1994 Ferrari 348 Challenge - Issues, Updates, and Progress for a better driver

1994 Ferrari 348 Challenge #14 of 32

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Purchased car as a driver, and drove it back to Texas, just shy of 800 miles with only minor issues. Car now has 65K miles. Advertised as a driver, it would usually equate to some things not working, rough interior, nothing quite perfect. There are a few more issues with the car that were not described in the original post, and some issues would only come up in a proper PPI. When I purchased the car, it was cold, and I had lacked sleep for several days. Buying a Ferrari is a stressful ordeal. If I had to do it over again, I would probably do the same thing again and buy it. Others would walk away. It is a gorgeous car, and most of all, it is a challenge. (how punny)

I plan to use this thread to document the current issues, correct them in time, and to make it a better driver. At the moment, the immediate concerns of what do not make this a driver, especially in Texas, the CV boots, right turn signal, and the transmission issues.

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The following should be a lesson as to what you should look for when buying a 348 at a bargain price. I might have left off an issue or two, but this will give you an idea. In addition, please reference No Doubt's site: My Ferrari 348 and search on this subforum. The answers are there, or clues to the answers you are seeking. Some of these things are easy to fix, others can be quite costly. Some of the bits are not even made anymore, or require something to be custom fabricated. It should be worth your time to read through so you know what you should look for when buying what might seem like a deal. It might also be seen as negative on this car, if I were to sell it in the future, but this should provide a baseline for the documenting the car’s history.

Here’s the original thread where it was for sale, which provides more details than the listed eBay ad. For Sale 348 tb Challenge #14 - FerrariChat.com

Electronics

• CEL 5-8 - permanently on, does not go away. Was told it cropped up a few days prior to the sale, isn’t a big deal and should go away. During a stop in Tulsa, I pulled the code. It's 1124 and will follow ernie’s post on replacing the pressure valve before the gas tank implodes. Have not inspected the gas tank at this time, so do not know if any current damage due to implosion has occurred at this time. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q/241642-348-vapor-canister-purge-valve-removal.html
• CEL 1-4 - appears often, then goes away. Not able to pull code, as the code doesn’t last long enough to stay in memory.
• Slow down 1-4 - appeared twice, pulled over, cooled down and went on my way without issues Car has aftermarket cats welded into place.
• Left hand turn signal works.
• Right hand turn signal does not work. In TX, to even sell a car here, it must work, and to get inspected to drive, it must work. I’ll need to assess this problem quickly. Here are the symptoms: left blinker clicks, right blinker does not click, just goes into position. Neither front nor rear lights light up. Turn signal indicator, green light <- -> is always lit, unless you hit the hazard button, then it goes off. When parked for an hour or more will need to disconnect the battery to avoid draining. Have attempted to pull fuses for turn signals, but they do not have any affect at this time.
• Doors lock with button on center console and unlock with button after a few tries.
• Drivers side door lock will not turn with key. Only able to lock and unlock with key on passenger side.
• Drivers side window will go up and down at moderate speed, but button will not work all the time when door is closed, other times door needs to be open to roll down window.
• Passenger side window will roll down very slowly, but only when door is ajar.
• Came with one key. Ordered several other Ilco blanks and will have them cut.
• Radio - it works. Speaker on right side is louder than left. Speaker box behind seat was not included, even though it was advertised as being included.

