328 GTS 1986 recent purchase...upgrade questions

Narrow shoes are the best solution. I've never heard of anything besides that.

For Tom Selleck apparently the show's producers removed the seat bottom completely and he jut sat on the floor. I' not sure that will be practical in reality. For sure remove the roof and leave it at home. That gives unlimited headroom and extra room to slide back and/or recline back.

Superformance.co.uk sells a big brake kit for the 308, I'd think it fits the 328 as well. I'd start there.

Welcome, and good luck.

 

I run 348 brakes on my 308 with no issue and better stopping power

 

I’ve often wondered about modified pedals which sit farther back. But no, certainly not something I’m aware of.

the pedal box is also attached directly to the master cylinder and servo in one unit

 

I always heard they removed the seat frame and bolted the seat to the floor. Never heard that he sat on the floor. Even at 6' 4", that would seem a little low.

 

Not sure how long you have had your car for but the pedal box set up is fine once you get used to it I guess..
I did when I first got my car..

 

Go and buy an aftermarket seat, the OEM seats are no where near what they should be for the American market, to put it plainly, , THEY SUCK !!! Sparco makes a seats that will fit, and there are other makes as well. <MKE put 348 seats in his 308, he knows what he is doing, the 3x8 seats have ZERO BOLSTERING, Im actually thinking of putting in 348 seats, and taking my aftermarket ones out, I really like the 348 seats, and they are Ferrari . Dont waste your money trying to modify the stock seats. I drive in my socks, the feedback is excellent, try that, you will get used to it in no time, I did. Some aftermarket seats have to much padding at the back, this will still force your legs forward, so you can have the padding reduced , before you install them, thats what I did.

Thank you

 

My (you get what you pay for) free advice is to drive the car a little as-is and make adjustments after some time. They are quirky cars that require some getting used to.

I am not crazy for the pedals, but have come to peace with the configuration. It seems (to me) that it is mostly getting used to them being offset inboard. At least it is on a left hand drive car.

Counter-intuitively, it is sometimes helpful to scoot the seat forward a couple of notches and tilt the seat back more to get more room for arms and head. Yeah, the legs scrunch a bit but it is comfortable. If really desperate, the seat back can be tilted back to touch the firewall if the targa top is not stored behind the seat.

The seat construction is love it or hate it. Personally, I find the stock seat very comfortable.

Not sure why you’re wanting brakes. The stock Ate calipers can lock the wheels and don’t fade even during intensive public road driving (at least for me). I hear that they can disappear without much notice under heavy track conditions, but I have never experience fade (on the road). I use Ate Typ200.

 

Maybe I have the Magnum PI lore wrong, but what seat frame could you remove? The rails are flush with the seat cushion bottom and they bolt right to the floor.

 

I fitted the Superperformance Big Brake kit to my '78 308 GTS. A nice set up, with an improved handbrake system, which I attached to the existing operating cable. I had to swap out my 14" wheels for 16"s, which gave me a better tyre choice.

 

Sorry for the leap in logic. I was thinking about brake failure and then causes and then brake fluid. Ate Typ 200 is a brake fluid with a reasonably high boiling point which reduces the likelihood of losing your brakes in high heat situations.

 

Check this image: https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZlLmNaTN7po/VfyWE3K9FyI/AAAAAAAAMwo/rNOVF39e47k/s640/magnum%2B7.jpg

You can slightly see the top of the headrest, but clearly they've done some sort of modification to the seat as it looks 2-4" lower than the passenger seat.

 

Some modification is certainly part of the lore. Perhaps the lower seat cushion part of the seat is missing completely and the seat back is just sitting on the rear firewall. But I can't picture how to remove any seat frame bits to sit lower in the car.

 

http://magnum-mania.com/Articles/The_Ferrari.html#:~:text=The%20Ferraris%20used%20in%20the,to%20maximize%20the%20leg%20room.