Really interesting stuff here guys. I have a 1987 Mondial 3.2 which i love to bits and looking to upgrade to a 348 for my next car. With all the talk about LDM and his comments it really doesn't put me off but what i would like to know from the experts here is when was it that the 348 was improved when he got involved? Is there an obvious improvement/feature or by chassis number etc to differentiate the so called new improved versions of the 348? Cheers.
Hi Peter. I'm not an expert but I do know this one. If you look here My Ferrari 348 (which is a great source of all sorts of info) and look under Factory Enhancements in the index if gives you a list of improvements. Basically the date when the biggest improvements were made to the suspension was mid Oct '91 on the production line. Believe this was also the date when the battery was shifted to the front which helped handling as well. Other bits and bobs were done but I think the next noticable jump forward was for the GTB/GTS/Spider in '94. My car is a '93 car (but built mainly in '92) but actually has a lot of GTS improvements such as the seats etc. Many of the improvements do seem to have been over a period of time where they appeared to be using up parts. I've even seen several Spiders with the smaller plenums (the size was increased) and therefore didn't actually have the extra 20bhp a GTB/GTS/Spider is supposed to have. Overall, and this is just my take on it, when I went looking it was for a car that was on the line after the suspension changes and after the battery was shifted up front. Hope that helps.
Thanks Pete that's great. I had read about the change of battery position before and agree it's a great cut off point to look for one from then onwards. I keep hearing about the early ones having problems and have encountered loads on my Mondial. Cheers. Peter