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Exterior & Underneath

• Battery tray had a split through it. There was one inch left in that split of the metal tray holding the battery up. This was discovered four hours prior to reaching home, and was temporarily fixed with a tie down strap holding it up. This will need to be replaced, reinforced, or rewelded. Original part, which requires welding, is $850. Custom fab is much cheaper.
• It’s been painted. Most of these cars have been painted or touched up. Overspray in wheel wells and under the body. A few spots with significant orange peel around the inner rear hatch area.
• Passenger Side Rocker Panel has a vertical crack.
• Rear decklid is aligned now, but appears to have been misaligned and closed in the past creating dimples, breaking through paint along the left side.
• Under front bumper, first body panel which goes all the way around the front is missing. Will need to take measurements, or measure someone else’s and have one fabbed up. This comes with a new front bumper for $7400 + paint. I’d rather have one fabbed up for much less and one that does the same job.
• All front crash box stuff - should tell if it was in an front end collision - which there is no evidence thereof. If there was, it was extremely superficial. This was easy to spot since the front under tray was missing.
• Left/driver rear fender liner - loose. plastic where it is supposed to be screwed down is broken off. This is just washers and screws which hold it down. Will need to come up with a solution to hold this piece down with fiberglass, or even plumbers strapping to fill the spot.
• Windshield wipers need to replace blades.

Interior

• Seats are well worn, even for 65K miles. This is probably due to being in storage shed with fluxuating temperatures causing more cracks than necessary. Some parts are splitting, but still contained. Rear of seats have spots that are well worn from hitting the decklid.
• Steering wheel horn pad falling out. It's loose and dangles, but can be set in place which lasts a mile or two.
• Sticky bits all over. Buttons mash down and sometimes work.
• Passive seatbelt motors not operating - they travel a short distance and stop. Belts modified to attach to seats.
• Passenger side shoulder seat belt latch needs to be replaced or repaired - the release mechanism is missing.
• Door sill rubberized Ferrari is warped in a ribbed manner and cracking along edges.
• Doors squeak like my old beater truck - but that was easily resolved.
• Driver's side door fitting is loose and dangles. Possibly not snapped in place correctly.
• A/C not charged, and may not work at all. There were no further details provided on this issue.

Glass

• Looks all fine, but back window has a bit of opaqueness in a large area coming from the bottom where it turns white and clouds up.

Wheels

• Curb rashes on a few of them, mounted incorrectly on the rear. Center pieces present, but not in great condition.

Brakes

• Pedel feels fine and does not require a bleed at this time
• Pads have 40% left in front, 60% in rear.

Under Frunk/Front Trunk/Front Bonnet

• Trunk struts tired and need to be replaced.
• Missing two aluminum trim plates on left and right side. Rear is present, others are missing. This is for the liner seam.
• Ill fitment in rear of frunk liner, due to being warped. It’s wavy all around the lip and doesn’t seat.
• No tool kit, no luggage, no manuals, no service records provided with this car.

Suspension

• Left/Driver side front lower control arm bushings have play in them - need to be replaced. Need to replace the pair, but mainly for rear bushing that has significant play - affecting alignment.
• Right/passenger side upper and lower control arm bushings - need to be replaced. Very significant play. Currently causing knocks at any speed and bumpsteer characteristics. Was told at time of sale that right front needs to be looked at, but no details were provided at that time.
• Front swaybar bushings appear to be good.
• Front shocks show no signs of leaking - good.
• Rear suspension is good and tight.

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Transmission & Drivetrain

• 2nd and 3rd gear grind going into gear. Syncros are either gone or nearly gone. Was told there was a sweet spot for 2nd and 3rd. Rev matching, or a suggested proper double clutching doesn’t work. To get around the issue, I’ve found that if you wait until the RPMs drop to 1800 rpms before shifting into 2nd or 3rd, there will be no grinding or crunching into gear. This works for upshifting some of the time, other times, it will not go into 2nd or 3rd. Downshifting can be a little more stubborned getting the shifter into gear, especially into 2nd.
• Clutch engagement is at the top. Suspecting the disk will need to be replaced soon, or sent off to be rebuilt along with the flywheel. Will attempt to bleed first and check for noise.
• CV Boot on right hand side is slinging grease all over, will need to replace. I have ordered replacement boots and grease and will replace soon, per the great videos on this thread:
  http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/348-355/413370-348-cv-boot-replacement-how-video.html
• Shifter cable adjustments - the nuts were backed off completely. Protector plate missing entirely, boot around it torn, dangling under the car, and not usable. The protector plate is supposed to be a pressfit on a channel in the boot, but the boot is main source of the problem and the missing plate fits into the boot. The boot is no longer available, another solution will need to be fabricated to cover those cables from being damaged by road debris.

