My first 5 days as 328GTS owner

Congrats. Yes, they aren't as fragile as fchat would make you think.

The cat sticker is common to all U.S. 328s, as far as I know. They were 50-state compliant. My car was sold in Florida and has a 'California' sticker on it as built.

You should have two sets of keys, including two ignition keys with the plastic horsey grips. Maybe Daniel at Ricambi or another sponsor here has them. I don't think they're expensive.

Starting:

To start, I put the car in neutral, press the clutch, and release the key as soon as the engine 'catches'. Watch the oil pressure gauge. Once it jumps up (a couple of seconds after starting), I blip the accelerator to turn off the battery light in the tach, so the battery starts charging. I let it idle for a minute, in warm weather (here in San Diego). When the idle settles to the normal (approx 1000rpm), I back it out of the garage.

2nd gear doesn't work right away for me. I slip it into first and then third as I ease out of the 15mph zone in my housing development. Don't rev the engine much until the engine temp gauge (on the dash) moves from rest -- it doesn't take that long. Once the car is warmed up, 2nd gear is a delight. NEVER never force it before then. It's a stout gearbox, but I'm sure the 2nd gear synchro can be wrecked by someone who's not respectful.

It will leak eventually. I keep a clean rubber garage floor covering under the entire car. It protects the cement, but also I can spot a new drip right away. An oil drip from a Ferrari isn't anything weird. Just make sure it's not dripping onto a belt.

15 minutes after your drive, it's not a bad idea to pop the rear deck, check the oil level and look around for wetness -- oil or coolant. The 328 is basically well-designed, but it has a lot of fuel and coolant hoses that are no longer brand new, and old engines tend to use a little oil.

You will get used to the pedals. I almost never drag my foot on the dead pedal anymore. My first 328 drive was not so graceful.

Enjoy it in good health. If there has been any let down to my ownership thus far, it's that in a lot of ways you can just drive it like a normal car. OTOH, it's hard to stop at a light without a lot of guys visually 'high-fiving' you. People like 328s - it's some combination of looks, nostalgia and the knowledge that you must be a real car guy to be driving an older Ferrari around. All good stuff.

 

note that the original keys are steel, and a lot of key dupers can't handle steel. Look on ebay, you should be able to find brass key blanks cheap.

also, avoid the 'fast idle' common to new owners - make sure the floor mat doesn't sneak up on the gas peddle, as it's prone to do...if you see idle > 1000 or so, check under your right foot

 

Congrats of the purchase!! It is such a awesome driving experience. It may not be as fast as lot of the modern car, but the sounds, go cart handling, style can't be beat for the money.

It is very reliable. You can use it as your daily driver if you wanted to. The more you drive it, the better it gets.

As for the keys, you can get them from Ricambi, or through your local Ferrari dealership. I think they were in the neighborhood of $23 & $50.

Take your time learning the nuances and getting over your fear of "What was that noise?"

Best.

 

congrats and enjoy.

 

My 328 was far more reliable than my 3.2 Carrera or 944 Turbo! I drove it daily for many years and owned it from 1992 until 2003. ENJOY!

 

The dashboard dimness can be fixed. There is a thread on here that talks about it. I did mine and it made a world of difference.

 

o Pedal spacing of a “real” sports car – I have never driven anything (incl. 911’s) whose pedals were so close together – and my feet ain’t big, and I wear Puma's
My 328 cured me of trying to drive in clod-hoppers. Even in the EVO in New England winters, I converted to keeping driving shoes in the car, and changing to the RedWing boots after I get there.
o Poor dashboard lighting – even turned full up, I could hardly read the controls on my night run
As mentioned, there are cures for that if you search the site. If you can see the needles, though, you'll get to where you know what the labels say.
o My upper body isn’t tall enough the lean my elbow out the window – great! Both hands stay on the wheel where they belong!
This is a car to drive. Be aware that a mid-engine car can get loose with little warning, so be careful of the limits until you get used to where they are.
o It’s tough to go to bed at night – I find myself going to the garage to take “one last peek” multiple times ;-)
Been there, done that. Still can't walk through the garage without a pause to look it over.

