Can the Ferrari 348 be made faster ?

I’m dying to know what this meann?

 

There’s a guy who lives right behind me that has twin turbo’d a couple of them. So yea it’s possible.

 

Maxwell 348

Or drop a complete 355 rear subframe with engine and trans in. Get any thought of bang for the buck out of your head when it comes to Ferraris, they are not and never have been good bang for the buck in terms of numbers.

 

If he wants 400hp I think he needs to step up to the 360 motor. Isn’t someone doing that on here? Why bother with the 355. Too fragile

 

Yep mild turbo kit and engine mgt, your in Australia for sue someone can do it.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/348-twin-turbo-dyno-results.630527/

 

Aftermarket engine management with ITB's and exhaust and properly tuned.

 

You will have be spending some $$$$.
The 348 engine is pretty much tapped out, gains could be had but at an exponential cost. Its only a little engine with already 90hp per litre.

You could fit an aftermarket ECU like (Because you're in Aussie) a Motech, or a Link from across the ditch here.
You can tune the living daylights out of it, but unless you make some big changes to the intake and exhaust system, then it will only be small gains. I am going to do this (one of these days), I have already had mine on the Dyno for a baseline, and it makes its 312hp, we think stock, you'll improve the midrange torque and power, but there's not much left up top, they do tend to start flat-lining around 7200rpm due to (what we think) might be intake restriction.

355 engine and trans would be the obvious choice because simply, we know it fits, maybe a 360 engine fits? I don't know but the 355 engine sits right there in the sub-frame the same as the 348 engine already, and you could benefit from the 6 speed gearbox too....
However, the 360 engine would be a great platform because its more reliable supposedly, but then again, most 355 engines have possibly had their valve guides and so forth replaced by now....
If I got the opportunity to slip a 355 engine and 6speed in my 348 I would.
You'd need to apply the 355 gear linkage as its not a cable system like the 348. You'd again, be best to fit an aftermarket ECU to eliminate potential issues with an ageing and antiquated engine management system.
I think you'd have to modify the engine hood though as the ITB's and intake system sits way higher on the 355.


I feel about 380-400hp would be optimum in the 348 but not entirely necessary, it would wake it up and still be in balance with the chassis and so forth, it is an old car, from a different era and the way they are stock (at least the euro ones which have a bit more power than the US models) have enough power if you understand and drive the car right.
I have owned mine for nearly 4 years and I can't say I lust after more power that often, the speed of the car comes from the aero, and the chassis, when you get on the right road with other Ferrari's and press on, give it the big hustle, I find 355's, Boxers, testarossas, and so forth are not vanishing into the distance, the 430, 458's 488's and so forth do as they get to the straight bits, but so they should with their ridiculous amounts of power, but you can extract great speed from the 348 and keep up with them to a point, 348's are a beautifully balanced car with excellent drive-ability, if you treat it right, the speed is there.
For me its strong point is the way it drives, I really don't care that my V6 Toyota Blade is nearly as quick to 100kph....to me its not about that so much.

But having said all that, I'm investing in modifying my car, mostly because the antiquated Motronic ECU and associated systems are so old and unreliable now and there is much better solutions out there.
I haven't decided if I'll change the intake system, we might just go stock and see what we can get out of it first, then look at that....

In summary, you can achieve what you want if you have the $$ and patience.

 

It fits with no adapters, 360 doesn't.

 

I know, but the whole thing is so absurd Pete. Buy a faster car or stop measuring your dick with 0-60 times. Don’t try to make the 348 quicker. And it’s not about purity, it’s about value for dollar. Enjoy the car as is or buy a faster one.

 

I mean, I'm not advocating for it and stated it's going to be bad value for dollar. Some people want the styling of the 348 with more oomf. It's understandable as it's slower than most modern cars in a straight line. I think taking any Ferrari and worrying about straight line performance misses the point, but that's me.

Then you can either buy a 355 and swap on the 348 body parts or drop a 355 engine cradle in the 348 (or go the TT route via one of the established patterns as it's already been done). Those are the only realistic ways that wouldn't result in a project that never gets finished (imo). All this talk of a 360 or 430 engine would take exponentially more effort as they were never designed to fit the transverse gearbox or chassis, need full aftermarket engine management and tuning etc. It's just not realistic for somebody with any kind of budget at all. If you want a faster Ferrari, sell the 348 and buy a faster Ferrari, that'll be cheapest. If you want a faster 348, then start with 355 parts as Ferrari did the work for you, or go to one of the TT setups that have been done. At least then you'll be starting from a known base tune and combination. None of it will be cheaper than buying a faster Ferrari.

 

Well put, Kevin.

 

Removing the rust

 

The 348 cz has like what... 20 hp more?

Bigger cams, open the intakes, run ported TB's new EM you can get 50-75 hp no problem, theses engines are capable of more. Its really a question of effort time and money. Its why I mention putting a turbo on and running 5 lbs boost is easiest. No changes other than the Turbo and possibly EM but..... cars today (civics, scions etc) get turbos slapped on them and run low boost with the OEM ecu all day.

There are cars out here that bumped 290-300whp on the dyno with just air and fuel changes all on the stock ECU btw, that's 355 territory.

 

And of course, if money is no object and you like naturally aspirated engines then you might give a call to San Diego?

https://omdsandiego.com/products/ferrari-348-intake-manifold

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/the-naturally-aspirated-400-hp-348-yes-for-real.511097/#post-144448650

 

No worries mate, all good for the Ferrari brotherhood!!
I'm slightly north of Auckland (60kms) in Warkworth. Yes there are something like 42 348's in NZ according to the registration site.
I know a couple of guys personally, and at a Ferrari club meet I would usually be the only 348 most times, sometimes there might be one other.

The 348 comp is another approx 20hp, or in fact another 8 on top of a euro, so a "bit" more power. It is the engine (F119H) I think would respond better to tuning than the F119G or 119D as it has different cams, higher compression ratio and bigger throttle bodies, larger plenums.
The real win for the 348 comp is the weight, I think its at least 100kg lighter than a standard 348, so that is a real gain.
But, and the big BUT is the price, they are worth an absolute fortune...But you know that, we can see what they're asking for the one in your link.

Yes if you're ever over in NZ send me a message for a meet up.....I'll do the same if I'm ever over there, which does happen sometimes...

 

Does anyone make - I’m sure not — an adapter that adapts the factory ECU harnesses to one for an aftermarket ECU?


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You can buy the connectors (socket) that the Motronic uses, they are available, I checked with the company here we use for all our fuel and ECU related components.
I'm going to do one of two things, and that is either make an entire engine loom which is not as difficult as it sounds, or if that is too tricky I'll just buy the connectors so I can make a harness which will pick out what we need from the factory loom and adapt to the Link ECU.

 

I’d be nice to be able to add a standalone w/o having to rewire the whole engine and so it could easily be returned to stock.

 

Im a nitrous fan. There when you need it totally stock when you don’t. +100-150hp. Safely with easy reversible mods.. I used to do nitrous on everything in my past.

 

But with nos you need to be able to retard the timing, right? Hard to do that on demand w/o a stand-alone.

 

Yes, that's my thinking, easily reversible......We'll see...