Engine

• Under the car, a significant leak - it's at the front of the motor. Oil line from the oil cooler to the engine block. Not a huge problem, but also cannot rule out anything from the front of the motor - due to visibility, difficult to tell when looking up from passenger side straight up, but at this point, possibly just oil cooler line. However, it could also be from something further up, and is seeping oil down the line, between the line and sleeve, channeling the oil from further up.
• One of the bolts from subframe to the car body (12 total), on right side is not all the way screwed in. Bolt is an inch backed out. When attempting to properly seat the screw, discovered the bolt is cross threaded and jammed. In the next engine out, this will need to be corrected by a tap and die set.
• Rear bonnet struts tired and need to be replaced.
• Need to pull spark plugs to make sure these are correct.
• Fuel filter doesn’t look like it was changed during major last summer.
• Camseal oil leak on bank 2 (left hand bank/driver side/cyl 5-8)
  Lots of oil and dripping.
• Camseal oil leak on bank 1 (right hand bank/passenger side/cyl 1-4)
  Lots of oil and dripping, significantly more than bank 2.
• Cam cover end plates - leaking oil.
• Clutch housing assembly - leaking, or inspect for leaks during service of clutch. leaking at bottom in inspection plate (perforated)
• Spark Plug Hole Inspection:
  • Bank 2 Cyl 8 - oil seepage, pool of oil at bottom surrounding spark plug
  • Bank 2 Cyl 7 - oil seepage, pool of oil at bottom surrounding spark plug
  • Bank 2 Cyl 6 - oil seepage, pool of oil at bottom surrounding spark plug
  • Bank 2 Cyl 5 - oil seepage, pool of oil at bottom surrounding spark plug
  • Bank 1 Cyl 4 - oil residue, but no seepage. Possibly not cleaned during major?
  • Bank 1 Cyl 3 - oil residue, but no seepage. Possibly not cleaned during major?
  • Bank 1 Cyl 2 - oil residue, but no seepage. Possibly not cleaned during major?
  • Bank 1 Cyl 1 - oil residue, but no seepage. Possibly not cleaned during major?
  On each of these oil leaks, the oil will need to be cleaned off, driven, and checked see if oil leaks return. Only way to be certain that it is a current problem in some of the spots, otherwise, it might not have been cleaned properly during the major that was performed last summer.
• Warm starts take many cranks to get it started.
  Cold starts take a handful of cranks to get it started. I’ll be following through the suggestions on the following thread, checking flywheel, then moving onto the fuel system. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q/70506-348-spider-hard-starting.html
• Lately the car will not start, and the car will only click once. Power going to everything and looks good, but will place on trickle charger that just came in last night, along with checking the connections with a meter.

I'll be using this thread to post up pictures and videos to detail any issues and document corrections. I hope this can be used as a learning tool or for documentation to a future owner.

 

Wow, that is an incredibly thorough and informative thread. Thanks for taking the time to write everything out. I watched the listings for this car and was really interested in it. I look forward to reading the progress you make with this car.

 

Subscribed. Congratulations buddy!

 

Ditto!

 

What does a 348 with a laundry list of needed repairs sell for in todays market????

good luck with it pal! i will be following this thread for sure

 

Wow. Thanks for this post. I'm very interested in updates and how you get everything sorted.

 

Look forward to you saving this one.

With that laundry list, it's amazing how great of a car a Ferrari really is, we all know if any other car had this type of laundry list to address it would hit the scrap yard.

Good luck on the restore !

 

Apparently, $30K is the price.

 

ready to read the updates! very, very cool thread already... can tell you'll be thorough with it all as well.

 

I stopped by Randy's house this weekend to say hi and see the car. It's a driver for sure, the exterior looks much better than I expected, and the interior is tired but at least it's all there! Congrats again Randy! I don't envy the to do list

 

Fair play. Thats a massive project. Good luck with it. Will be watching with interest.