- how long should I idle after a cold start, before driving off?
Make sure you have oil pressure. Rev the engine to make the alt light go out. Then just don't push to redline until the oil temps come off the peg. (Coolent temp will come up first, then oil temp.)
- I was told to skip the second gear while engine is still cold; why the heck is that?
There are two schools on this one: Some blame a recess in the casing for making it hard to shift into second when cold. Others indicate beefed up synchros. I find that I can shift into second when cold by using rev matching (as on a non-synchro "bash box"), even in winter temperatures. But a 328 has enough torque to skip second gear without lugging.
- how long should I idle the hot engine before turning off?
You'll get an idea where the "normal" and "city" temps run. The temps will go up from "normal cruise" temps when sitting idling. So if you had a nice smooth run to your garage, you can shut down immediately: no turbo to cool down.
If I've been in traffic, I'll sometimes turn the key back on (engine off) to let the electric fans eject some heat from the radiator before it bleeds back to the battery.
But part of that is just reluctance to walk away from the car after a drive.

My only regret about this car: why did I wait 46 years to get my first Fcar???
I know the feeling: "I could'a had a V8!"

Congrats. Wait 'till your first "drive-thru": At first, they can't see you. Then everybody is at the window.

 

I did a lot of research prior to purchasing my car as well. I agree with the comments in this thread the car is very reliable, runs well, shifts great, has good power, looks fantastic and is well built. I have had only minor issues such as the throttle cable and frequency valve.

I have had my 328 GTS (black) for three years now and had the major service performed two years ago at 15,000 miles.

The cars starts immediately, runs well, and shifts into 2nd gear without an problem. I am finding the car to be a fantastic driver and I agree the looks I get at the stop lights or simply driving around are amazing. People very much like the 328.

Even after three years I still look inthe garage and look forward to every drive. Without a doubt you will enjoy ownership of the 328 for years.

I will not replace this car but will buy another when the time comes

 

Take your keys to your local locksmith, tell them to check the keys for Alfas and Fiats. I think I paid $1 each for spare ignition and door keys. I also bought a correct steel Ferrari key for about $25 and paid another $20 to have it cut.

Do skip 2nd gear when cold. I recall reading that there is some kind of hole that the linkage has to go through, and when the temps are low, the lubricant can't get through that hole easily. I have no idea, I'm not a mechanic. I do know that 2nd gear is difficult until the engine is warm. Also, PLEASE learn which gauge is for your coolant and which is for the oil. The oil is above the radio, coolant above the speedo/tach. I remember a long argument on the board with somebody that had it backwards.

Here's a little tidbit of useless info: Open the front bonnet. From the drivers side, look at the opening behind the headlight. See the red connector with the braided lines? It's a battery disconnect. Pull it, battery no longer feeds the car. Plug it in, all works as normal. I use it when the car is going to sit for an extended period or when I'm leaving it in public somewhere. The only issue is that it erases my radio presets and stops the clock, but they're minor annoyances.

Unzip the cover over the rear boot carefully. The zippers break. I always do it from the same side, with only 1 of the zippers rather than using both from the middle.

Put a couple of spare quarts of oil in the car, you can't imagine how many times I've needed some with no warning.

Funny that you've learned about the pedals. I won't drive my car unless I have the right shoes on. Nothing worse than going to push in the clutch and hitting the brake on the way down!

 

I learn something every day here...

 

Good Luck...

 

Congrats Werner, Looks like you found the car that is right for you.

Next time you have it serviced you might ask to have the trans fluid changed to Redline. My 2nd gear ('78 GTS) was stubborn when cold too but a few months ago I changed to Redline MTL and now it goes right into 2nd when cold slick as the old hot knife in butter.

 

Congratulations on a great car,

I bought our 85 308 receintly and it only had one of each key as well, I would do some shopping before you misplace the only set, it would be very expensive!.

I found keys on E-Bay, bought some over priced ones that no one bid on off line and saved quite a bit, any good key shop can cut them. Good place to find Ferrari key fobs too.

I agree on the Red Line transmission fluid, it might cure the 1-2 shift when cold. The good thing about this sites is there are a lot of the same cars here, and you won't ever hear the "I have never heard of that before" as you might at your service center. You will find several guys here that really know Ferrari, you might even try my brother, he has been a lot more help to me now than when we were kids. All kidding aside, he is outstanding.

