Hello list! I am new to the forums and just purchased a '90 348ts. My first task is to move my Porsche turbo to a self storage garage this week. I spent 12 years upgrading and maintaining Porsche and moving on.. Or at least moving it over for Ferrari. In the next few weeks I will probably need help getting an in depth assessment of the 348 and how to maintain the easier items and identifying the messed up stuff. The 348 had major service last year. I did not get into the details yet but belts, tensioners, and seals at the minimum. Is there a way to verify any of this from underneath or is this engine out deal? Well, being a 1990 I guess ecu is motronic 2.7. I am very familiar with motronic as Porsche used so curious if there are items like chip kits and larger throttle intake mods that are as cost effective to upgrade. Lol, there we go using terms like cost effective for Ferrari. I already know what the costs are like. I was hoping to get the price on the car a little bit lower so I could immediately drop the subframe engine cage and baby it up to make sure everything is righteous parts wise. My main issue with Porsche was gas leaks from fuel lines and rail so I custom built upgrades to stainless braid lines with AN NPT's. Looks like Ferrari already has descent stock lines but fuel filters over the exhaust seems as scary. Appreciate any feedback on what safety stuff to check first being fuel leak, crack suspension parts or steering known parts issues would be extremely hopeful and whether a battery kill switch exists in the bonnet on '90 model or not. I get the car sometime Wednesday and is getting parked for thorough inspection. Dave
congrats!!! former Porsche owner here too. no regrets. hope your not shy. drove various Porsche's for years. no one even looked. don't plan on getting in or out of it without someone voicing their admiration for the car . people sure like it a lot , even though it's the worst Ferrari ever built . piss off *******, LDM. ( at least our 348's are the vision of the man who's name they wear)
Nah, keep the Porsche, drive the stink out of it!! There good for that. Ferrari's are a blast but if your like me, you don't want to wear the dream out. I drive mine 3-5 times a week but rarely go far. As far as what to look for, go to My Ferrari 348 tons of good new user/caretaker info. Engine mods is not my thing, it gets very pricey quickly! No major change by chipping it, and it will cost you to do so. You will find a wealth of info on the site as well, the Brotherhood has been good to me. I had a 86 951 as well. It will go and go, and parts are cheap. Go into this slowly, fix everything you can and make sure you keep a nice kitty for when something comes up. Also, subscribe here. You can share a lot more, because you can post pictures. And trust me, you will have question and it's a lot easier to get help when you can show a picture. One more thing, consider joining the FCA, great bunch of people and they get together all the time. It's nice to have people you have something in common with. Instead of people just wanting to know how fast it is or if it's a kit car. And before anyone else says it, post some pictures of your car. We want to see it! It's like a new toy every time someone gets a new toy!! Welcome to the 348 Brotherhood!!
hey gaw111 , you get the kit car thing too ? took me a while to come up with the comeback. here you go - i had two guys roll up next to me in an intrepid and say " is that a real Ferrari ? " my response " is that a real intrepid" BTW , i can't believe it automatically deleted ***** before LDM , i could have put something much worse.
You will probably be somewhat disappointed by the lack of commercially available tuner options for the car, but you will not find a better support group of owners who can fill those needs.
That's a good one. Yeah, it always deletes profanity. That's why earlier I said drive the stink out of it! haha
There are lots of threads on modding the motor. Use the search function, you will find plenty to read. Ernie has done all sorts of stuff to his motor and has shared a lot of information. Congrats on the purchase. I also have a 1990 348ts, great car, lots of fun to drive and still turns heads.
OMG.. I dont know how many times I get that question. I was just thinking that I was surrounded by a hoard of retarded people for sure. My response to the kitcar question is to laugh it off and say "I wish that it was, certainly would be cheaper to fix!" But people say the dumbest things. I dont walk up to their bimbo wife in Wal-Mart and point at their chest and say "wow.. are those store purchased"?
Congrats on your new (to you) car. I recently bought a '90 348ts as my first Ferrari after 36 years of Porsches. As someone mentioned, you get a lot of people asking you about the car whenever you stop. They are always surprised to discover it is as old as it is!! When I had my Porsche 996, I very seldom had people say anything about it. Although I do get a number of people asking me about my 1967 912-6. If you are used to working on your Porsche I don't think you will find working on this car to be intimidating. I have my engine out currently and it fairly straightforward. Not a lot of computers on this car. Enjoy it!! Post some photos!!!
