Congrats. Please elaborate a bit on the cut-outs for the lights.
I really like the look of the round tail lights behind the grill. Makes the rear end look so much better yet still keeps the 348 grill and character. Though I do like the shape of the 355 tail lights better than the 308 lights. Never the less I like it.
Using the round light gaskets, I made a template... Image Unavailable, Please Login There's natural openings on the back of the car panel. I centered the outside lights in the first opening. The use your template to mark the cuts. Check your measurements again and again on both sides. Then check them again! It's critical that the spacing it perfect on top, bottom, left and right or your lights will look crooked. Image Unavailable, Please Login First, drill your holes. Then with a small angle grinder, slowly, very slowly, trim away the panel. Don't rush it. Keep double checking the fit. When you place the lens in, you will be able to see where you need to trim more. You want the lens to fit nice and tight in the opening. This took me all day to make them fit perfect... Image Unavailable, Please Login
What is the upward angle of the mounted lights? I seem to recall that the biggest issue with the 348 guys emulating the 355 quad-tail arrangement was the angle of the rear panel would angle the lights back at the top...
Finally DONE!... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
They look great! Do you mind posting a rear 3/4 view of the entire car once you pull it out? Very cool!
Pretty dope I like it gives it more of the ferrari look with the traditional round lights great job. Sent from my FRD-L14 using Tapatalk
Looks fantastic. If you put a mesh behind the grill, it would look like this: Image Unavailable, Please Login
That looks awesome! I'm a huge fan of the stock look too but this is hands down the best conversion I've seen. The older style lights fit the car much better than 355 lights. Placement and the fit look it came from Maranello. If I add another 348 to the garage, I will have to seriously look into this conversion. Bravo!
The finished product is amazing, but as pointed out above, some steel mesh would go a long ways to tidy up the appearance of the pressed steel hiding behind the strakes. I really enjoyed following the progress of this, and it came out exceptionally well. Purists be damned - I think it looks brilliant!
Nice job, Randy! It looks great just the way it is now. Putting a screen in there will decrease airflow out of the engine bay. See this thread: 458 Speciale Spec Challenge Grill for F355 ? ...and drbob101's video (Post #40)...
Wow... very interesting. Yes, for now I'm going to leave it as is because when you're looking at the car from a normal level you hardly see inside the opening anyway. And besides, being in fricking hot SoCal (97 degrees yesterday and 92 degrees today!!, I hate it!! ), I want as much air flow as possible. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I really like the mod Randy...very stock looking too. Much, much better than the awkward looking "LeMans grille" I think. That always didn't look quite right. This looks like it could have come from Ferrari. You need to paint your wheels silver though.
Right. Bob did some fine investigative reporting in that thread. I think your car looks great with what you've done so far. Catching a glimpse of the panel cut-outs through the slats looks pretty good to me!
The black wheels on your 348 look fine to me too. Nice job, Randy! You've captured some of the 348's predecessor's style in the design of your rear treatment.
I'm a professional designer, so I can't leave anything alone or stock! It's a blessing... and a curse!
Okay, here are the final numbers: Time: About 10-12 hours. $ 542.00 Four 308/328 lights from Superformance (they forgot to send the bulbs, but gave my $40 credit, so it was $502.88 w/ship). $ 100.00 Drip and strip the grill. $ 100.00 Professionally painted grill (satin black). $ 33.00 Misc nuts, bolts, connectors, epoxy, aluminum screen, fine metal cutting blades and a rattle can of satin paint for the cut-outs. - $ 40.00 Credit for missing light bulbs... I used the ones in my old lenses. --------------- $ 735.00 Total Tools: A fine reciprocating saw, small angle grinder, straight and curved files, drill, wire cutters, shrink tubing, etc. AND... one specialty tool ($10 eBay) to get the nuts tighten behind the new lenses (see photo). The threads are really long and I didn't want to cut them. Image Unavailable, Please Login