quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: Funny you should say. I spent an hour or so searching the internet yesterday for an image I saw a couple months ago depicting the top view of an AWD Porsche (couldn't remember what model) that had its fore and rear axles canted backwards by 15 or so degrees. Couldn't find the pic though. Regardless, I've read that most modern CV joints can handle up to 23 degrees so I wasn't especially worried about my configuration... although around here (where annual mechanical inspections are the norm) I try to avoid anything that might attract concern from the "know-it-all" mechanics.

I'm currently running a (L)7deg / (R)11deg offset on mine with the Chrysler swap, I have about 1500 miles on so far and the only issue I've had is a shudder on hard acceleration. I think it may be from the tripod end of things but I haven't dug into it any deeper as of yet. From some of what I've read, tripod joints don't like as much angle as the 6 ball C/V's and this may be why I get the shudder. IIRC Porsche uses C/V's on both inner and outer which may be why they haven't had problems.

[This message has been edited by seajai (edited 08-06-2013).]

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry:

Engine bay looks big enough to take the real thing...






Also, is that another Northstar with the yellow balancer pulley in the background?

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 08-07-2013).]

quote Originally posted by Bloozberry: Very cool. So many questions come to mind though! What are you planning to use the engine in? Do you have the controller (ECM) and wire harness? What happened to the rest of the car and do you know whether the engine and trans are any good? Can you even get shop manuals for Ferrari engines? Have you priced out any of the parts you're missing? On the one hand my mind is drooling, on the other it's spinning. I have a friend who has a Ferrari 308 that he just got it back from Montreal (nearest authorized shop... 800 miles away) to have the timing chains and the suspension bushings replaced. It cost him $25K including shipping, labour, and parts. I think if I bought an engine and trans like yours I'd only be able to afford to detail it and set it on a pedestal in my shop as a conversation piece! Nice find though. As for the N* hot rod, I haven't planned that far, but I do see your point about plumbing the water pump. I still have a couple years to think about it.

-This is the 3.4 litre and 5 speed gearbox from a '92 348 TS. 300 HP, 7700 RPM, dry sump. The transmission has pressurized lubrication.
-The planned recipient is a 1978 308GTS. I bought it without an engine (Otherwise complete! includes axles), so the match is perfect.
-It uses two Motronic 2.5 ECM's. I don't have them, but the boxes themselves are not hard to come by... just the Ferrari chips. The ECM's are completely independent; they even have their own crank sensors. I could power one down while driving and the engine would still run as a 4 cylinder.
-It has the complete engine wiring harness. I'll have to build the vehicle side wiring to make it work
-I bought a pair of coil packs for $30 from a guy in Latvia on eBay. They're rare here in the US, but apparently used on half the Fiats in Europe.
-I will need MAF sensors and a starter... I'm still scratching my head about that. I'll keep watching eBay.
- www.ferraridatabase.com has .pdf's of the workshop manuals
- Ricambi America and a few other places can get Ferrari parts at almost reasonable prices (Obviously never going to be Chevy cheap...), which means that the cars are much more attainable if you do your own work.
-I'll probably convert to spherical bearings in lieu of Ferrari suspension bushings.
-I'll need to custom fab oil coolers, dry sump tank, exhaust, EFI fuel system and the usual set of engine swap related plumbing and fitment concerns.

Due to the number of 360's Ferrari built, and the number that end up with upgrade wheels and brakes, 360 wheels and brakes are not unreasonable at all on eBay, and really make 308's look sharp.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited 08-08-2013).]

That should be a really challenging project Will. You'll need to start a thread in the "Other Cars" section as I'm sure there will be a lot of interest. One of the challenges I'm sure you've already considered is how you're going to mount the longitudinal 348 engine into the 308's engine bay designed for a transverse engine. I'll subscribe if you start a thread.

As for an update on my project, I got a couple parcels in the mail today, one marked Jegs and the other Summit. My excitement was short lived though. The Jegs box contained all 20 pairs of spherical rod end spacers as ordered, but the Summit box only had half of the order right. I got the QA1 shocks, all the swaged tubes, and the jam nuts but all 20 rod ends were the wrong parts. At first I doubted myself and thought I may have made an mistake on the order sheet since the part numbers on the packages were indeed what I ordered, but instead of being rod ends, they were tie rod ends. I re-checked the website and still couldn't understand why I got tie rod ends because the photo and the specs did not match what I got. I called the customer service dept and after a bit of research they admitted that the website was clearly wrong, so they are going to make things right by paying for the whole return and exchange process. It's still very frustrating since they won't act until they get the tie rods back in their hands, at which point they will order the correct rod ends (which will be back-ordered since they don't have any in stock). The whole process will put me behind by a month or so. For anyone thinking of using the same parts as me, I've updated my previous post with the correct part numbers for the rod ends.

Anyways, here are a couple photos of the parts that were the right ones... here's everything:



Here are the all the parts that came with the QA1 Proma Star shocks (less the springs, of course). They have 1/2" spherical rod ends at either end, and have a 5.375" total compression range from 11.625" to 17". They have adjustable rebound valving with an 18 position external knob, and they accept 2.5" ID X 12" long springs which happen to be the size I initially bought and installed on my struts before I decided to use an SLA set-up, so I saved a little money there.



And here's a close-up of what one looks like when it's built up. I think they'll look pretty good peeking out longitudinally under the sail panels, framing both ends of the engine/transmission. I should have probably bought the special wrench.

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 08-14-2013).]