Dumbing down 308 electrics

Though I have not torn down my 308's electrical system, I have the schematics and it does not appear overly difficult. Birdman's fusebox sorts most of the problems with the 308 in one easy upgrade (PO did mine. ) and aside from that its a matter of relay switches that are available.
Look for the best 308 that you can afford wether its a carbed car or a QV, GT4 or Mondial. Get a PPI and most importantly, D R I V E I T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JIM

 

well, my 308qv is 23 years old and I'm the fourth owner,with 52k miles on it everything electronic works just fine,I might think about a up grade in the fuse boxes,I do belive if the car is a 1970-1980 I would differntly do it,I've never heard any problems in the qv's or 328's

 

Same here, my 84 GTS QV has 74,000 miles and still has the original fuse block without any electrical problem, Knock on Wood.

 

hey mike,I think our cars were built on the same good day when someone cared about building a good ferrari

 

The fuse box is the short coming in the 3x8 series. Birdman has a wonderful upgrade. It's a DIY item. Can't remember how much it costs but its less than $200 IIRC... I've not had any electrical problems in 10 months and nearly 6,000 miles on my GT4. If you buy correctly, electrical problems should be a minor concern.

JIM

 

Having been a Jag guy most of my life I have lived with the LUCAS (aka Prince of Darkness) quirks. I have not seen this in my 308. Other then rebuilding my fuse blocks (my old one just broke up) I have had no electrical problems. I drive the car as much as weather permits and have fun doing it. So my opinion is go for it and enjoy.

 

I agree Mike

 

the 308qv's have more updated stuff than the older 308's after the qv's came the 328's which they work out some more bugs,but if you can get a qv,there might have been problems with my car in the past but none that I'm awere of,I've talk to the past two owners and have been happy with the car,it has had new paint,interior and just the scheled maintance,I've post in some others threads and listed over 20 sites to help you sreach for a ferrari,finds those and have fun finding your dream car

 

this is a prefect time to buy,money is tight with the rich and some are letting go of there toys,you need to shop now and be ready to buy when you find that right car,be very paintent,don't buy because you want a ferrari but because its the right car to buy at the time,and get a ppi,mine cost me 500 and the car was looked over for over four hours,I bought it four months ago for 36k,and it looks great,so I think you'll find a great car for not alot of money but they are going up in price

 

I reposted the thread for you classifed sites,enjoy

 

In my 30 years of dinking with dozens of different Italian cars, my experience with their electrical systems is that almost 100% of the electrical problems that you will encounter are mechanical in nature.

That is, corrosion at connections and poor electrical contacts are almost always the problem.

When you get your new 308, do this: Spend an afternoon going over every electrical connection that you can find, all over the car from front to back. Especially look for grounds. Remove the connector, sand the contact points clean to bare metal, apply copper based electrical connection grease, and reassemble.

Italian cars also seem to have weak ignition switches with iffy connections. Disconnect the battery, and get a can of electrical contact cleaner with a skinny spray nozzle. Stick the nozzle deep where your ignition key would go, and spray away. Then insert the key and work it back and forth. Repeat this exercise until the contact cleaner overspray that runs out the back of the switch is clear. May take as many as a dozen times or more - the first couple of times you do it, the runoff will be black with years of goop being flushed out. And it's that black dirt and goop which prevents a sure electrical connection.

Yes, 308 OEM fuse boxes can be suspect, simply due to poor electrical contact at both ends of the fuses. Give yours a critical look - remove each fuse and check both ends for any bad signs of corrosion or overheating. Again, sand the fuse ends clean to metal with a very fine sandpaper and apply a dab of copper grease - this will do wonders.

I did this work 5 years ago to my 308, and have had -ZERO- electrical problems.

An ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure, and all of that stuff.

Cheers - DM

 

TAX season could either be a bad season to buy a car or good season to buy a car, It all depends on the seller, weather he/she is getting money back from IRS or
he/she has to pay IRS. If he/she has to pay then it's good to buy from that kind of seller.

 

Typicaly, 3x8's have a slow window problem which can partially be associated with the car's door/window ground connection.

 

that may be true but how many times do you have the window going up and down while driving your dream car, when my window is down my top is off and the heater is on,and the sound of the engine is just what the doctor order after a long week at work slinging iron and tying rebar in a bent down postion for 8 hrs a day,I could care less if my windows are fast or slow going up and down,just as long as she can take me down that road fast! but I love the color of your qv sandy!

 

Hi Joe,

It sounds like you have a realistic budget and enough maintenance experience to be happy with a 308.

I would recommend getting as much of the service history as you can from the po and having a thorough PPI done by someone you can trust.
I would avoid a car with rust problems primarily for the cost to cure and the possibility that you will incurr corrosion problems in the electrics.
Look at what the po has had to fix besides the usual fluid changes, belts, pads and tires; is the car plagued with intermittant problems or recurring porblems?
Having a decent service history on the car gives you a starting point, to pick up on the maintenance - I bought my 77 with a very poorly owner doccumented maintenance history, so, I am doing wheel bearings, hoses, the fuse box, all of the relays, as well as the obvious needed items, axle boots, suspension bushings, noisy shocks, radiator fan motors - and just to be on the safe side, i am going to rebuild the carbs and do all of the heater/coolant hoses before summer.
It is better to have a pile of receipts from a good mechanic and have a high mileage car than a low mile car with no records.
The PPI is the best way to avoid unknowns, spend the $ to get a good one and look for records.

hth,
chris

 

Easy quick fix by an FChat guy worked great on mine: www.FerrariWindows.com and I think you can also buy his relay boxes through www.RicambiAmerica.com

 

Dave is right on the money. The fuseboxes merely take out a bad system and replace it with a much better one (but still WELL worth every cent). But that just takes one variable out of the equation. The cleaning of contacts is the most important thing involved. Take his cleaning advice to hart do it the weekend you get the car. But, with that said, these are still old cars and no amount past maintenance (short of a Big Red style full resto) is going to cure the occasional electrical problem. You can wake up one day and find the speedo sensor suddenly doesn't work or the starter solenoid is flaky. Get used to the fact that you will have some kind of gremlin every once and a while.

 

joezaff,what state do you live in,have you checked out some of the sites I put up for you? when I looked for my ferrari I looked for service history,and I did look for something like some one put some money into to keep it looking nice,my car two owners ago had it painted($10k) atleast,the interior by the last owner ($5k for the kit) and another 2k to install it,last major in mid 2004 ($7800).......I know it wasn't orginal interior or paint but it looks great to drive and everyone thinks its a $100k car........and its a great driver only its never been in the rain or snow,also its a 85 and it has a very good rust proof under the car and lids