 

Congratulations, she looks great.

 

Nice. Good luck with the fixes and updates!

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Congrats on the car! That is a really big list to come up with so quickly so you must be an expert. Hope fixes go well, nice car!

 

I wish you all the luck with this car and I think it's awesome you are willing to save her. I did the same with mine. My suggestion is get a true certified mechanic to do the big stuff and touch what you can. Take pics, take your time and record your journey....don't get pissed. Good luck, sir!

 

Wow that is a serious list.

I owned a 93SS challenge car for 5 years and did all my own work, so I know first hand what it takes to work on these cars and find the right parts. If I had that list, I would sell and buy another car. I am afraid you are going to spend more time and money trying to fix all these issues than just buying another car.

This is an example that the most expensive car you will ever buy is a cheap Ferrari.

 

Should be a fun project. So have fun and remember to walk away every once in a while.

 

Looking good...looking forward to the updates.

 

The only thing I have to add to this is that Albert had the nicest SS/Challenge 348 I've ever seen, and that was with 41k miles. He really maintained it properly.

 

Time for a bump. I'll try to categorize the posts, so be patient.

I've had this car for a while now, put on not too many miles at all. Unfortunately, I haven't had too much time (unlike many others who power through their to-do lists), and I also have another project car in the garage which is nearly in running condition.

Slowly but surely, working through small items.

Rear wheel correction
I took the car to NTB one evening to have the rear wheels corrected. They were spinning the wrong way. Tires were fine. However, you only get so far being a Ferrari. They were unable to balance the wheels due to not having a small enough cone.

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Cars and Coffee
The gf and I went to Cars & Coffee. Notice the front bumper was painted completely red behind the grill. This was later corrected, and I'll get to that. This is my gf's paparazzi shot. She's on the phone talking with someone who has found a spot. All the outside spots are taken, so we're crawling up through a parking garage.

View attachment 1406603906

 

CV joints are usually straight forward. But when you make a small blunder, it sets you back until you suck it up. Let me begin...

1) All the CV joints were cracked, had holes, some were split slinging grease everywhere.

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The allen bolts were mostly rounded out, and two bolts were not even hand tight, just dangling there. Another was finger tight. All the others were tightened correctly, or to a sufficient amount.

2)It's recommended to change with the 1979 930 turbo. Ordered those from Pegasus. Got a tip to swap out the CV boots with aeroboots, which are integrated boots and shrouds.

Porsche 930 boots on the left, Aeroboots on the right.

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3) Hastily, this is where things went wrong. I pulled out the axles and thought I'll clean out the CVs and one side was stubborned, so I pried it back because I thought "hey, I'm going ot replace it with the aero boot" Nope, it doesn't work that way. Really measure many times before you start cutting or in my case, prying.

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Once that was done, I went to fit the aero boot on, seeing that it wasn't going to fit. Upon further discovery from Daniel at Ricambi, it isn't a replaceable part. To get that piece, it requires the purchase of the axle. A further discussion with Rob Schermerhorn, when those CVs needed maintenance work, they carefully removed them with a cutting wheel and then TIG welded them back into place.

I had a friend TIG weld it back, but it still wouldn't seal well. This piece is a press fit piece and doesn't just slide right on, and it also has a seal in there too.

Eventually, I found a 94 348 axle that survived a fire. The boots were melted but everything else was intact and in better shape than the one it was replacing. The axle was rebuilt and onto the car it went.

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The inner CVs were replaced with ones from Taylor Racing, as per a recommended part from Rob Schermerhorn. The inner cage was the same width, but the outer cage was slightly larger.
Hewland Gearbox | Jerico Transmissions | Quaife Transmission | Tilton Clutch | Racing Driveline

Outer CV difference between stock and Lobro replacement.

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The stock bolts which hold the inner CVs were mostly rounded out, and two of the bolts were not even hand tight. They were dangling there. The stock bolts measure in at 55mm. Replacements were hard to find and special order at ~8 bucks a piece if not a hair more. After contacting Daniel at Ricambi, he pointed me to the replacement bolts which superceded that part for all the CV joints.

