[kk61]

Gents,

A couple of times this week I've heard about a factory performance upgrade on early 308's. This seems to involve cams, carbs and maybe compression?

I was wondering if this was indeed a factory offering or just a myth that had grown up as these cars were maintained/upgraded.

Cars with such upgrades are described as 'very quick' but I'm not sure if that is 1978 quick or 2008 quick.

Can anyone who has been down this path shed some light?

Following on from that - what is the general attidude towards modified cars? - By which I mean sympathetic upgrades rather than the I just found a kit to fit a merlin engine to my 308 school. Apart from impact on maintaining the cars, what difference does it make when it comes time to move the car on? Should it make a difference if assessing a car to buy?

Would love to know peoples thoughts on this.

Much appreciated.

Kon

 

[Dino944]

I never heard of any factory upgrades. I believe the fastest of the early 308 cars were the fiberglass cars. Approx. 250 hp, carbed, and I believe they were lighter than the steel cars. The carb steel cars are also desireable but maybe not quite as fast. The 1980-82 GTBi/GTSi are the slowest of the bunch, issues with these first fuel injected cars led to these generally being the least desireable 308s.

I've never heard of any early factory upgrades to these car. Although, you want to be sure these early cars have had their sodium filled valves replaced. That not a performance upgrade so much as avoiding some very serious engine problems.

With regard to modifications, only do it if you love the mods you are doing. The modifications will never add value to the car, and most of the time will reduce the value of the car if it can not easily be changed back to its original state. There is no shortage of modified cars...some for performance, maybe some because aftermarket items may be cheaper than the OEM parts. But there are fewer and fewer nice original cars out there so the original ones tend to be worth more and maintain there value better.

The above is rather abreviated but there may be others that have the time to give you some more detailed info.

Best regards,
Dino

 

[Boxer]

The early glass 308s are the quickest and lightest of the 308s. I also have never heard of any factory upgrades but there are quite a few 3rd partly modifications available. Easiest things to do to improve performance is to "add lightness" - remove the AC system, the carpets, stereo, & spare wheel. Add a deeper lip front spoiler to aid stability and fit larger light weight alloys.

 

[kk61]

Thanks Dino & Boxer,

One of the cars I am looking at is a fibreglass 308. Supposedly when it was nearly new (UK car) it went back to the factory for higher compression, bigger carbs and other unspecified mods. I was just wondering if that was par for the course. Or indeed likely.

I drove my first 308 on the weekend and have another fibreglass car to track down this week, so education is continuing.

Kon

 

[Jephma]

According to Mr Wallace Wyss in his "complete guide of the 308", there were a 285 bhp engine optional in Europe from 1978 but I haven't read anything more about it....

 

[Boxer]

Thanks Dino & Boxer,

One of the cars I am looking at is a fibreglass 308. Supposedly when it was nearly new (UK car) it went back to the factory for higher compression, bigger carbs and other unspecified mods. I was just wondering if that was par for the course. Or indeed likely.

I drove my first 308 on the weekend and have another fibreglass car to track down this week, so education is continuing.

Kon

This is the 1st time I have heard of the factory uprating a glass 308. However Ferrari does have a long history of "doing special modifications" for special customers.

 

[Dino944]

Thanks Dino & Boxer,

One of the cars I am looking at is a fibreglass 308. Supposedly when it was nearly new (UK car) it went back to the factory for higher compression, bigger carbs and other unspecified mods. I was just wondering if that was par for the course. Or indeed likely.

I drove my first 308 on the weekend and have another fibreglass car to track down this week, so education is continuing.

Kon

I would want documentation that any modifications were in fact done by Ferrari and not aftermarket. Without that, how do you know that the mods were done by Ferrari. I know there were some 308s made into rally cars and those had lots of mods, but I don't know that those were from the factory. As aftermarket mods generally reduce the value of Ferraris make sure you know exactly what you are buying. I'd rather have a completely original car than someone's aftermarket experiment.

Best regards,
Dino

 

[stile - alpine]

Dino, the rally 308s were prepared by Michelotto (the same guys that made the F40 LM and helped with the 333 SP)

 

[Dino944]

Dino, the rally 308s were prepared by Michelotto (the same guys that made the F40 LM and helped with the 333 SP)

Thanks Stile:

I had a feeling those were not factory prepped cars. Plus I'd bet those were steel cars and not glass.

I think that Kon will find most modified/upgraded 308s were aftermarket, whether its Michelotto, Koenig, or Zender.

Best regards,
Dino

 

[stile - alpine]

Dino944, it's not factory but almost. Michelotto is very closely related to Ferrari, almost like AMG and Mercedes.

 

[motomeccanica]

308 GTB Upgrade

Hello, Long time lurker, firt time poster. I have collected various bits of info for my 77 308 GTB and this is something that I found somehwere and had saved, sorry I cannot remember where I got it.

Continue to use the existing 40 DCNF carbs and if you need more breathing, step up to 34 or 36 mm chokes. The racing parts kit offered from Ferrari in the 70's included the hairy P-6 cams, 40 DCNF's with 36mm chokes. This kit was so wild, it was totally undrivable on the street. Increases in main and idle jets will be necessary and found on the dyno.

Kinda interesting,
Scott

 

[bwassam]

I think most owners who do mods are doing Birdman's fuse block replacement, electronic ignition and perhaps the European front valence along with wheels and tires. A few more go for bigger brakes. Personally, I'd like to go with the ignition and front valence. I don't drive the car hard enough to need to the big brakes.

Birdman's fuse block will improve the electrics a lot. The window speeds come up, the instrument lights get brighter and the electrical system seems crisper. I highly suggest doing that and it only takes an hour to do it.

Bob Wassam