My 348TS Journey (so far!)

[spectretron]

Hi all, here's my RHD UK 348TS. Had it maybe 18 months, bought in great driving condition, pre-cat and fitted with a Tubi system, with everything mechanical very well kept up, but in need of some deep cleaning and going through. Owning it has been a lot of self-taught work - my Dad taught mechanical engineering and so has come in to help here and there.

When I first got the car I managed to source a quite-tired set of 348 Challenge magnesium wheels for a pretty low price. Had them refinished, although they still need some further straightening and a hairline crack repair. See below:

Until they were put right I wasn't confident driving on them, but to replace them I couldn't find a single pair on the market that had the period-correct look of these mags, so I went back and forth with a company who made me a custom set to my own design. We basically replicated the look and feel as much as possible, with correct offsets etc. It was a pretty involved process, but I was super happy with the result.

Here I am going back and forth with the company - the main thing that wasn't possible to replicate was the pronounced bulge of the challenge wheels - but I think the result came out looking even better, the straighter spokes seem to compliment the bold straight lines of the 348 more. To be honest I think the company was sick of me by the time they shipped them, but it was worth nailing the details.

Next up was fresh pads, as well as handbrake shoes as these were falling apart. Again, everything was in good condition but covered in a thick layer of grime, it also seemed like at one point the car had driven through some sort of resin or material that had splattered and coated a lot of the left hand side, arch liners and the like. While apart I cleaned / stripped the pieces and repainted the hubs, and replaced missing or broken fitments such as the sensor clip etc.

 

[spectretron]

Getting the corners up to a standard I wanted was first a case of repeated degreasing and thorough cleaning. There was a lot of grime, and it took repeat goes to even identify what some bits where, there were literal handfuls of crud in places, but the upside was that this seemed to have completely protected everything from any serious corrosion.

Bell Sport & Classic carried out a really thorough health check of the car, and basically gave me a comprehensive list of items that could be improved, or needed to be, with their associated potential costs. This was a really valuable experience and helped me a lot in scheduling how I intended to budget work and when moving forwards.

I dropped out all the arch liners which needed again, maybe 4 or 5 degrease and washes before they were suitable for painting.

Now that I was more confident in this I gave the airbox and hoses new paint also, which had gone a sort of aged brown over time. Working on this car has been an education in just how little was known (or was a concern) about the life expectancy of a lot of the finishes or parts involved!

The corners continued to get painted and protected properly, and I went through the hardware. At this point I was restoring the bolts and painting them, but I later came back to this to replate them. At this point my concern was keeping it all clean and being able to clearly see what I'd been through.

To go with fresh pads all round the car got brembo drilled & vented discs (which look absolutely awesome)

Continued rebuilding the corners. Shocks and bushes all a bit tired, so that was on the list.

I was a bit concerned about the kickplates, with the usual corrosion on them, so took them up, thoroughly cleaned everything and checked there was nothing wrong, then repainted them. I also rebuilt the doors here as there was a lot of broken fixings in the door panels, as well as one of the electric window runner tubes having perished. so I put this right. Windows are still a bit slow but we'll get to that.

Also the bolts holding in the seats were almost entirely incorrect, corroded and not really in the threads. Luckily I managed to get them out and replace them properly and the interior threads weren't damaged.

 

[spectretron]

The CV boots were rapidly dying a death so new kits were ordered.

Also while the doors were apart, the black outer 'handles' that double as a window guide where corroded slightly which was fouling the rubber and in turn pinching the glass. They got cleaned up and repainted. I was expecting this to look 90% but it was impossible to tell my paint from factory in the end.

 

[spectretron]

The interior leather and vinyl was in good condition but at some point an owner had taken to trying some seriously bold DIY and painted some sort of coating back over the surfaces, hitting everything else along the way. It had left a sort of crazy-paving effect and was very shiny. Also the rear linings and A pillars were all lifting and flapping about.

I've long used Gary at Pro Detailing in Hitchin, who's a pretty masterful interior specialist, and he did a spectacular job refinishing the entire interior. I am almost certain it's in a better state of finish than it would've been in 1992, and his attention to detail and care is second to none.

He initially did the doors as a test, and now the entire interior has been done.

I had a decent amount of cleaning and detailing experience, and the car when I got it was very swirly and pink. I found a nice dual orbital on ebay for a deal, and set about sorting it myself.

Removing the badges showed just how grimey it had got in places

This was a good bit easier than I was expecting and left me pretty confident. The paint isn't perfect, there are a couple of bumper scuffs, and I am not 100% it is true Rosso Corsa, but again, incremental improvements and keeping the car something I absolutely love driving and looking at are the aim.

