Hi everybody! I am pretty close to buy a Mondial, and I am still hesitating between a 3,2 and a T. In fact it is a matter of days ( or at the very worst, a matter of months ... ). I read almost everything I could find here and there! So I am beginning to master a bit more my subject. Thanks Ferrarichat for your great help! People here are very nice and it is fun to be part of your great community. I have a lot of ideas about the final look of my future toy and I will share it with you throughout the entire process with lots of pictures and comments. Overall the car will be repainted and it will look like this one: Image Unavailable, Please Login
I've seen a couple that have been lowered to the extent that the tyres touch the top of the guards and they look sensational. I hate modifying cars but I must admit the Mondial lowered looks fantastic, a total transformation. Cheers, Bob.
... so, it will be of paramount importance to work on suspension and wheels and tires, and actually I am thinking of HRE 547 wheels in the 18 or 19 inches size. Meanwhile I would appreciate any input or advices you could give me that could help me. My first question ( even though I almost made my decision and I will glad to present it to all of you soon ) is about which one to choose between a 3,2 and a T ? My second question is about the wheels and suspension: I intend to buy this car to have fun and thus driving it hard in corners, that being said, is it realistic to put a set of 18-19 inches wheels and hoping there will be no rubbing of tires inside wheeel wells? I will probably use 18 x 8 Front and 18 x 9 Rear. Thank you very much for your support! Francois.
I'm usually very partial to keeping 308/Mondial wheels on 308's/Mondials...however, those Challenge wheels don't look to bad...very intertesting look!
i am in the same boat as you ,before seeing the car at Eberleins I was stuck on a 328 ...plus i wanted my car to be easily recognized as a F car...but now that has changed ...from what everyone has told me a 3.2 car is lower mantainence and you can upgrade it to perform better...i am going with 19x8 and 19x10 ...goto 308/328/mondial aftermarket wheela to see examples...PS i think red with black interior is harder to find or black on black or red
I am a t man all the way. But I also like to keep cars original at least in spirit. If you can mod out a 3.2 the way you like it, go for it. It is probable easier to trick out the suspension in the 3.2 vice the adjustable shock setup in the t. But, you will never get the 3.2 C.G. as low as it is in the t. Also the engine is slightly more forward giving a perfectly balanced car. You will not have to do anything to the brakes in a t either, they are perfect. I also like the power assist steering but not everyone does. Either way, I am sure you will be happy. dave
Thanks all of you! Dersono, I would like very much to go as far as 19 inches but is there any fitting problems with 19 x 10 rims at the rear? How did you handle this? There is a very nice set of Giovanna 19'' wheels for sale in FerrariAds.com 245 front and 275 rear. I'm afraid it won't fit ... I am sold to the red tan combo ... davebdave, the 3,2 I could buy is an euro version. Must I understand that Mondial T do perform significantly better than the 3,2? Some people said there was not a big difference since the T are heavier ... Actually I am teared apart between favoring the overall look of the 3,2 and the overall performance and modernism of the T. In fact, for me, it would be perfect to have a 3,2 body with the T engine ... What can I say, I love the retro modern look of the 3,2. Just a little detail among others, the nice polished metal front seats hinges on pre T models. What a wonderful problem! As dave said, either way you will be happy!
A 3.4 into a 3.2 Mondial would be a significant project indeed. Have you checked the FerrariAds? NYJETSFAN has his for sale and the price is tempting http://www.ferrarichat.com/ferrariads/showproduct.php?product=1814&cat=2 BTW, it would be easier for others to assist if you had some info in your profile, at least the location. It probably wouldn't be worthwhile to suggest a car in California if you're in outer Mongolia
I have owned 6 Mondial coupes (all but the "T"), and I still think the 3.2 was the best of all of them, simply due to reliability and maintenance. I also had 19" wheels on one of my QV's and it worked out great. As far as I can tell, the maintenance on the "T" will probably be more substantial since it is the early 348 engine set-up, and I had a few issues with both of my early 348's. I guess it comes down to how often you plan on driving your Mondial and your maintenance budget. To me, the 3.2 wins.
Francois If you are looking for Ferrari v8 performance neither car will excite you like say a 355. I don't think that from a driver's perspective the t is noticably faster than a 3.2 but it would edge it out it in a race for sure. You mentioned you like to work the corners and I feel the t is better suited for this with the dry sump oil system and the engine being lower and forward of the transmission. The down side is you have to raise the car to remove the engine/drivetrain for service. The t has been compared to the F1 cars of the day with a similar engine layout and cab forward design. If you ask me,it just looks right to have the engine in line with the car. However, the t will likely cost more money in the long run than the 3.2. dave
19's are large rims for these cars and handling will suffer. I poersonally think that the early 8 has the best interior, from the next iteration on the console intrudes into the drivers foot well. the convertable has moved the seat forward and has less legroom, same for the t when compared against the 8. otherwise the 3.2 or the t are excellent choices. I've modded my 8 so far from sunday it's not funny, right now I'm custom fitting 3.2 bumpers - much cleaner! and lighter!
