust this is? The guy I bought the car from said it's OEM Ferrari Stainless Steel. He said he replaced the original due to discoloration that he didn't like. Say's that he only uses Ferrari parts. I would have probably gone with Cap/Tubi or something like that. But this sounds nice. I just don't have anything to compare it to. Does Ferrari make a stainless steel 348 Spider exhaust? He says he paid $6500 for it but I can't find that receipt, although he has receipts for everything else. Just wondering.............Lou
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If it's a tubi, would it say so somewhere on it? Going to have a closer inspection today. Also going to test the speedo against a GPS as my tires are the exact size specified.......and hopefully find the "whistle".........Lou