Engine back in, high torque starter, XDI

It's been an interesting project so far, and my friend Paul and I finally got the engine back into my '78 308 on Sunday. Cam timing worked out, got new timing belts installed, and doing a lot of other cleanup and refurbish. Installed all new cam seals, front main seal, new water pump. Removed the distributors and capped off the cam covers with Wade's end covers and it's looking really nice (will post some pics when I get a chance to download them from the camera). Two interesting parts of the project:

First, I have been working with Keith Gustafson of Gustafson Specialty Products in Gloucester, MA, to fit a high torque starter to the 308 bell housing and flywheel. I sent him my old starter, and he has fabricated an adapter place and starter gear to make the Denso high torque starter work on a 308. The first one he sent had a few minor fitment problems, but he quickly corrected those minor issues and now has an adapter plate that is a direct bolt-on for our cars. I have not yet tried to start the engine, but will do that shortly to make sure that the starter actually works as intended. Once that is verified, he will go into production and a new high torque starter will be available for all cars that use the 308 starter (a quick look at the parts books make it appear that the GT4s, early and later 308s and QVs, and Mondials up through the QV all use the exact same starter). I have used his starters on Jaguar 6 cyl and V-12 engines before and they are great.

Second, work is now moving forward on the XDI installation. With the new timing ring that Nick sent me, the crank sensor now lines up perfectly with the timing teeth on the ring, on both axis. We've started wiring up the car and hope to have that installed soon. The XDI "brain box" is already mounted in the trunk and wiring is starting to be fished through.

As I said, will post some pics shortly.

Regards,
Steve

 

Steve,

It's a 78 carbed car. I just bought the XDI, not XDI2, as I can't control any of the fuel flow parameters with the carbs. The XDI should work fine for what I want to do, which is make the car into a nice, reliable driver to have fun with. The only time I might track the car is at one of the major Ferrari events where other cars are banned. Otherwise, I'm sticking with the Corvette.

As far as track events go, I'm going to LRP this weekend with PDA, doing WGI with FCA in early May, LRP in July with FCA, Speed and Design at Pocono Memorial Day weekend with FCA and the Corvette club, WGI for the Ferrari Festival over Labor Day weekend, and some miscellaneous track days in between. Except for the Ferrari Festival, I'll do all the rest with the Vette.

Hope you have fun with the open wheel car, and hopefully will see you at some other events.

Regards,
Steve W.

 

Here are a couple of pictures. First two are the engine back in the car, one of them showing the cam end caps that Wade made for me sealing off the cam ends. The other two show the old starter and the new starter in place, so you can see the difference in size.
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The starter and adapter plate are sold as a unit. He doesn't sell the plates separately. You would want his unit anyway, as you have to have the right starter gear and offset to mate with the flywheel.

 

The original starter weights around 20 to 25 lbs (I didn't weigh the old one so can't say for sure). The new one weighs less than 9 lbs.

It's produced by Gustafson Specialty Products, Gloucester, Mass. His website is: www.gustafsonmachine.com/ There is a list of distributors on the website who sell retail. I don't think he has done a production run yet, so don't think the starters for the 308s are available through his distributors, but I expect that he will be up and running on production within the next few weeks, once I and another 308 owner have a chance to fully test the starter in the cars. If any of the Ferrari parts houses want to become distributors, he does sell wholesale, and can be contacted directly about doing that.

 

Russ is correct. Yes, they are being produced. And I believe they are the ones being sold on Ebay. I love the starter. So it doesn't sound like the original. Who cares? You hear it for all of about a second or two and the engine kicks over. It really turns the engine over strongly. For my money, well worth it, plus it saves about 20 lbs.