Hi! I'm a lurker, but only a recent 308 owner, having purchased a cosmetically tired but mechanically strong '78 US-spec 308GTB with about 60k on it. First order of business was a 30k service which the seller paid part of. Good thing, too... the belts only had about 5000 miles on them, but something close to 10 years. One of the tensioners came apart upon disassembly, so he was living on borrowed time. The car runs and drives nearly perfectly. The car has all emissions equipment there except that the smog pump is seized. Stock exhaust and suspension. So my questions: 1. Having read the archives, I see a lot of discussion concerning oil viscosity. I live in the Washington DC area. The PO used 10W-40 Dino oil. I generally use synthetic in my higher-value cars and generally Mobile 1. I'm tempted to continue using the same Dino 10W-40 that he's been using... or trying to find some Amsoil in a 5W-40 as Mobile 1 comes only in 0W-30 or 15W-50. Thoughts? 2. I understand that using individual K&N filters on the carbs (better look and sound) is a bad idea. Does everyone concur? A set came with the car.... 3. The car is way too quiet.... the sound from the early GT/4 I almost bought was much more pleasing. I have gotten my hands on a set of hollowed cats. I'm exempt from emissions...and planned to fit them. Thoughts? Will I need to rejet? 4. The car came with some sort of aftermarket dual exhaust designed for a GT/4. Would I see a significant performance improvement by fitting this? (It appears I'd have to do some custom work.) 5. There is a bad resonance on the passenger side at 2000-3000 rpm. Sounds like a body panel or possibly the inner fender is vibrating? 6. The tach reads twice the engine rpm except when my foot is off the pedal (meaning the microswitch is engaged). I assume this also means the R1 points are still hooked up. What would be the best way to fix this? Should I disable the idle points? 7. Where can I find small bits console switches, wiper switch arm, "Ferrari" emblem for the rear deck, etc? 8. Seats are dry and hard but in good shape... what's the best way to soften and protect the leather? Thanks!! Bill Elliott
Hi Bill, Allow me to welcome you to F-Chat and to GTB ownership. Please fill out your profile as it is a great way for other members to know a little bit about you (Its no fun offering advice to just a name) and post a pic of you car. Now for your questions: 1. I run 0W 40 Mobil 1 in my GTB and could easily run 0W 30. Excellent oil with not a single handicap. Engine starts easier, burns no oil, revs more freely, and makes loads of oil pressure. 2 Individual air filters is not bad just that you will need to re-jet for them. I am a traditionalist and like my car original so I stay with the original airbox. 3. Forget the hollowed out cats. Use test pipes instead. These are just straight pipes that replace the cats. Makes the most power and sounds the best. 4. Performance gains will not be significant but you might get that sound you are after. 5. Boy I love this question as F-chat saved me on it. The cheapest fix you will ever have on your 308. The sound comes from the AC line rubbing on the inside of the inlet scoop. Buy some pipe insulating foam at Home Depot and slide it over the pipe. Sound GONE. 6. I have electronic ignition and cannot comment on this problem 7. These bits can be pricey but Ferrari UK has most of them. I've never had to look so some of the other members will chime in here. 8. I had excellent results with Leatherique products. There is tons of info in the old F-chat archives and can be bought at www.leatherique.com. Enjoy the car and feel free to ask anything. The only dumb question is the unasked one.
