Looking to buy a 348

Hi Ferrari enthusiasts,

For a while now, I’m in search to buy a 348ts or 348gts. I hear the wildest stories going around and I was wondering if I could throw this in the chat.

Are there specific points of attention, specific issues attached to the year of make of those cars,....

Any help is more than welcome and much appreciated.

Many thanks,
Manu
Belgium

 

Everything has been covered many times here and at my348.com - read & learn

If you need local language advice try the Dutch/French sections below

 

Education about them is critical to ownership. Read everything you can, know how to differentiate the BS from the facts.

'89-91 had a service bulletin for a bearing on the block that could go bad. Lots of them have been fixed by now, many haven't.

Edit: BTW, they're wonderfully rewarding cars. The ownership experience has been amazing! Lots of folks here came for the cars, and stayed for the people.

sjd

 

Great link greyboxer.
Many thanks for that

 

Is there anything specific you want to know?
I would always go for a later car, 1993. Then they have the revised suspension, single plate clutch like the 355 which is much lighter and easier to use.
They also have the Denso electrical system which means improved reliability over the Delco system.
I went for the Berlinetta because I prefer the lines and the stiffer chassis.
But there is so much more you can look up in that link.
I bought my 348TB 12 months ago and I found that link quite useful.

I would not worry too much about the Engine out Major service, in some ways its better to have to do it so you can get all those extra things done which may have been overlooked if the seller was just getting it done to sell and keeping the costs down.
There are a number of other things you'll read about but by now most things have been corrected, like the sticky plastic and things like that.

The 348 is a very underrated, I still get a real kick out of the driving experience, I love the looks, sure it could use a little more power, but most of the time, its plenty fast enough, it has a well balanced chassis and rewards you with a great driving experience with incredibly satisfying feedback.

Generally I would say if you maintain the car well and stay on top of any issues, they are very reliable, engine is bulletproof!!

I was out in mine yesterday, with a big smile on my face!!
Here's my 348.......just as a teaser.
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beautiful car!

I know two for sale at the moment which I would like to check out. They are an ‘93 GTS and an ‘94 Spider, both not the cheapest for sale but they come with full Ferrari maintenance historic. Personally I prefer the GTS for the model of the car (coupé lines) and the small production numbers, which is perhaps a benefit for the future...

There is for me no need to hurry to buy, I really want to wait to get the right car.

Thanks for your message,
Manu

 

Thank you, yes my car is a very fine example indeed. I get a lot of pleasure driving it.

Yes I would go for the GTS out of those two cars. It would be worth checking if the the 1993 GTS has the F119H engine instead of the F119G engine, they have slightly more power (320hp vs 312hp), higher compression ratio, and Motronic 2.7 ECU's.
You can tell by looking at the Plenum chambers, they are taller than the 119G and have a different pattern on top. Easy of you were able to take a picture and show us.

Getting the right car is important, I was very lucky in my case, the right car with the right spec just "appeared" one day, Rosso Corsa, Black Leather, BBS LM wheels, 1993, it ticked all the boxes.
But if it didn't I would have rather waited until the right one did turn up. There is nothing quite like the satisfaction of getting the exact car you wanted.

 

True GTS/GTB cars have the tall plenum F119H motor.

I would go with the GTS as well over the Spider.

 

Wasn't yours a ts that someone relabeled as a GTS? or maybe the F119H cars never made is to the Australian market? (even 93-95 US cars didn't get the F119H even though those in Europe did.)

 

Just as important as waiting for the right car to come along, is recognizing it when it does. Too many people continuously wait for the "right one to come" and never end up committing when the right one finally does.

 

Matt farrah just reviewed a 94

 

I understand the 119H was for the European cars, I don't believe they were ever in the USA market, I could be wrong though.


Mine is a Euro Left hand drive TB with a GTB badge on the back. It is possible as the car is a 1993 that Ferrari started putting GTB badges on them before they were officially GTB's with the 119H engine.....Looks like its always been on the car....but who knows what could have happened since 1993.

 

Right that's what I was saying. The US never got the F119H engine, even in the "updated" 93-95 cars.

What is your sn? Maybe it was a 92 but wasn't first registered until 93.

 

I believe my car may in fact be a 1992 car. On one of the cylinder heads I noticed a date stamp of November 1992, the car could have been assembled early 1993 with a Nov 1992 sub frame assembly.....
96396 is my car's chassis number, so its late, but still a few hundred away from the official GTB's...

 

For the record, production date on my 92 euro ts is May 1992, sn 94472.

95899 was made in October 1992.
97343 was made in June 1993.


So somewhere in there. Interesting that yours isn't an F119H car.

 

I do have the serialnumber of that GTS so I can verify the car if it’s a real GTS or a ‘fake’ one. Also, I wasn’t aware that there is a different engine code between TS and GTS cars. Is this viewable when I check out the car?

It’s indeed important to check, there are people out there who do all sort of things to increase the value of their goods.
I once bought a MV Agusta F4-sr, one from 300 made... afterwards it became clear that the bike only had the sr-tag on the steering top yoke.

 

Yes there was a change in engine, from F119G to F119H, only in Europe as far as we know. The Plenum chambers are different. I will see if I can find some pictures, its very obvious.
If it is a real GTS it is quite a rare car, they did not make very many, I can't remember how many exactly, but easy enough to look up.
I would not hesitate to buy the car if its in nice condition.
You can run the VIN through the red headed decoder too.

Here's a link to that decoder. http://www.red-headed.com/vin.html

Top image is a F119H, you can see the taller Plenum chambers, the fins on top are different from the earlier F119G and 119D engines.
The Bottom image is my F119G engine, you can see the chambers are shallower and the fins run all the way across the top of the chambers.
My intake system is an aftermarket one, the top image shows the factory intake system, which is the same on both engines.
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Yeah, mine is indeed an interesting case, must have been right about when they made that change, knowing my luck, I probably got the last ever F119G car!!

 

All depends on if Australia ever got the F119H in general. Like I said, the US never got it, maybe other markets didn't either.

 

Hi again KevZep,

I can confirm that the car has a F119H engine, the seller has a clear photo from the engine.

 

Good luck! They only made 137 GTS cars. Post pics!

 

There you go, 137 GTS cars made, if its a nice one and the right price I would grab it!!

 

My car is a Left Hand Drive Europen car, not from Australia. As always though there are interesting cases.......The main thing is I really enjoy the car, it was what I was looking for....So I am more than happy.....

 

Ahh. Gotcha. Yeah, be interesting to see! You may very well have one of the last F119D cars!

 

See where 96396 falls in this list.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/348-production-numbers.281256/