and some more.... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I was always really annoyed at the centre console sitting non-squarely and have seen this on a number of 348's. The centre console is actually extremely asymmetrical and it's difficult to work out what should be straight and square. I cut a piece of plastic 14cm x 20 cm and used this in place of the a/c panel to start aligning things. After using the limits of the different screws (see 4 of them you can use for alignment in the pic), I finally found that I had to chock the side of the console between it and the gearstick tower with a wedge of 10mm plywood. Now everything is about as square and true as it will ever get. The radio flap is a disaster but can't be coerced too much as it is rigid plastic. It really needs a cabinet magnet to snap it closed firmly into place. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Every so often people ask how to remove the side air vents. I've found the real trick is to remove the surrounding dash pad which is quite easy (although the instrument binnacle has to be released for the left side. That way, any danger of snapping clips is avoided. For anyone who wants to know what the clips look like or where they reside, here a couple of pics... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Installation work continues.... Tackled the fitting of a sub-woofer today. Managed to find a 13cm one from Sweden which has a good spec at least and good reviews in general. Main concern was not having to carve the console up at all. I'm guessing that the sound will be quite improved although I doubt whether the Dolby Laboratories will be around measuring the HiFi to be used for a reference! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
This is how the installed amplifier looks - I'm very pleased with the result. Also managed to hide the crossovers neatly away. That heater box provides some very nice flat surfaces to glue bits on to! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Last job today before turning in was to fit the first of the window power assisters. Gave a quick try and it has reduced the opening and closing time by about 30%. It might not sound much but it really makes a difference. Not quite Audi or Mercedes speed but good considering... Image Unavailable, Please Login
wow! I'm speechless. Its too bad I have no interest in putting a better audio system in the ferrari. It looks like an installers dream in terms disassembly. I used to install stereos a lot before on my other simpler cars (VW Jetta for example). On the ferrari, I just listen to the tubi. Where I'd want a great stereo, on my X5, everything is so complicated due to the factory stuff like nav that I can't bring myself to hack it up....
Say what you like, but I reckon it's pretty neat to be able to put in a music-DVD and watch and hear it in the 348. So everyone who prefers the sound of their Tubi to a radio: can you watch your Tubi at the same time? Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Gave the centre console a bit of a wash and brush up today. The picture with flash doesn't do it justice as each speck of dust is highlighted. I removed all the gauges and switch units and gave it a good clean up in all the little nooks and crevices. The "duller" picture conveys its 'as new' look better. The gauge "glasses" were scratched and I found that the gauges disassemble VERY easily. Just use fingernails for the plastic clips and everything falls apart, releasing the plastic lens which I polished with ultra fine scratch remover. Be very careful which product you use as some contain solvents which will attack the plastic. I tested an old scrap one and left it for a few days to make sure no solvents were going to cause a problem. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Very informative thread. I like what you have done so far. I used to be heavy into car audio years ago and I must say that is a very very nice sub woofer for sound quality. One note though, sub woofers (speakers in general) need the waves fron the front of the speaker seperated from the waves from teh rear of the speaker. This can be done by creating a baffle (called an infite baffle design) that isolates the two waves or building a sealed box with the proper volume. I noticed you built a baffle that just kind of holds the woofer in place.
You are right! I tried to model ywo other approaches - one being a box as you say and the other was to fix it in the kick panel. I couldn't design a closed box considering all the constraints in that area so my basic approach is to go down the kick panel mounting route. My intention is to dril out a multitude of holes in the kick panel from behind without puncturing the carpet flock and put some reinforcements in to hold the loudspeaker up to the back of the kick panel. This was about the time when I started thinking "Hey, you're going to start chopping the car up and you don't even know what the new sound system is going to be like? Whether you really need a subwoofer? etc" So I decided to rig up the support to get it actually connected and running and the kick panel can be easily unscrewed and modified at any time in the future. What do you think if I "extended" the wooden support so that the front is sealed blind up against the kick panel thus effectively boxing in the front of the speaker? Perhaps, now that everything is installed, I could get some plastic sheet and box in the rear? Or does this have to be a rigid solid box? I also don't really understand the philosophy on the door speakers as their resonance room (the door interior) is effectively blanked off by the welded in speaker bowl.
