How come some red 308's have black hood vents while others do not? Also, I recently saw a sales ad for a 1983 308. The owner stated 1983 was the only model year with true dual exhaust. Is this true? Thanks.
the vents on early 308's with carbs are body color up to the QV, then they went to the black vents. the 83 QV i think had a seperate pipe for each bank whereas the other years have a crossover tube inside the muffle to help with the flow ( scavenging).
The "true duel exhaust" point means ABSOULUTELY nothing as a valid selling point on these cars. It is about like pointing out, "Last year for belt driven air pump!"
In addition to what Michael said, only the US model QVs had the vents black. The Euro QVs stayed body color. Keep in mind that sometimes owners of ANY year have painted body color vents black or black vents body color, even if they didn't come that way from the factory.
I wish mine was not belt driven My 83 QV is belt driven and it is leaking oil from there.....again. It seems to be a yearly thing.
Besides being dual exhaust and the last year with air pumps, 83's were also the last year with black A pillars and 84's were the first with serious corosion protection. 84's were also rated 5 hp higher for some reason (maybe no pump belt) but this is not enough to be noticeable. Dave
You guys need to be clear about what version 308QV -- the differences mentioned are true for '83 vs '84/'85 in the US version, but the standard version 308QV is the same '82 thru '85: '83 US = K-Jet without Lambda, dual (small) cats, belt-driven air pump '84-'85 US = K-Jet with Lambda, single (large) cat, "pulse"-type air injection system '82-'85 Standard = K-Jet without Lambda, no cat(s), no air injection system
Thanks for all the info. You guys sure are knowledgeable. I want to purchase an 84 or 85 qv in the future. I hope you don't mind if I ask a question or two in the future. I could really use some expert advice. Thanks again.
One last thing about the 83's; they were also the last (thankfully) year for metric wheels. Although many owners of the 83's have upgraded, you still better peek at what it is rolling on if you are serious about buying it - that is unless you really don't care about only having one choice of replacement rubber for the rest of your life.
...unless you get a Euro, mine has the damned 390s. Will get 16" wheels when the current rubber starts to go.
take your time and do as much searching and looking as possible. I'd also suggest a Euro versus US model.