1. Open can of worms...I use Valvoline Racing Synthetic 20-50. 2. Hot air into the carbs is always worse than cold. However, you should be able to set them up a lot easier with those individual air cleaners on them. If you don't have the stock air cleaner housing, it's not cheap. Check baldwin.com for a local outlet for filters. Air is PA2094 ($29), Oil is B253($9). Call a local outlet and if they don't have it they will order it. It also fits a Ford truck. By far the cheapest source for these filters for the car that I've seen. 3. see #4 4. The stock exhaust on the older carb cars is crap. While you will see some improvement, it won't be much. Getting rid of the cats along with the exhaust will require a re-tune, and a rejet will also help. But unless your car is way out of tune to begin with, you're not going to see a huge improvement. Maybe 3-4%, but the car will run and sound a lot better (also, get rid of the air pump and injectors. You can have a plug on the exaust air injectors made from a SS screw available from a hardware store. It will require a little machine work, but all 8 can be had for less than $50. Someone here has a drawing but since the site died, the old thread picture is gone (someone post it for Bill). 5. Don't know about this one. 6.Something else is wrong. The tach has a short somewhere or the hook up on the dist. is not correct. 7.www.owners.ferrari.co.uk 8.http://www.ferrariclub.com/faq/leatherdye.html
Thanks much for the advice! Sorry about the profile... I now have it filled out. Pic of the car: http://fnader.com/images/308GTB/308gtb3 Original paint, but needing paint badly.
I have a 1978 308 GTS, so you might want to review my experiments. 1. I can't comment on your area, because I live on a tropical island. 2. I am planning on putting independants on my car as well. I am keeping the original just incase I don't like the way things turn out. 3. Do not use the hollowed cats. I hollowed mine out because one went bad. I get backfiring when downshifting an a weird hollow sound at idle. Just avoid this option like the plague, get some test pipes instead. I am sourcing out some as well. 4. If you are going to change the exhuast the best one for our models is a tie between the Borla and Tubi. Borla now longer makes it, so you will have to find a used set. I would say the Borla has the better sound, but they tie on performance. 5. If it sounds like a body panel, I am ammuming your year is like mine. You might look behind the carpets in the passenger's side. There should be a false floor on the wall where the feet go that angles towards the dash. This is where the small sensor boxes for the catalysts is hidden. YOu might want to tighten it down or get a small piece of foam and line it to keep it from vibrating. 6. Try cleaning the idle points, my mechanic said mine had a little corrosion when I first got it. 7. Good luck on the switches, they are around, but outrageous. I suggest ebay for them. The other pats check out Butch Hooper at http://www.italianauto.com/ I would appreciate if you tell him that Shane from Guam referred you. I earn brownie points with him for referrals. He usually will give fair prices and choices between new and used. He is really good about telling the quality of the used parts too. 8. There are various brands of leather softeners out their. Kwik shoe polish makes this stuff I used to used for breaking in baseball gloves. I can tell you what the name is since I haven't done it in a while. Just check your local sporting good store and tell you have a mitt you want to break in, they will probably remeber the name right off the bat....pun intended, sorry. My last and final word of advice. Since you have a carbed model. Please do this first and formost of everything. Get the largest fire extinguisher you have spae to carry, please make sure its for autos, some people say the carbon monoxide ones can damage your motor. The reason I say this is because I am not the first 308 owner to have an engine compartment fire. Not all of them do, but you will be kicking yourself in the ass if something small turns into something large, like my experience. Other than that, you have an awesome car. Enjoy it.