Replaced the engine lid struts that had erectile dysfunction. I'd fitted brand new ones 3 years ago and already they weren't able to lift the lid. Following tips on this forum, I bought ones for a Ford Focus trunk lid (sedan). They are a bit strange as they seem to have a lot of staying power but not much pressure. So they don't lift the lid more than a couple of feet, but then you can lift it the rest and it stays put where you leave it. Barry also called round and pointed out a major job I'd nearly forgotten to do - the brake caliper colour. Not everyone's taste, I know! Pleased with the result though. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Check da bling man! A bit more bling went in today - the reflections make photos near on impossible. Took a fair bit of work modifying it as it was designed for the tb / ts rather than the GTB / GTS (with Spider type muffler). Got there in the end though, although drilling stainless steel made my Bosch drill look like the equivalent from Fisher-Price. Will look down the production line tomorrow to see if I can scrounge some heat protection blanket to stick on the inside of the shields. Not strictly necessary but better safe than sorry. I think we have some stuff which protects carbon fibre from jet engines at work! Have to fit the air hose supports too. I had a couple of new ones made during the lunch time in the factory. They said they didn't have stainless steel at hand so they did them in titanium. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Finally...... the car is back on the road! Weather's unfortunately not good enough for decent pics this weekend. Aircon occasionally shows me an E8. I lost a bit of coolant when I replaced the thermostat and seal and have read here that low coolant level may cause the electric water pump to suck air and throw up an E8. For some reason the driver's side window suddenly lost all power - even the light in the switch went out. Door connector pins are ok, checked fuse etc. After checking everything it started working again. That's a nuisance since I don't know what the cause was. Will have to start provoking a few dodgy contacts to see what's happening. Got the Dremel out and cut the slot shown in the photo in the rear hood opening lever to enable cable fitment without headache if I need to remove this again. I actually found out later that the Bowden cable on the rear latch is very accessible and could be released to allow the inner to be pulled through and enable more working space to get the release lever off (necessary if you do anything on the handbrake lever). Image Unavailable, Please Login
Exhaust shield had to come out after its trial fit. Fitted some heatshield on the inside and also those titanium air hose supports. All back in and sparkling now! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, boxing day is sort of traditional for picking over the odd bone or two. So here are a couple of bones of contention for starters - Fender Shields and Painted Calipers! To be honest, I wouldn't die in a ditch for either of them, but do quite like both of them on my blu sera car Just finished the last caliper - what a dreadful task. Something for an apprentice. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, it's on wheels and back on the road again! Just a few odd jobs still to do and a major service is heading my way in a few months. Very pleased with overall result and I'm hoping this will pay off when re-sale time comes some day. Solved my E8 aircon warning by topping up the antifreeze (after losing a bit during the thermostat change) Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Well, I have mentally said the "Refresh" is officially over since two days now. I wanted to officially get out of that mindset to enjoy some drives out before work starts up again next week. As usual, we've got 75mph gales winds and driving rain now and it's probably in for the weekend too! I bought the car in December 2004 - three years ago - in a neglected state, although mechanically well cared for. I thought it would be fun to bring it up to a good standard and most of the time it was. The catastrophy of the paint job meant I was without the car for a year or so. I've decided to try and jot down what I've been doing on the car since I bought it and was surprised how long the list became. I then went on to put some prices alongside the items (I was WARNED not to!). Suffice to say, that is a subject for another thread. Thanks for all the kind comments - I hope to be able to feed you with some nice pics when the sun returns. What was done: The Visible Stuff Full Body bare-metal repaint Recessed Yoshi Metal Scuderia Shields in front wings repainted cam covers New wheels (OZ Racing 3-piece from Hamann) eBay - as new condition New Tyres (Falken FK452) Engine Bay thoroughly cleaned and polished Brake