 

[spectretron]

Next was the suspension bushes. I got the Superformance kit and set about removing all the wishbones.

Getting the old bushes out is a pretty 10/10 nightmare. I chiselled off the end cap washers, burned out the rubber then used a reciprocating saw to (carefully) cut out the outmost sleeves. It was noisy, worrying and horrible throughout, however having done it once I would be a lot more confident a second time, its just an odd thing to be blowtorching large pieces of your ferrari on a barbecue.

The wishbones themselves got rust removal treatment and some tidying up in general and went off to be properly re-powdercoated with a zinc base etc.
They came back looking likely better than factory once again:

Next was a case of using a pusher kit to get the new bushes in. This required some inventive procedures and some sockets / thick washers as the kit didn't always fit within the very shallow depth allowed by some of the wishbones. The interiors were carefully wet and dried to make sure there were no burrs or overspray from powdercoating.

Being slightly off centre messed 3 of them up and I had to cut them out and do them again....not ideal, but overall once again it was a learning experience and the job came out great. The first few turns and a keen eye that the bushing is heading in true, combined with some feel for resistance was key. And some grease.

Next up was the hardware connecting all this to the car. As previously stated I'd painted some of this in the past just to prevent corrosion, but it was clear that to do it properly it was going to need zinc plating. I really struggled to get timely and coherent replies from a tonne of companies I contacted about zinc plating a batch of stuff for me, which to be honest I found perplexing, so I gave up and bought a kit and started watching youtube videos about how to do it myself.

The original hardware was filthy but all in good condition. This was after a couple of cleans and a soak in rust remover.

It got better with a bit more.

I got a cheap grindstone wheel for 25 quid, and modified one side to fit stacks of 4 Scotchbrite pads. The interia of the stone on the other side meant it worked great for this sort of cleaning. Experimented with different grades, fine is a bit soft but still got my moneys worth from it. Once the bits were well polished up I upgraded a few aspects of the plating kit to make things a bit easier, with temp strips, fishtank heaters, and square 15L containers. The passivate was much slower than stated but still worked well.

 

[Nosevi]

Firstly welcome to CS.

Secondly congrats on the new motor. The work you're doing looks great, will be following your progress with interest.

I've owned my 348 TS for about 14 years now so have got pretty familiar with the car over that time. There's a few threads of work she's had done on here albeit mostly some years ago but some might interest you.

Where abouts are you based?

 

[mon the fish]

Some brilliant work there, love the zinc plating setup!

 

[spectretron]

Firstly welcome to CS.

Secondly congrats on the new motor. The work you're doing looks great, will be following your progress with interest.

I've owned my 348 TS for about 14 years now so have got pretty familiar with the car over that time. There's a few threads of work she's had done on here albeit mostly some years ago but some might interest you.

Where abouts are you based?

Thank you! - there’s a good chance I’ve snooped threads of said work at some point as reference is quite hard to find. Next up is shock rebuild, and I’m currently trying to work out of removing the front ARB is as awkward as it looks…

Based in Herts near St Albans

 

[Nosevi]

I’m currently trying to work out of removing the front ARB is as awkward as it looks…

Based in Herts near St Albans

It's an old Ferrari so my educated guess is if it can be it will be

You mentioned Bell Sport and Classic - my car was actually there last year having an engine out belts change along with a bunch of miscellaneous work such as new fuel lines and radiator. Was very pleased with the work overall.

 

[Pangea]

Looking good so far.....If I remember correctly you need to remove the steering rack before you can get the front ARB out...Its all very fiddly...

 

[JonathanB]

Nicely done, i have quite a few of those jobs myself to do.

What paint did you use for the arch liners and air box?

 

[spectretron]

Nicely done, i have quite a few of those jobs myself to do.

What paint did you use for the arch liners and air box?

Here - the base coat was with Wurth Stone Guard Black to give some sort of wear-factor, but it's a bit grey, so I finished with Simoniz Tough Satin Black. I can't remember if I used the Wurth on the airbox, if I did it was a thinner coat, I was pretty liberal on the arch liners.

 

[spectretron]

Some updates! Shocks were removed and the springs taken apart. I may venture to have the original dampers restored/rebuilt in the future (maybe some folk on here can help me, I called around but again, a lot of disinterest in even attempting it). For the time being though Koni dampers are going in. The spring compressor kit below was an ebay purchase - well recommended, nice to get something that is genuinely over-engineered and makes a job a breeze.

