348 project twin turbo or street car?

TRACKCAR!!!! Make this the fastest 348 ever, you will get mad props, and have a great time doing it.

 

That seems to be a lot of oil under the transmission.
(you might want to change the dip stick)
Well I would say it depends on many factors:
1) I'm not asking you to tell us, but what did you pay? (what is you budget/investment)
2) Are you going to open the engine either way?
3) What condition is the rest of the car? Has it ever been in an accident?
4) Interior? If its perfect it would be a shame to gut it for some uncomfortable pieces of carbon fiber....
Granted I cant see too much from the pictures, but the paint looks good!
5) If you turn it into a track car what type of events are you looking to drive in? (You should first decide on the exact use before modifying as they will limit your eligibility)
6) Would you have a track car either way? And vice versa if it does become a track car what will you drive? Will you keep it street legal/Are you willing to do ALL of that maintenance you will encounter when asking it to produce 500hp? It certainly wont be as driveable or reliable.

Either way it seems like you have many happy days to come with this beauty.
What more can I say than quote Plugzit's infamous "drive it like you stole it"

 

Huh? no offense, but it looks awful to me... whoever owned that car before you should be ashamed of themself!
And considering the laundry list of very expensive repairs it needs... I hope you stole it!

 

You could make the car a daily driving car the cheapest...Next make it a track car----To make it perfect again will take the most $$$

 

Just realized what car that actually was, and that I have seen many pictures of it.
Well on second thought I'm in Berkeley why don't you drop it off, you can leave the keys in my mailbox....
Yeah well I see you conundrum, because while it is a clean car it certainly is not perfect.
This is your second 348? Do you still have the first one? If so 500hp all the way!
I say this but you MUST be perfectly fine with making this a huge money pit!
The approach I take is any money I put into modifications is money gone! While any money put into restoration is 2/3 gone!
Look you obviously will increase the value of the car, but it certainly will not near your investment.
Anyway 500hp in a 348 sounds incredible and if you have the means and patients go for it!

 

Whats the serial number?

All that oil underneath looks like it is getting on the flywheel and flung around....You probably are going to need to repack the flywheel and replace the triple seals on the input shaft. Not a huge deal. Its a known problem with the 348, but one that looks like it has been neglicted on this car. There are threads on here on how to do both. Getting to the parts is a 2 hour job...no biggie...

As for your question, make it a 500hp street car for sure!!!!!!!!!!!! There are a couple of other twin turbo 348's and I can't think of a more incredible car.... From what I hear, the gearbox can hold that power, however, you will need to install a kevlar clutch, which is no big deal again because you have to pull off that whole flywheel assembly to replace the clutch AND repack the flywheel... Nail a bunch of birds with one stone!!!

Lastly, welcome to the brotherhood and keep us updated!!!!

 

Congrats on the purchase. Welcome back to the Brotherhood.

If you do not have a street 348, then I would get this one back on the road. If you stil have your other 348, then have some fun with this one as a TT track hack.

I am sure you got this car cheap, so if you do major/flywheel/clean up yourself it wont cost you that much.
Hopefully A/C just needs some gas. Will be an expensive fix if the evaporator is leaking gas.
Not hard to diagnose the A/C either way. Also do a leakdown test too see what those cylinders are like.

 

Oh yeah, as for the cats....straight pipes on ebay...$300....car will run cooler and better!

 

welcome! I'd echo the others and say focus on street first, this way you get to drive it more often.

BTW, add it to the registry

http://www.ferrari348registry.com/

 

Wow, have you ever restored a car before? Or turned a wrench? That doesn't look awful at all. Simply a bit of elbow grease an dedication. In the world of restos, that project is nothing, and in fine shape for the purpose. Everything is there and simply needs gone through.




Darrell.

 

Since you now own it, I figure I will ask you the question that was keeping my interest from becoming another car sitting around, not being driven.
While I was looking at this 348, I couldn't ward off the possibility that it was a flood car; or that it had been in extremely humid, damp storage. Were my reservations viable or was I just being paranoid? Is the rust bad? Mildew/mold?

 

You betcherass pal! ive been turning wrenches for about 26 years... 22 years as a certified master mechanic. I didnt say the car couldnt be restored, I said it looks awful because I cant summize how any Ferrari owner could let thier car get so severely dirty, rusted and corroded.... not to mention ignoring required maintenence and not addressing the repairs it needed. I said the last owner should be ashamed of themself, so what?? Thats my opinion, and I believe i'm entitled to it! My statement was NOTHING personal to Ray, and I appologize if he took it that way... and I STILL hope that he stole it!

 

hey guys I've got the car here at the shop, the rust is located on the battery tray and that's about it. there is surface rust on the rotors and the car seems to have spent time in salt/snow weather. otherwise it's in good shape, repaint on one side but no body damage, could have been from being keyed. the engine has been neglected that is for sure as it ran awful, right bank gutted the cat and timing is off a few degrees. I'll be tearing it down here shortly, nothing serious so far. personally I think it will make a great track car. progress pics will follow, busy with a 500hp 328 at the moment.

 

As you already have a 348 Spider for road use, I think you can turn this car into a track rat.

I am not so sure a TT setup would be great for track use - you would need to address high underbody temps that it entails. Also the NA engine is very tractable - so it is easy to accelerate out of the corner. A TT engine would be less progressive IMO.

A better approach may be to lighten your car drastically:
- Straight pipes
- Challenge exhaust
- Strip interior completely - carpets, leather, sound proofing, etc
- Get rid of stereo/A/c
- Racing seats/belts/roll cage
- Lightweight bumpers
- Remove windows/replace with Lexan
- If you have the money - get CF replacements for the body panels

For more power, there could be 30-40hp through better intake management. Also the chip can be tuned more for racing with minimal compromises for street use.

 

Turning a 348 into a track car is a very expensive proposition. Almost as expensive as building a 355 track car, but at least the 355 has decent availability of core parts.

If you can see it to fix this one up for the street, sell it, then turn that money into a 355 challenge. This way you'll have invested far less than making this 348 a decent track car, and you get one that's faster, lighter, and a purpose built race car with all the nice bits and pieces such as decent, adjustable brakes, cage, race seats, harness mounts. These are the little things that quickly add up to become more than the cost of the car itself.

I dunno - maybe I say this because I'd really like a 355 Challenge

 

..............bloody wise words there David................

 

If you get it cleaned up to "Driver," let me know. I might know Someone interested in doing far more than just lookin' at it

 

Totally disagree because a stripped 348 racecar can be faster than a 355C which still has too much weight like dash etc... Also the 348 can be beaten on all day with no prob from gearbox. I worry about 355 valveguides blah blah blah mostly because I know little about them. I can tell you that on track I have never been beaten by a 355C or 355 in my 348 racecar that was stock except lightened oem clutch and full gutting. Also the 355C cages are crap. I would never trust my life to one.

 

Thanks, Ray.