PN - 12605674 - bolts $1.32/ea.
PN - 223916 - washers $.90/ea.

When I received the bolts, they were only 53mm in thread length.

This works if you have factory CV joints, but these beefy Lobros I installed couldn't get a bite unless the washer and bracket were removed. I had to find some other bolt to work with these. After searching and searching, I came across a source who would sell me single bolt ARP 12 point M10 x 1.25 x 60mm (otherwise, they come in packs of 5 as head bolts and I needed 12, not 15). Purchased from Allen's Fasteners for $38.27 shipped.
m10-1.25 12PT FLANGE BOLTS BLACK OXIDE ARP

To recap:
Stock bolts: 55mm
OEM replacement bolts: 53mm
ARP (custom length): 60mm

These are only necessary if you have oversized CV joints, otherwise opt for 53mm from Ricambi or 55mm ARP's in custom length. Entirely up to you.

The ARP's fit like a champ and are very robust!

Just before going in. Note there is a breather tube, which is just a piece of WD40 tube pushed in. On the Aeroboots, there is a slot for it. On the 930 boots, there isn't but it will still work just fine.

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Straps are a military grade zip tie.

Another tip when setting up CV joints is to cut off a little WD40 nozzle or similar nozzle as a breather tube. The aeroboots have a slot made for this, the others will just slip right in.

If you want other specific pics, I have tons. But limiting in this thread so we can continue on. Other people have great how-to's. Need a guide? start here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9HJhGJf9fo&list=UUuh9vRGhnTlzyAancvlMjqg

 

Battery replacement
Pulling out the battery, it wasn't even tied down. It was just hanging loose. 42lbs of battery in the front wheel well, kept in place by the battery cables themselves. The battery was so heavy, it split the tray whereby only an inch was holding it together.

Pictures taken after it was discovered. (remember, I didn't inspect this too well before driving off with it, see original post) Tie down was strapped to pull the battery up and hold it in place for the drive home to Texas.

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Notice what else is missing? Front bumper is half gone and other body panels underneath.

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The battery ticked me off, but then I read the top of the battery. PABLO. Now, I cannot get mad at PABLO. Still cracks me up.

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Ordered from Tech Battery Solutions.
It's a version of the Braille B2618 battery.
Deka ETX18L - 18lbs! Not as light as others out there, but still pretty light.
Deka ETX18L Power Sports AGM Battery
Add in the SAE posts and that's all you need.
Amazon.com: Brass SAE Automotive Battery Terminal Set for Hawker Odyssey Batteries: Automotive

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It's currently zip tied down with some heavy duty zip ties until the tray is welded back up.
This battery is named Jefe. Just because.

 

Water pump was allegedly replaced. However, the radiator cap was a bit past due to be replaced. Prior to replacing, there was nothing noticeable in temperature variations, however, behind the passenger, you could see it fume above when temps were normal. This pointed to the cap.

Ricambi to the rescue.

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This also helps with coolant pressure getting it to 1.1bar. After chatting with another fchatter at the track, he mentioned it was replaced on his 348, but when that happened, the pressure went up, and the water pump broke.

 

Front bumper mod. Matte black vinyl to the rescue!

Remove front grill (three screws).
Remove surrounding trim (four more screws - stubby screwdriver helps)

Utilize outer trim for making a template with the vinyl. Over cut, trim, clean clean clean clean clean, and apply.

Reinstall the grill pieces and there you go.
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CEL 1124 on 5-8. Thanks to Ernie's thread here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q-sponsored-algar-ferrari/241642-348-vapor-canister-purge-valve-removal.html

Kia part purchased on ebay for 36 bucks shipped. It was used, but tested with a 30 day money back guarantee. I took the risk and installed it within 5 minutes. CEL long gone.

I'll be investigating the tank soon to make sure it is a-ok. In the meantime, and since delivery, I've been keeping it topped off for the time being.
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