Need help with on-line 308 Buyer's Guide

Hey Birdman,

My car has 16" wheels, so it's not stock anymore.

I do have a bunch of photos at:

http://photos.yahoo.com/drtoxicologist

1 or 2 of them are with the stock 14" wheels. Feel free to use any of the photos if you would like.

Dom

 

Thanks Birdman, get info! Actually, until I find a 308 for myself I'd rather keep your writings confidential. Educating the masses as to how easy 308 ownership can be just might start driving up demand, and prices. Not a good thing for me right now

But seriously, thanks again for taking the time to put so much great information in one place and to other contributors as well.

 

Regarding the early injected cars, I remember that there was a recall because of oil leaks. Perhaps someone else can confirm this. This may not be relevent today in that one way or another the problem would have address by now.

Nice undertaking. Any thoughts about a chapter on "improvement" and performance modifications?

 

i just saw this thread. if i can help you in any way let me know by PM. i have lots of pics ( with and without the girls) of the Dino and the other ferrari's i have had.

my father is in the hopital so i am not going to be on much until he recovers.

 

Just read your guide on buying a 308. It's very well thought out and insightful. I have one question, under the pictures of the '85' euro 308, you talk about the front louvers being black. Did you mean that for all euros? Because I have an '85' euro 308 and my front louvers are painted body color. You can see it in my profile.

 

ALL euro model QVs came with body colored louvers; all US model QVs came with black louvers. Some euro owners have painted theirs later because they like the contrast, and some US model owners have had theirs painted body color because they like the euro look...

 

This is really great. I second the idea of introducing a later section for the 328. As a matter of fact was the last direct evolution of the all process (288 and F40 are something else...).
Should I be able to help in any way, give me a call (PM )
Ciao
Eugenio

 

Birdman,
Nice job on the site. I wish I had a stock gts to give you pictures of. Mine isn't even close.

 

Hey Birdman,

Great website. There are a few things I would add from the personal experience of restoring a 308.

1. First time buyers should be aware of how expensive it can be to repaint a 308 due to the massive amounts of prep work required on the hand-made bodies. While it may cost $2,500 to repaint a similar vintage SL Mercedes, it will likely cost in excess of $7,000 to do it right on a 308.

2. As far as I know, pre 1983 308s had bad primer and paint that will crack with time, eventually requiring an expensive bare-metal respray.

3. Covering particular areas that rust on 3x8 may also be useful to first time buyers. 308s have a tendency to rust out on the lower door skins. The metal must be replaced if the repair is to last, which can be costly.

4. First time buyer should also be aware how expensive it is to replace/repair worn out leather interior on 3x8 cars.

5. The second gear synchro is a weak spot on 3x8 cars. The synchro itself is very expensive and massive amounts of labor are required to replace it.

6. It might not be a bad idea to emphasize the importance of the 308 having its original emission equipment intact if you live in a city or state that has emissions inspections as this can cost $4K+ to replace.

7. Importance of regular coolant changes with distilled water to prevent cooling passages from clogging up due to corrosion.

8. Warning first time buyers that the 3x8 has a stiff ride. First time buyers will be disappointed if they expect the car to ride like their Lexus.

9. The importance of inspectioning the under carriage to make sure the belly pan isn't smashed in.

10. The importance of a compression and/or leak-down test as well as having a third-party PPI done.

 

Cool write up. Mr Birdman. But i have a question. When did you have time to write this? I know you were "working" for 6 weeks. How do you do it?? When do you find time?? Are you Batman part time?? Am i missing something??

 

Only if you insist on originality. If you grain match with a decent shop, you can have all the leather done for ~$1500 (doors and seats).

Birdman, just a clarification on your guide:

The early cars had more power b/c of the cam timing. The Euro carb cars from 1976 to 1980 had the most power b/c of cam timing/duration.

 

Not to suggest you go to another sight, but FerrariForum also has buyers guides and may provide some info for you?

Cheers!

DT
______________________________________________________

There is nothing like a Ferrari, there never has been and never will be!

 

Hey Birdman, wish I had seen this earlier! I JUST (as in a week ago) finally bought my first Ferrari, a beautiful, clean, almost purely original, 1984 GTSi QV (black inside and out). While I did a great deal of web research and had a thorough PPI done by a serious Ferrari guy, this would have been something good to read too.
I do agree 100% with Bullfighter's suggestion for a ""Year in the Life of 308" describing what to expect in terms of maintenance - typical expenses, usual things that fail, and some mention of the frequency/cost/consequences of the major service." I haven't read all the messages in the thread so I don't know if this is forthcoming or something you don't have time to do, but, as a newbie who wants to drive and enjoy the car but also care for it (but who does not know nearly enough to be able to repair it himself), I think this would be very helpful. I need to post pics of mine soon, but the ones i took with my digital camera are too big and FChat won't accept them (need to figure out how to reduce the resolution)... Anyway, thanks again!

 

You can use Microsoft Photo Editor (included with XP) to reduce the size of each photo. Just right click on the pic, choose Open With - Microsoft Photo Editor. Once loaded, click on menu item Image - Resize and then reduce the photo to some percentage that will be acceptable to post. My 3 MPixel photos are easily posted when reduced to 35% of original.

 

just saw this post. will send some pics today when i return home. dad should be out of the hospital today.

 

Thanks for the advice. I'm giving it a shot here.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Birdman: I emailed you a couple more comments regarding the Buyer's Guide. It's looking good.

 

The Euro "B" carb. cars all had dry sump motors and ~255 BHP. The rear deck lid is similar to a 76/77 deck lid (only vents on either side of the bulge, no vent across the rear).

The difference b/w the Euro cars and the US cars was that the cams were hotter and timed differently. A lot of the EURO cars also had electronic single distributor ignitions vs the dual dizzy, dual points system in the US car (I'm really not sure why Ferrari did this to the US Cars) and kept in tune a lot better.

The "S" cars did not have a dry sump, but I'm pretty sure had the same cams and power.

None of the Euro cars had the air pumps, catylist, etc and the headers were not covered with that insulation crap either. I think (but will have to verify) that the EURO's also had different gearing resulting in a much quicker car off the line (gearing, power, and less HP robbing emmisions crap) for all versions.