Calipers removed and painted (yellow) New side repeater indicators Hill Polished Gear Knob Hill Pedals Hill Footrest - had to be modified quite a bit to fit! Wheel Arch liners cleaned up, painted, and stone chip sprayed New Ferrari document wallet Hill Gate lock Hill door locking pins New Glovebox accessory light in pocket New Targa top cover and wallet (eBay as new condition) Schedoni Car, Seat and Steering Wheel covers (eBay as new condition) Lowered suspension H&R springs Exhaust cover replaced with Dimex 348ts stainless steel cover modified to fit 348GTS and with added heatproof cladding and titanium inlet hose supports Fuchs exhaust can (too loud and attention-getting) replaced with standard (eBay as new condition) Painted Air Filter box replaced with standard item (eBay as new condition) Silver ribbing on (previous owner) painted plenums New Antifreeze and High Voltage stickers in engine bay Door Intakes with cheese grater ribs removed (eBay as new condition) (still have original set) The Boring Stuff Dashboard removed and completely cleaned Centre console removed, re-aligned, cleaned New Ashtray New Gearshift and auxiliary switch trim Seats removed, thoroughly cleaned, refurbished with Liquid Leather Two new Cat ECU's fitted, after sealing them with silicone sealer around potting compound gap to plastic case. Two new Cat temp thermocouples fitted New Aircon compressor and dessicator New Alternator and Aircon Belts Two new floor mat cleats New Bosch Silver battery Door Light bulb replaced Door Connector pin replaced Recirculation Flap Spigot repair (Hill Engineering spigot) Shedloads of new Ferrari original screws, nuts, washers etc. Trunkwell carpet leathercloth webbing band replaced Passenger Footrest - new screw retaining grommets Air hoses to horn replaced after rodent attack Two press stud buttons on trunk access covers replaced New door locks - didn't really need them, but they were so cheap and brand new in box as part of an eBay bundle of F348 parts Newer Ferrari Tyre-Flat Bottle (eBay recent date bottle) Instruments and switches removed, disassembled, cleaned and polished New door seals fitted on lower intake panels Cracks in trunk liner back-reinforced with glass fibre matting Repair of insulation on electrical connectors in front of crankcase Repair of switch lighting in window winder and centre console switch New gear lever rubber gaiter 40000km Service plus cambelts and new tensioners, new clutch New upper and lower Alternator brackets New Engine Lid gas struts (Ford Focus after original Ferrari ones flopped after two years) Hill Skid plates in plastic New Glove Box gas strut The Technological Toys Blaupunkt Amplifier with Custom-made invisible mounting plate in trunk fitted alarm system with multiple sensors and remote locking etc. rewired immobiliser to interrupt three independent critical power circuits fitted third antitheft device which I won't go into detail on here! coming-home 30 second fog lights on locking car to find way out of garage at night New fuse / relay box to cope with additional alarm and audio circuits footwell relay box removed, all pins treated with Stabilant 22A JVC KD-NX5000 DVD, CD, Navi Head Unit Bluetooth telephone with microphone New door speakers and dashboard tweeters with crossovers (Infinity 6520SCS) Fitted footwell subwoofer - nothing gigantic, just adds a bit more colour to the sound Window Lift Boosters fitted All accessory wiring soldered in to plug connectors on back of Footrest Relay Box What's Left To Do finish off polishing and waxing with Swissöl Italian Car Wax repair door sill plates rusting holes (I have a set of bent ones where I can recover the sections required and weld them in as patches. I'm not sold on the carbon replacements myself. Interior Rearview mirror is rusty around the edges - need a replacement Passenger Sunvisor mirror is scratched - need a replacement Micro repair two indentations in Targa roof (from storage behind seats) Reseal the outer Targa Roof gutters to stop water ingress Could do with a new windscreen as current one is pitted, scratched and has a small stone chip. I have two new interior door handles (very cheap off eBay - brand new in box) waiting for the time when mine look tatty I have two brand new in box front shock absorbers 50000km major service (oh ****!) The Bad Bits I bought a set of 18" rims off eBay and the guy sent me some Mercedes rims with adapters etc. Nearly three years later I am still going through the courts on this one. Twice I have won my case but I still haven't seen any money. More thah that, to return the wheels for a refund, I sent them to the court bailiffs who then do the exchange. So I now no longer have wheels nor money. Bought a brand new Cat ECU off eBay but it never arrived. Guy didn't respond to any eMails and the amount of money involved is too small to go to court.
