Quick in Japan

To each their own....I had a 328GTS, I prefer the 355.

 

Too bad there's no sound. Decent looking car.

I wonder why the Japanese Ferrari culture is so different from the US? Here's it's all about STOCK STOCK STOCK cars, there they mod the heck out of them.

 

"You can do a few modifications to the suspension, brakes, intake, ignition and exhaust. spending little more than 10K ( if you can do some work by yourself) . And you get an excuisite classic sportscar that will outperform most of todays sportscars. It has a great weight distribution, a low center of gravity and with some slight mods you can achieve an impressive weight to power ratio"

OK...

I have done suspension, brakes, intake, ignition and exhaust,
and performed all the work myself.
I have also taken out close to 300 lbs of weight from the car.

And know for a fact, that you can't out-perform a modern sports car
with a 308/328 by spending $10K on it.

The engine mounted over the gearbox design, also gives it a higher center of gravity than most realize.
And on top of that, the 308/328 series is a heavy car, which requires some very serious horsepower, or a whole lot of weight being removed,
before it could even be considered to have an impressive weight to power ratio.

By the way, I love mine!

 

I loved my 308GTS and my 328GTS too. The cars are simply beautiful, from any angle. But the 355 is way more comfortable to drive, handles incredibly, and has gobs more power....

 

320hp easily? A 50 to 60hp gain, how? I have rarely seen modded cars that lived up to anything close to a production car as far as driveability, and usefulness....most end up being difficult to start, ride terrible, and such. The exceptions are cars from true "tuners" like AMG, Dinan, etc. Ferrari production numbers make most tuning options of rather limited development and not very refined.

I just fail to see how for $10k, one could get a 328 to perform anywhere close to a Honda S2000, 300Z or Porsche Boxter.

Again, I would prefer to own a 328GTS over any of those cars, but am willing to sacrifice the performance for the sound, feel and experience of a Ferrari.

 

I just have to say that Dave mentions a Boxster as a better performer than a 308/328, but in my experience, the Boxster I drove for a day was a let down. It wasn't an S model, so, maybe it was down on power, but I didn't like the power delivery, and the handling and brakes were nothing special and the fit and finish really sucked. I was shocked at how cheap it felt. I like my 308 way better.

 

"This is the typicall transversal gearbox layout as pioneered by the miura As you can see the complessive engine height is much lower as you would expect, thus giving low center of gravity"

No, by removing the gearbox from under the engine,
and by moving it inline with the engine as in a modern Ferrari,
you are able to drop the engine down in the chassis by the amount of the gearbox height that was removed.
Thus giving a lower center of gravity.
Why do you think they changed the design?

"If you notice body roll in your car it is because of the old high and soft suspension"

I replaced all of the bushings in my 308 with Poly bushings from Energy Suspension, and replaced the stock shocks and springs with fully adjustable light weight aluminum racing shocks and racing springs from Eibach.
But even with these changes, I know that my 30 year old designed suspension will not out perform a modern sports car with the advancements to suspension geometry that have been made over the years.

"In order to do this you have to dismantle the engine
and before changing the main bearings you have to measure and correct the alignment of the main bearing housings, blah blah.........."

So you are trying to tell me that by simply balancing and blueprinting the engine,
and by boring the cylinders and upping the compression ratio you are gaining 60 horsepower?

Aside from the fact that I rebuilt Keith Black Hemi engines between races
for our AA/Fuel Altered roadster, or blueprinted and built the Cleveland engine I ran in the Pro Stock Pinto drag car I campaigned oh so many years ago,
I have also played with a number of Ferraris,
including the 308/328 series.
The Dyno figures I have seen show that you are mistaken in thinking that by balancing & blueprinting a 328 engine and simply over-boring and upping the compression ratio a bit will give you 60 HP.

By the way, you should be aware that aside from the early 2 valve 308 cars,
the 308qv & 328 uses a cylinder liner that is Nikasil coated.
Using a cylinder liner that has been bored & honed and not re-coated with the Nikasil process could result in damage to your engine.
And if it were my engine, I would have the rods shot peened instead of sand blasting.

Like I said earlier, I love my 308!
But I am also a realist.

 

The cylinder liners are Nikisil coated for wear protection and extended life, if you bore your liners out its not going to damage the motor but the cylinder liners will wear faster.

Im not even sure if you would want to bore out the nikisil liners?

 

A Boxster S is from 2001 on 260 hp.

Before my current 348 I had a Boxster S for 2 years.
You know how much faster that S is in a lot of moments just because it has 6 gears ?? Always power at the right moment.

The 348 needs the 6 gear trans (from the 355) so much...like the 328 I guess.

 

Yes Nikasil is a hard coating of nickel and silicon carbide about .0025? to .003? thick that is applied to the aluminum alloy cylinder liner bore to improve wear resistance in the 328.
Without it the cylinder liner bore would wear very quickly.
Some that have forgone the fairly inexpensive process
have found themselves rebuilding an engine that was just rebuilt,
and the not so lucky ones have replaced cracked cylinder liners along with new pistons/pins and rings, as well as rebuilding the engine once more.

 

Cool video.

Can you remaster it with SOUND??

Did I see that the engine capacity was expanded to 3.5 liters--is that right?

 

"There are 308's that are winning Ferrari - challenge races. You may have heard from Bill Noon who races a 308"

Bill's Michelotto 308 is not your average 308.
An original Michelotto prepped car is not only rare, but also much more expensive than a normal 308/328.

And as far as suspension geometry goes,
the 308/328 series had it's suspension changed the later part of 1988
to an updated geometry that would be the basis for the 348.
They just keep improving!

I'm not trying to discourage you from getting a 308/328 and living your dream.

But as someone who has already performed the mods you spoke of to his own 308, I'm trying to be honest with you about expectations.
You are going to have to spend a substantial amount over $10k to get the performance you spoke of.
This is not coming from someone who read an article on the internet about Ferrari performance.
This is coming from someone who has already performed these mods to his own Ferrari, and knows the costs involved, and the performance results.

By the way, I was able to hear sound on that video OK.
A cool video? Yes!
But no real world comparison, of say a lap time around a track compared to these modern sports cars you say this car will out perform.

 

Considering that you can spend around $3k just for a nice open exhaust system, or around $3k for a big brake kit just for the front to slow you down.
Or around $4500 to rebuild the engine, that's just for parts like gasket set, bearings and such, plus any machine work needed to be done, and you do all of the R&R work yourself.
It can get very expensive.

The least expensive way to achieve the kind of horsepower you are after would be to install a turbocharger .

By the way, as far as horsepower numbers go,
A Michelotto 308 GTB Group B car in full race trim only produced 310bhp.
A Michelotto 308 GTB Group 4 car in full race trim only produced 315bhp.

Good Luck!

 

Prospero,
Contact that Japanese owner, and ask him how many Yen he has in the car....I think you will be surprised.

 

Good analysis Dave.