if you buy the mondial t you will get great performance from it and that is what I would suggest leaning toward. I have driven both when searching for my car and in my opinion no comparrison when deciding between 308, 328 and 348 models. Engine out service is something you want to consider earlier modles won't require that but the t will that adds to the cost. I just did a full 30k engine out service so I know it first hand. Plus I like the power steering. As for the tires 1989 and up the 18 inch wheels will rub and will affect performance of the car. I have a 1989 mondial t that had the original rims swaped for 18 inch 360 wheels that when driving on flat smooth pavements were fine but with that said any bumps or aggressive cornering they will rub. I had the wheel wells rolled to try and accomedate them but they rubbed on the fiberglass portion of the well. you will not be able to run 19 inch rims on them so forget that. I recently located a set of 17 inch 348 wheels from a fellow f-chatter that has totally changed the cars perfromance for the better. I prefer the 360s over the 348s for thier style and look but perfromance is greatly improved going with the 17 inch wheels. The car handles quite differently and the smaller less wide tires let loose which leads me to believe that I may have been stressing the trany with the wider tires. The car runs much straighter and is more fun to drive now that I committed to the change. There is no dobt that the wider the treads the better cornering you will get and now I have to be more careful because the rear end wants to fly out a bit. The only other down side is that I will be going through the tires faster. I have a set of 18 inch 360 rims that I now will put up for sale if anyone is interested slight rub marks on the rear tread. 1989 and up the body styling changed removing the fender flares that allowed the earlier versions to handle just about any size wheel the 348 versions do not allow this unless you go with a much narrower wheel. So just to clarify that 18 inch Ferrari wheels won't work which is my expeirence any other type of wheels I can't attest to.
I know! We are in contact! Oh! Sorry. I live near Montreal, Canada. Considering the weather you are not that far with outer Mongolia! I am a physicist/mathematician.
As for the tires 1989 and up the 18 inch wheels will rub and will affect performance of the car. I have a 1989 mondial t that had the original rims swaped for 18 inch 360 wheels that when driving on flat smooth pavements were fine but with that said any bumps or aggressive cornering they will rub. I had the wheel wells rolled to try and accomedate them but they rubbed on the fiberglass portion of the well. you will not be able to run 19 inch rims on them so forget that. attest to.[/QUOTE] sooo not true...you car run 18s or 19s but for some reason 360 wheels mostly present a problem...can show you plenty with 18
Here is my 88 3.2 coupe. Im thinking about selling it again. Just too many cars and time for a change perhaps. Its black mettalic/tan Has 24k miles. Its a late 88 so it has ABS. Have had it for 6 years and spent around 10k on service. That said its been about 5 yrs since its 30k service and around 7k miles. Everything works on this car! the A/C, sunroof etc... zero rust. Been in 3 FCA shows and won 2 platinums and 1 Gold. Complete books, tools etc... Wade from Fl. has seen it in the flesh. 32k Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Dave, I want your car! It is exactly what I'm looking for! '88 black coupe... Please let me know if you seriously decide to sell it... --Jeremy
What would you say are the best size. I'm currently using T rims on my Qv and handling seems great Are you using a standard pair of 3.2 bumpers or did you make your own pair up with a mould?.
I beg to differ with the gentlemen who claim the 328 will cost less for service. That depend on whether you are capable of doing your own service. The t has a very straight forward fuel injection system - well actually it has two almost independent systems. If you have a problem on one side, you read codes and switch parts around until you figure it out. You can even drive home on 4 cylinders. Try doing either of those with CIS. Lifts are available very cheaply now - buy one and doing your own belt service becomes quite doable. Let us not forget, you are not really taking the engine out - you are taking out the subframe which is a far more manageable task than a straight engine removal - the frame was engineered to make it so. Plus once you have the subframe out, you can easily take care of all kinds of things in the now empty engine bay as well as on the now splendidly exposed engine - things that would be prohibitively labor intensive with a 328. I am looking forward to the adventure - I would be scared to death to do a 328 belt - having to deal with the tight spaces would distract me from making sure that the job is 100% To do a less than 100% belt job would be to say the least a very unpleasant experience Other services are much easier - how about the t's clutch? You can do it yourself in a day. I can't even imagine what's involved in a 328 clutch job - does the engine have to come half way out or maybe the tranny, or both?
Lifts are available very cheaply now - buy one and doing your own belt service becomes quite doable. Let us not forget, you are not really taking the engine out - you are taking out the subframe which is a far more manageable task than a straight engine removal - the frame was engineered to make it so. how many guys have he room for a lift let alone think its easier to do a belt jobtaking the engine out over leaving it in....labor time to take out an engine is also a factor...i think it takes more skill to take out the engine... also when most say the t is more expensive, i think they refer to cost of doing it at the shop
bear in mind that the suspension was designed to operate on 16" wheels. If changing wheelsize you will discover the optimum suspension set-up is compromised. happy tinkering !
I believe all Mondials are designed so that the whole subframe can come out for servicing. Its just that on the T, you have no choice. There are pluses and minuses between the 3.2 and the T. Not many have ever claimed a 348 is more reliable or cheaper to run than a 328 though. Read about the tranny failures in the 348 section for one. Or the oil pump.
For those of us who don't have lifts/time/tools, what are we looking at in terms of a 30K service 3.2 v. 3.4 by a good indy shop (I'm in the northeast)....Dave your car looks good....