One of my favorite moments on top gear. they pick supercars for some trip, Hammomd shows up in a gt3 , Clarksons line to Hammond " i knew you'd show up in a beetle"
Thanks for all the replies. I just reserved a storage garage for the Porsche. It is going to stay a while because I just cannot let it go just yet and only have single garage with plans to build a double in front of the single. As far as the 348 I am psyched! It will be here later in the week and go right in the garage for checkup then hit the road for a test run. The headers are so strange on this car and I imagine the cats are typically upgraded to race or pipe with some weird air pump contraption. I guess emissions but will figure that out. I might grab the fabspeed pipe kit but it could become too loud need to see how the drive pleases during high speeds rpms. So where is the battery on a 90? I read it was up front or behind the rear wheel. How easy is it to unhook the ground since I want to reset Mr motronic 2.whatever and typically leave battery lead off in the garage with a tender. Dave Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
If yours is still stock, there is a Bullet sitting directly above the battery that can be disconnected. I would keep a tender connected but don't disconnect the battery. The computer has to relearn the engine every time it is disconnected.
The car transport came a day early so here is the pic pending inspection in el garage. I did drive it a few miles and could have kept going but the road salt is such a buzz kill. Overall the car runs great and looks how I wanted.. Not showy, media blue and painted black stock rims. Idle is solid smooth though I think it could use new fuel filters and maf resistance check to start. All the hood shocks front and back need replacement, no big deal. No fuel smell though a tiny hint of oil the engine is super clean and I did verify engine was out recently looking at a few bolts and cleanup spots. I see the battery, yay, in the rear with easy access. Front brake pads were replaced, rears need new pads and all rotors have a lip edge which means they need to be cut n new pads. Shocks are great, where the hell is the gas cap release? The front trunk has the leather case toolkit, all there. In the trunk on drivers side there is a weird cover over drivers wheel with a fusebox next to what looks like a propane canister thingy which sticks out too far and keeps the cover from staying down, weird. The fuse box looks dirty, why the heck is there no cover there even though a cover over it does not cover. Driving the car was cool. Absolutely love the steering. The clutch catches higher than I would like so need to look at that. Interior is sweet, a few seat scratches.. Do not care though. My 36" waist fits perfect but need narrower shoes and my wife loves it better than the Porsche which smells like bratworst and burnt turbo fuel exhaust. You cannot drive this car with doc martens, maybe capezios?? Lol. Well that's all for now. Inspection to resume in a few days and did I mention the body is in great shape including the front splitter. Dave Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk Image Unavailable, Please Login
Just subscribed to Ferrari chat. Whomever put together my348 is the king. Everything you need is there. Hope to add at least something.. Like "Simpsons did it." Oh, the seatbelts are so loose, how loose are they..(insert comment..), I will take them apart and fabricate a fix to post though as soon as I search someone already did this. Lol. There is a lower auto seatbelt track I see, the opposite of the 240sx upper auto sealbelt. Man how about a 5 point harness kit instead might be a better use of time over stock belts. The belts are beat n I think the car is grounded for a bit then so another task to the growing DIY task list!! Dave
There is an electrical pushbutton release for the gas cap door by the shift lever. If this fails to open the lid, there is a backup/manually operated emergency release cable in the engine compartment, by the top of the left rear shock absorber - pull the handle, the fuel cap lid should pop open. Make sure you push the handle back in, if it's part way out the door won't shut properly. Enjoy!
Got it, electric push button! Thanks Miltonian, now I can get gas and not hold the line up. Amazon had the hood shocks in stock so I ordered 4 through rockauto for $27 each. I hope they are all the same as it said they were so I do not have to keep propping the hood up with the glowing inadimate carbon rod. Working on fixing the seatbelts until then.
Don't think LDM knew what he was talking about, saying the 348 is the worse Ferrari. I do not own a 348, but I'm pleased to read on this site, and people I know that have 348's, what a great car they are. They are "so bad", I read about , owner's keeping them for 15 and 20 years and even longer. THAT speaks volumes about what fun cars they really are. Regarding being asked if they are kit cars, I owned a real Shelby AC Cobra for 7 years, when people asked if it was a kit car, I would reply, no, it's an MG! The new owner's blue 348TS, looks great, drive it, and enjoy it!
Now, next step, go here and get the workshop manual. This will help you as well, answer most of your questions. All Ferraris Why the cover is sticking up, I don't know. Might want to post a pic. Glad you got your Christmas present early, now to wait for good weather!!
Other than needing a fall guy because he was taking over the company, I'm not sure. I know it hurt a lot of owners because the price dropped so bad, but made it easier for me and others to own a dream!
It amazes me how much you can get from the internet about this car. The following is enormous, plus just about everything that can go wrong has happened to someone and they have posted info on how to fix it!
