1989 348 Suspension Mods ??????

that's a nice 348. don't know why, but your car looks sick. must be the challenge wheels.

 

Nice car. Nice wheels!

There were a couple of suspension mods done through the years. The challenge wheels should give you mor offset which will help.

Check out the 348 primer. http://webpages.charter.net/aircover/348/1994Ferrari348Spider.html

 

There is tons of stuff you can do that I have done. I suggest start with getting the right camber setup. Secondly lower the car on the adjustable spring perches. Third upgrade the suspension bushings to Energy Suspension ones. Fouth call up Rob from Delta Vee and get his challenge car setup.

 

Most of the Challenge/Competitione car set ups will help. But remember, if you lower the car, you will comprimise the already ltd ground clearance. The harder bushings will help, but the ride does suffer a bit. 348s are very sensitive to alignment set ups.......so that is a great place to start.

 

lowered 348's are sick !
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What would you recommend for aligment spec's??? I am getting ready to bring the car for an alignment after I get it back from the spring maintenance stop, and would like to get better straight line tracking. As far as the original poster of the thread goes, I see you already have SF shields, so other than the mods JJStecher suggestes, maybe some performance stickers.... I did add some Hill Engineering spacers to all four wheels, but am going to take the 15mm spacers off the fronts, just run the 25mm rear spacers(as recommended by Henkie in his spacer tests). As you can see I am almost no help here.

BT

 

John - do you have the part nos. for the ES bushes?

I had a quick look and they list:

13.3101 F111616 (30mm)
and
13.3102 F154539 (34mm)


154539 should be a direct fit for the 348 rear lower inner arms. OK.


111616 is a 308/328 bush (but has the right O.D for 348 maybe - but width?)
Rear 348 outers should be 154538 but not on the ES list. 34mm again but narrowed to fit?? I'm confused..

Cheers,
Chris.

 

The first step is to update rear suspention geometry to 93-94 specs, earlier cars had terrible oversteer conditions. update spring package to 94 Challenge as the front springs on earlier cars were to soft and car is unbalanced.
send shocks to DElTA VEE for improved valving.
lower car and align.

I believe FOW has capabilities to update rear suspention geometry,springs, and alignment.

 

The first you should consider is refurbishing the existing shock absorbers (if you're keeping them that is ).

In the UK it cost only £60 per shock and that was with Bilstein, who told me on these cars it should be done every 6 years.

There was a considerable difference in handling as a result.

 

Do you have the UK contact details Sy? I'm searchin' but I aint' finding. Cheers.

 

You have PM.

 

Let me go check my notes at home tonight and post then. I have both 30mm and 34mm ones on the car and there were the 154538 from Ferrari that I had to get from Ricambi that are still rubber.

If you have the parts manual that I had you see that the front bushings are the same on the 348 as those on the 308/328. They are all the 30mm ones. The back A-arms and hubs have a mix of 30mm, 34mm and the 154538 from Ferrari or custom built.

 

I would go with -1.0 degree of camber on the front wheel, and -2.0 to -2.2 on the rear tires and then run about 3mm of toe in. That is a pretty solid street setup. I run more than that for the track but the above is what I turn back to on the street between track days. It makes the cars butt stick a lot better than my original setup did.

 

Thanks alot, that was just the info I was looking for.
BT

 

Hi,
for the earlier 348 Ferrari recommended to change the alignment by a service bulletin, here you are:
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GEEZ! this is such a myth. I race my car only and have the early subframe. My problem is trying to get the understeer out! Early car were twitchy due to shock/spring combo. Ferrari changed these and the problem went away. Later they further refined the geometry to better felt response by changing pick-up point locations in/on the rear subassemby. The car was not faster and did not handle any better by the numbers but "felt" better to most drivers.

 

I agree with FBB its a myth. My car has the early setup as well and I dont have a problem with oversteer. Its just how the car feels once you get things worked out with camber and toe in the car is much better.

 

Hi there do you know what rate your front springs are ??

I have just had some made here in the UK and i put the car back on the wheels and the front end is very soft, I will have to check the rate of them but it would be nice to know what you are runing

Regards Paul

 

I think that is Delta Vee's propriatary information...sorry. I will say that a good system can really wake up the 348 performance as can loosing some weight. The car not you...although a lighter driver is a benefit too.