Official intro - Finally an F-car owner!

I've posted a few pics already but figured I'd make an official into thread. After salivating over these cars for the better part of my life thus far I've finally joined the club! Two weeks ago on the day before my birthday my brother and I picked up a 1990 348TS and we couldn't be happier. This particular car is very special to me because of the history I have with it. Nearly 10 years ago one of the most knowledgeable 348 owners on here, Jeff (Miltonian), reached out to me after I had posted an introduction thread on here and offered to take me for a spin in the car since he lived only a short distance away at the time. Here's a link to the thread I had posted shortly after the experience.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/northwest/32016-just-wanted-say-thanks.html

Fast forward to today and after owning/building/racing a bunch of heavy understeering Audi's I'd decided it was time to get into a proper sports car. My daily for some time has been an S4 making well over 500 hp so I really wanted something with some stink so initially I was looking at 996 turbos. Drove several from stock to well over 700 hp and loved them but my biggest pet peeve with cars is how they sound and yes you can make them sound pretty good but they're just no match for a Ferrari. My other problem with the Porsche is the motor's in the wrong place! The Cayman fixed that issue but I'm just not a huge fan of those cars.

So it was back to the drawing board, my boss just recently picked up a 456M which I have the privelage of driving on a regular basis which really pushed me towards trying to get my own f-car. I really wanted a 355, went and drove one and loved everything about it other than the asking price. I was hoping I could find one that needed a major and other work so I could get into it at a reasonable price but not much has come up and prices are only headed north on those cars. So I decided I'd wait for something to come along and sure enough about a month ago my brother sent me a link on the local craigslist for a white 348. As soon as I saw it I said to I know that car I rode in it ten years ago! Jeff was no longer the owner but the current owner turned out to be another fellow gearhead and we were able to come together and work out a deal that made sense for the both of us.

She’s no concours car and I could care less, its a driver and that’s exactly what I intend on dong with it. It’s got 60K miles on it and mechanically its damn near flawless, just had the major done but I will need to do the clutch here before too long. I plan on driving this car most days and tracking it on a regular basis so the mileage and the few cosmetic flaws are inconsequential for me.

Now this is where the purists may need to look away, I come from a long line of heavily modified cars and the Ferrari will be no exception. In the two weeks of ownership thus far I've built an exhaust for it, put our two-piece front rotors on, put some race pads in and slapped on some 18" Magnesium Speedlines wrapped in Toyo R888's. Next I plan on getting the suspension dialed in, new bushings all around just haven't decided on what material yet and probably some different springs/dampers. Any recommendations and/or personal experience in this department would be greatly appreciated. From there I'll be working on the power department, I'd love to build a motor n/a and get up around 400 hp but from a cost/benefit standpoint and based on my history with turbos this car will realistically get a pair of snails before too long. Norwood performance is one of our dealers and I've talked with them about some the intricacies when it comes to boosting one of these so I know what I'm up against and I don't think I'll have too many difficulties. I know many will think I’m “ruining” a Ferrari by putting turbos on it and I understand that but as long as I can preserve the sound I’ll be a happy man.

Now onto the car, I love everything about it! The non-power steering is probably my favorite thing about the car, I’ve driven a lot of cars and there’s just nothing out there that compares to the feeling you get behind the wheel of this thing. I drove a formula style race car back in college on a regular basis and I keep telling people that this is the first road car I’ve ever driven that reminds me of driving that car and I can’t tell you how good it feels. Now it’s still a 20+ year old Italian so it has a few issues, need to fix the slow roll windows, the tach freaks out around 7500 rpm and the top leaks a but hey that’s all to be expected, I should have most of the issues sorted out shortly.

Onto a few pics, the first couple are from the first time I test drove it and the last couple are how she sits now, planning on getting a new front bumper that has a full size lower splitter, paint the whole thing white and get rid of the side markers.

Oh and did I mention I love this car!!
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