I had a 78 308 GTS....answers in no particular order.... I would get proper test pipes: http://www.durable1.com/testtubes.htm Air filter? Get a stock air box K&N, terrific induction noise: http://snipurl.com/bov5 (don't worry, this is the right one, all the carb 308's take the same air filter) You will need some richer main jets, regardless of any changes, as the 78 is set up very lean...use either a 135 or 140 mains. The car will pull much more willingly to redline. Switches and stuff? Good luck, start with Ferrari UK. Oil? I would use Mobil 1 0w-40. FWIW, regards, Dave
Bill, Congratulations and welcome to the Ferrari club! 1. I believe your car calls for 10w-50 oil, which is impossible to come by. Many people here use in it's place 5w-50 Castrol Syntec or 15w-50 Mobil 1. The general feeling is that you should be using a Xw-50 oil and 5w-50 will protect the engine better at start up than a 15w-50. 2. To my knowledge nobody has ever shown a HP gain in using individual filters. In theory, sucking hot air in from the engine compartment might actually decrease horsepower. The original airbox is a pain because it gets in the way of adjusting the carbs, but it seems to work well. 5. Do what Nuvolari said. Wrap the AC hoses coming off the compressor in foam. You will need to pull the right rear wheel and wheel well. Let me know if you need a picture. 7. I have had good luck with T. Rutlands, Dennis McCann and Ferrari UK for parts. Rutlands often has used parts for hard to find stuff. I have seen plenty of "Ferrari" scripts on eBay, so start searching. Good luck! Birdman
Hello & Welcome Bill, Tell me more about your wiper switch arm problem. I offer a column switch repair/reconditioning service & can either repair or replace both wiper & turn signal switch arms. I'd point you to some threads with pix of my prior work, but unfortunately the archives are off-line. Feel free to send eMAIL to [email protected]
UPDATE: First, I'm extremely glad I found this forum!!! What I've done: 1. Got a Heritage Certificate (where I discoved the paint is not original as I had believed) 2. Purchased Baldwin filters 3. Changed the oil (Castrol 5W-50) 4. Changed all of the fuel lines except for the tank to tank lines (which had recently been changed) and fuel filter. 5. Put insulation on the AC line (cheapest most effective fix I've ever seen) 6. Removed the stock air box and replaced it with individual K&N's. 7. Removed the cats (for offroad use only!) and replaced with the suggested test pipes. Also discovered another exhaust leak (old) which I repaired while I was there). Stock muffler. 8. Rejetted the carbs to 140 mains (from 125) and .60 idles (from 55) and resynched carbs (they were already very close...) The car is completely tranformed. Throttle response is instant, the sound (both exhaust and induction) is EXACTLY what I wanted... (I really don't care if the warmer induciton air blunts summer performance)... and the performance has improved by a significant "seat of the pants" feel. Took the car out for a 5 minute test drive yesterday and played around on back roads for over an hour. Next up... replacing the fuse blocks (purchased from the list) and replacing the wiper switch when I receive my new one from Verell. Thanks again for everyone's help and encouragement!! Bill
More about your paint vs. the certificate...please. Do you mean the red or the Boxer Trim on bottom? I have two '77s, both with Boxer trim, dunno if it's Factory or not.......
I found out that the car left Italy in Bianco Polo. White. This came as a huge shock to the 2nd owner of the car who had it from about 1983 through 2004 and always thought it was original paint as the original purchaser had told him. The color change was done extremely well leading me to believe it may have been done before the car was initially sold... a white Ferrari likely being more difficult to move in 1978 and the Boxer paint scheme being desirable. Another owner of a Boxer-scheme car has told me that if the car came with that option from the factory, it would show up in the "paint" section of the Hertiage Certificate. However, I've yet to see one so annotated. Doesn't make a difference on my car now that I know for sure it's not original. However, as I have no desire to take the car back to white, I plan to stay with the red over black Boxer scheme. Bill
8valve, I long ago wasted my posting allotment, with bikini clad women on Ferraris!! Before the subscription program was applied. The Blue/cream interior Boxer trim #22641 can be seen in the So Cal Section in the first Andretti Winery thread, heading back to Texas, from Oregan. May 2004....a little vino and we were off again thru the mountains and desert! The yellow/black interior Boxer trim #22127 can be seen in the Texas Section under Houston Art Car parade thread by Dr. Who, with daughter Amanda, the artist..It was also noted in Cavallino #133, Letters to the Editor section,...a shame it was a black and white photo. Also on the West Austin News website, at the 2004 Austin Art Car Ball......... Look in GFD "Women DRIVERS and Ferrari" thread, that's it with Valeria........posted by LAFun2.
I agree, it looks great! My blue one was unsold for three years! Eventually getting black fender louvers and a rear spoiler before it left the dealer! We'll see......I should go for the two Certificates.......too greasey to find all the numbers! LOL!