Springs off ready for blast / powdercoat

Konis with fresh rubbers, the old ones will clean up but they're pretty distorted by time and pressure. Koni dampers use a different thread pitch on the top which no one mentioned when purchasing, and the flange nuts aren't included in the kit, so I guess I'll add that to the list.

New droplink bushes inserted with my trusty and now quite tired looking bush press kit. Polished them up with a wheel a bit and cleaned out old rubber deposits etc.

Top hardware for the shocks getting cleaned up / replated. Rubber washer-mount things seem good but could do with a paint so that'll get done.

My plating overall was pretty good - it all feels solid and well adhered, although I struggled to get that waxy gloss you see on modern plated hardware. I feel like it will protect the parts well for the forseeable and was definitely worth doing, and although slightly tedious it's a rewarding process to learn.

Growing shelf of re-assembly ready pieces. Having gone this far I am pretty sure I am going to have the ARBs repowdered (which means removing the rack which I am sort of dreading - can anyone offer advice on what they did with the plated threaded bar ends? Is there a way to part-plate a part, or is it just a case of masking them heavily from the shotblasting etc?

First the lower damper suspension bushed needed to be pressed in using a socket and the flat side of a weird socket I had lying around. Like seeming all 348 bushes though the inner stands proud of the fitment, and so once the bush is 80% in, I switch to a socket on the outside too, which allows the inner to pass up the centre. The first few turns are a bit nerve-wracking as you fiddle about making sure its pulling in straight, then it's just elbow grease.

Some difference! There was some severe twisting in the previous rubbers where they'd settled into odd shapes over time, I can't see the previous shim settings being any use whatsoever after this.

All in and more or less ready to re-assemble.

I am overall going for a 348TS+ build - for one, I don't have the means or knowledge to find out how this car left the factory in every way to a Ferrari Classiche standard, and every 348 I have found in person so far is different, it just seems a car that due to era and value got fiddled with a lot by owners. Particularly with cars of this era also, I find a lot of the materials used are now inadmissible - the interior in my car is now 100% better than the car could have possibly looked when it was originally built. I've found the 348 really fun to work on, but the experience is a lottery of finding beautifully hand-made parts like the suspension mount forks, where hand-tooling is visible, or hilariously bad solutions where it feels like Ferrari just sort of shrugged and bashed a self tapping screw in
There have been plenty of parts so far where I've managed to improve the finish over original.

With this in mind, after going to all the trouble of putting lovely Koni dampers in and fresh rubber all round, I went for red coat on the springs. Period correct maybe not, but in this case it felt sort of rude not to make these pop.

Here's a shot from Middlewick house last year just to remind myself what this thing is like when its all together!

 

[JonathanB]

Here - the base coat was with Wurth Stone Guard Black to give some sort of wear-factor, but it's a bit grey, so I finished with Simoniz Tough Satin Black. I can't remember if I used the Wurth on the airbox, if I did it was a thinner coat, I was pretty liberal on the arch liners.

Perfect, thanks for this

 

[JonathanB]

Well done with the updates, this is great to see and good inspiration for myself and no doubt others too. Keep up the good work

 

[spectretron]

Right - this is an awful job, but they’re out.
I followed some information between Pangea’s old thread and another discussion on ferrarichat, with a couple of minor differences.

Firstly I dropped the central tunnel undertray and undid the aircon hose clips to allow the pipe to move more freely out the way.
As another user states, the steering rack comes out by rotating it in a direction that sends the spline shaft vertical (IE away, towards the sky / headlights) it can then be pushed towards OSF, but this will take some jiggling of the ARB and aircon hose for correct space. Getting effective purchase on it is hard, it requires some composure. The brush-on resin around my welds had some blobs which were enough to foul the largest parts exit, I cut these more flush (I will paint in the arch etc before reassembly).

The ARB is ridiculous, and requires a mallet to help it out. Mine actually came out the reverse angle to Pangea’s thread - as advised, I used a rubber mallet on the vertical part while someone pulled the OSF, then a block of wood for reach as it went through. During removal of the brackets the strange (and expensive) retention bolts that hold it in disintegrated.

How this all went down in the factory I have no idea! Anyway, powdercoat for the ARBs and then it’s reassembly time.

 

[Kyodo]

Excellent stuff, we all love shiny things!

 

[Terry]

Just had a read through your thread and all the work you have done. I know it takes so much effort to do what you have done so far so well done on your progress. Great to see you posting and recording the work for others and for you to look back on, I expect in a few years you may be amazed by all the work and time you put into your car.

 

[ben17484]

Wow - you’ve certainly put in some work on this. Looks great. It’s lovely to see you doing all the work yourself.

Those wheels looks amazing by the way.