Cam belt article by Michael Sheehan

Hello my Ferrari brothers, I posted this in the 348/355 section but thought it may be good to post it here as well. I do not support nor refute anything written in this article, I simply posted it as an alternative perspective/opinon on this dreaded topic and for your reading enjoyment. It is in a Microsoft Word file.

cheers
View attachment Serpentine Issue, Straight Answer.doc

 

What's new?

 

Here is the online version : http://ferraris-online.com/pages/article.php?reqart=SCM_200702_SS

 

I don't understand what basis for expertise he has? He races cars and brokers cars, he is NOT a certified mechanic.
This article is nothing but hearsay, conjecture and speculation masquerading as expertise.

His comment that belts "virtually never" break and then his reversion to anecdotes is no more illuminating than me saying "I have a friend who has a friend who had a ...." He then quotes the rationale for Ferrari doing X,Y and Z without citing any source for his info except his interpretation of Ferrari manuals and bulletins. His secondhand citation to a Gates Engineer is worthless. Ok--so the belts were engineered to last 9 years--well, OK, but under what circumstances...and would you expect him to say anything less?


Personally, I don't care when you do your belts... but to quote the great Mr. Fielding Mellish "This ... is a travesty. It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham."

 

Powered by drama, the Internets is ever indebted to Ferrari for foregoing timing chains and opting for belts.

 

I read in the National Enquirer where a 308 went 35 years without a belt change !

 

There was also an article about a 355 that went 37 years without one. That's legendary.

 

Now that made me laugh!

 

That article has definitively convinced me that when I buy my 328, I will never have to do a belt change!! At least not for 9 - 10 years.

What a relief, now I have all that extra money that I was saving for service ; )

 

must.....change.........belts......the horror!

 

I think his article is dead on balls accurate. For those of you that like to keep paying your mechanic....all the power to you, if it makes you sleep better at night. The last belt failure that I saw posted here was 150 miles after the belt was changed.....and a random coin caused it.


I have to go....the sky is falling!

 

It's true!!! Just did mine after 6 1/2 years, belts looked great and bearing looked better than the new SKFs I put in. Seriously, there is some truth in the article and there is the proverbial "what is the correct time frame" which has changed and debated to death since the site was started. This guy has been involved with Ferrari's for years and has a great reputation so I don't automatically dismiss his opinion.

I'd like my 275 to be blue please. At least I can afford the plugs.

 

At last........ A reasonable take on when belts should be changed.

And, does Mike have any hands-on expertise with belt replacements --- no. But, his shops have been in buisiness for a long time, and they have probably done 100's of belt changes --- he knows a lot of folks who do have a lot of hands-on expertise ---- so, I wouldn't dismiss his info as being "uninformed".

For that matter, all the info I've ever read about other opinions for timing belt replacement interval has no more objective scientific data behind it than what was said in this article. If there is a "Ferrari Timing Belt Guru" out there who has all the definitive, never-wrong, indisputable knowledge about this subject ---- well....... I've never met him or read anything he's written

 

No doubt Mr. Sheehan has a lot of expertise with Ferraris but likely not hands on mechanical experience. Even if he does know a lot of people who do actually work on the cars that still doesn't make up for not having first hand experience. First hand experience is where you gain a real understanding of the causes of belt failures... Nevertheless, good article and it's good of Mr. Sheehan to put the time into producing it.

 

Outside of perhaps, G*d himself, whom I presume has better things to do right now then chime in on this thread, we do have Dave Helms, Brian AKA Rifledriver who would tend to disagree with this article. I think that is pretty good for starters.

To the extent Mike has been around Ferraris all his life...it doesn't mean he knows anything about belt failures. I've been around guns all my life, and worked with them on a forensic level for years. It doesn't mean I am an expert on the Metallurgic differences in quality between different manufacturer's revolvers or the life expectancy of a glock slide vs. a 92fs...because it was only ancillary at best to my profession

I am just saying, unless you work on something as a profession day in and day out...and for a living, it doesn't count. You are merely a spectator, perhaps a better informed spectator but a spectator nonetheless. Dave and Brian, for example, work on Ferraris all day ever day...and have done so for years...that is the kind of volume that supports informed opinions.

Just my .02

 

He is no mechanic and that is exactly why you should listen to him. He has no vested interest beyond his actual experience with a lot of cars to know that the "horror" stories you read on the internet are not the norm but the exception. So many people feel that the more they spend the better it will run. Its all BS that plays upon peoples fear, similar to politics. Its never as bad or good as people make it out to be, its just somewhere in the middle most of the time.
Very good article.

 

Brian and Dave, for example, are extremely honest guys who have no skin in the game. I think anyone who has spent any meaningful time on this board would vouch for their integrity.


As for Mike,I don't know if I am ready to listen to a guy who doesn't even know that the belts can be done on a Mondial with the engine in place.

Finally, his vested interest is in puffing his chest and promoting his business by purporting to be an expert in all things. Nothing against him personally. It is what it is and I enjoy many of his articles...those that fall more within his scope of "expertise"

 

Thanks for this - I didn't know there was an online version. The only opinion Rifledriver gave on this was that Mike Sheehan is an idiot and has always been. You can check that in the 348/355 section.

 

I've never met Brian. But, I used to work across the street from Dave's shop in Boulder, and I chatted with him often. While he is well aware of his own credentials (which are indeed impressive), I don't think he possesses the arrogance to say he knows everything there is to know about timing belts...

 

I was intrigued by the guy who postulated that it was cheaper to repair the damage of a failed belt, than to pay for the periodic belt replacements.

 

No...of course not...and I hope my post did not cast either as arrogant. Perhaps my sarcasm was not made apparent. I certainly was not meaning to insinuate that Dave and Brian are the final word on timing belts. All I was trying to say was that...respected mechanics, such as Brian and Dave, who are trusted by many on this board for their extensive experience almost universally recommend a belt interval of 3 years, with 5 years being the max. In fact, I have never heard ANY certified Ferrari mechanic recommend going beyond 5 years.

Thanks for your post.

 

He is only giving an opinion on the topic. He is not your mechanic. He has said that he would replace the belts every 5-9 years, with a visual every year (whatever that's worth.) We all have our opinions on the topic, granted he is more well known than the average joe. He has also stated the range of recommendations that's out there.

I wouldn't sweat it and just agree to disagree...

IMHO,

Ace

 

Amazing how the word belt never fails to spawn pages upon pages of discussion.
It's like the Rexine of the vintage Jaguar community!

 

It is an interesting article and heck, that's its purpose. I didn't get that he was stating anything absolute about belts, he mentioned a bunch of options, just as people here have done at various times. He also pointed out that the problem, as has also been stated here, is not belts per se, but mostly the bearings associated with the tensioners.

I don't know the guy at all or whether he is competent or not about the cars but he pays too much for his spark plugs! Three bucks? I paid 2.25/plug for my 328 plugs at the local Western Auto a week ago!

 

Interesting article thanks for posting. As someone said its the tensioners than rust up and can stick which probably causes more problems than the belts especially with the low mileages our cars do. I suppose changing the belts at £10 each gives one a chance to check the tensioner bearings also. For some reason when I first bought a 308 one was led to believe the belts turned to butter after 3yrs. It wasn't the mileage , but I was told the rubber in the belt degrades over time which is rubbish (?)


I seem to remember an article somewhere on here about a lab test on a new belt and a 5yr old one being tested. Couldn't find it though. In any event , most belts have probably sat on the shelf for years before they are fitted. Do we know of anyother car manufactor who says belts need changing out of time not mileage?