Yes I too stop by the garage door fairly often just to take a peak at the Ferrari. I have made special efforts to paint & detail the garage, I even have a ceiling fan, all to making the Ferrari look even better. There is a place here to post your garage picture.

The guys here didn't have to convince me to drive the car and have fun with it, it comes very naturally. The salesman at the Sherwin Williams paint store can't believe I picked up 2 gallons of paint reciently in the Ferrari...was as much fun as the spectators at the stop lights!

Doug Crall

 

No advice, just congrats!

 

Your F-car really sounds great.How many miles on the odometer and what color?

 

Wernerg,

I sent you a PM...

Sonny.....

 

Remember that you don't have a fuel tank: you have two of them - one on either side, with a pipe connecting them. Make a spirited left turn, the fuel sloshes into the starboard tank, and the gauge (on the port tank) reads low. The trip odo is better than the fuel gauge for accuracy.

By the same token, you can't really run the car all that low, as you might unport the fuel pickup (in the driver's side tank) if you get low enough to slosh all the fuel over. (Similar to the old Ted Smith Aerostar aircraft.)

The one time the shop insisted on using a Fram (during the UFI recall) it seemed to take forever to get oil pressure after startup. I have a Baldwin on it now.

The tach might be either the instrument or the signal from the Marelli. A search might turn up a discussion on this, although someone else might chime in with experience in this area. Replacement Marellis aren't easy to come by, and the originals are getting up there in years. Getting the instrument fixed is a bit easier, as people have mentioned a good shop in CA that reworks them. Given the nature of the ignition system (from a time before Macs), I'd guess that it's probably the dash instrument, but I haven't really researched this function.

 

My car's dash was so dim it was appalling. Light bulbs get dim with age (at least from that era). When I just replaced the bulbs it was amazing! Not sure how easy that is on your car; on mine it took an hour in the lotus position (head under dash, feet on back window).

Ken

 

Think of the gauges more as a go/no-go flag than precision equipment. "I have some gas, I have some oil pressure, the temps are sorta right", rather than "I have 3/8 tank gas, 80 PSI oil and 172 degrees water temp".

There was a guy on here who converted all his gauges and senders to VDO units because he wanted precision in the instrumentation.

Have you checked the oil? You might be out

Call Palo Alto Speedometer, search for it on here and you'll find the number. There's some chip or something that needs to be replaced in the tach.

After a while you'll know what's right for your car, and any new sounds will pop right into your consciousness. Strangly enough, I've noticed that the local 328s all sound a bit different in the engine bay, and not because of the exhausts.

 

Congrats again, she looks great.

My fuel gauge also bounces around, so as DGS says it's best to note how much gas you put in and reset the trip odometer.

You should find out when the water pump was rebuilt last, hopefully from receipts. I had it done with my major service for peace of mind. It really is not a big additional expense at that point, and a leaky cooling system will obviously result in a tow. FYI, the previous 15K service on my car was in 2001, and the owner then said he had no record of the wp ever being rebuilt. I don't know if it's true, but the one on the car when I bought it probably had at least 10 years on it and no leaks.

My 328 didn't leak for a couple of months, now has minor seepage around the oil pan. I'll get it fixed during the annual checkup/fluid change this winter. Again, just expect it. But it's a definitely good sign yours isn't leaking anywhere.

One note to a new owner - avoid the temptation to have a one-hour wash session in which you soak the car. You really don't want a ton of water finding its way into the engine bay, where it can short things out.

When you go for an extended drive, you'll notice how the car is much happier when everything is up to operating temperature. Get some good gas (Chevron Supreme is what I've been using, though there may be other/better options), and run her at speed for a while to clean things out. My car sounded/felt/ran like an old car when it came off the trailer from the cross-country delivery, but is much better now.

 

I got the 4 mil painter's plastic from Home Depot, and cut it a bit larger than the engine bay. After the wash, the engine is still nice and dry. Nice thing, you can just let the plastic dry-out while you finishing up the detailing the car, and reuse it the next time around.

 

There is a solution in the thread "So, you've bought a 308/328....." above.

Welcome!
Wes