Engine In timing belt change

Thank you all for the information. This makes sense now, I thought the rubber plugs were factory. I wonder why they don't line up with the crank pulley however...odd. Maybe someone wanted my cross member to resemble swiss cheese.

 

You can do what you want. But if this hole was there before....like you "claim" .....then....that means this "in situ belt change" ...was done the last time too...which means......when the heck is the car gonna get a REAL MAJOR Service? LOLLLLLLLLLLL!!!
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I think it needs these? Maybe I can make extra holes for cooling in the rear quarters.

What else should I service? She runs great I put 6000 miles on it and I owned the car for less than a year doesn't even use oil! How often does the coolant get flushed?

I mean, how do people pay $161 for a SINGLE timing belt? I paid $100 for two!

Its my car and I am satisfied to have been able to be a part of this "MAJOR SERVICE" Now I can redline it all night long. The Ferrari gods must have been looking out for me. The tensioners were original belts at least 13 years old!
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I would guess that you didn't cut the hole yourself. In any case..you CAN loosen the crank pulley with the engine in the car. You must undo all engine mounts and slide the entire assembly back. Be that as it may...

How did you navigate the drivers side timing cover out from behind the A/C lines? From my experience, that would not be possible without a large amount of bending and prying of the lines to get the cover out of the way. Did you get those little spacer washers back in place? (4)

In the pictures I also noticed that your water pump is leaking..did that get replaced? I don't see it on the parts invoice.

Structurally I'm not so sure cutting a hole in that area would be much of a big deal. That metal is pretty thin. That frame component is built almost like an I-beam. The main structure of it runs along the top and bottom. It may have vertical sections inside it, but I have never cut one open or ever felt the need to drill through it either. Maybe others could post in regards to this area of the car. I know the complete rear subframe bolts to this area, so ANY kind of tampering can't be good for it over the long term.

We should have a thread.."Examples, of why the 355 has such a bad reputation"

Not blaming you directly, as I honestly believe you bought a car with this "work" already done to it. But then again I could be wrong.

 

I did see that water pump weepage. It was old and crusty. We ran the engine for 30 minutes with the tank out to verify any leak concerns and pressure tested the coolant system. Figured it is only a 2 hour job to reach the pump I will do it if it eventually leaks.

Ac lines were pretty tight, those clamp things were a pain in the butt, especially the one covering drivers timing cover. Used a slim line 10 mm to get in there. Didn't evacuate the ac system nor does it seem to have any leaks.

Thanks for the reply

 

Is it possible to swap the water pump with the engine in? I did not think it was.

 

When you change the pump..please post a start and finish time. Set your camera so the time shows in the photo. 2 hours is pretty fast to do that job.

 

That's the hole your shift linkage goes thru

 

AMG,

Please do not take what I say the wrong way. Comments I make I hope you find constructive. In 1995 state of the art at GM was squeaking, hopping C4 corvette with a 350ci pushrod motor. Contrast that with the '95 355 first production motor with 100hp/L and working aerodynamics all in a streetcar. Being that this production motor has many race engine qualities it needs to be treated and serviced in a similar vein. Depending on who you believe or what theory or sequence of events you follow one respected theory of how things go bad, or how things are negatively influenced to go bad, in a 355, is because of mixture control. Cam timing effects that. Small out of spec timing that many cannot feel, at the seat of the pants, can cause expensive 355 problems. On less stressed motors you could get away with belt swaps and using assembly marks. It was done all the time even in pro shops. I've seen it first hand and even taught that way as an apprentice. Prior to the time of the banned Phil Hughes you will find few threads mentioning cam timing and now these threads are ad nauseum. The racers and those looking for more power knew about timing while the rest mostly could not be bothered by nit picking to the Nth degree.

I may have got your technique wrong but this comes to mind.
So if you just swap a belt at the very best you are relying on the accuracy of the previous mechanic. You could also introduce additional error as well.

I see no better way to distribute the loads of the tensioneer over the entire belt unless cam cogs are unpinned during tensioning. I'm 99% sure you don't own a Ferrari steager tensiometer the factory tool. To my knowledge frequency tension HZ data is closely held by Pro's who have developed this knowledge through their own sweat. Some guesses may be had from published data from later models. That leaves personal experience , luck, and hope to tension your belts whipping around at 7000rpm.

The subframe is structural. Now it is not. Box forms and unibody construction give thin metal properly shaped "structural" properties. Chassis stiffness effects handling and safety at the very least. The area should be repaired.

It is tough to learn on a Ferrari. They can be very unforgiving and mistakes costly. If you can afford a good example of a 355, DIY probably pays you a lot less per hour than your day job. You are not doing it yourself for the money. But DIY is one of the best parts of the hobby.

 

Yes it is but only once the fuel tanks removed. It's relatively straight forward and easy. But without the removal of the tank, now thats another story.

 

Dino
I think it can all so be done with the tank in the car..but i could be wrong

 

I dont deny that mate.

 

I have an idea for the OP. Next time you decide to change your tires, try removing the fenders instead of the rims.

 

Does anyone read prior posts? This was said about 5 times prior

 

To each his own but...

These monthly threads with newbies bragging "I did it cheaper" and "I did it faster" and "How come nobody does it like this" sort of defeat the whole purpose of owning a Ferrari in the first place. You CAN paint your own car in your backyard and you CAN bondo up a dent and you CAN drive the car 10 years without changing the belts- But why?

Do it right. Spend the time and spend the money and KNOW it's done right. I am not afraid to tackle ANY car repair- but for me I pay a pro because I don't know what I don't know... if you know what I mean.

 

I would not do the belts without pulling the motor but the OP did, so why should we care? It's his car and if he is happy, good for him.

 

Yes. The pump can be changed without removing the gas tank. I have done it. It's NOT fun at all, and it takes a lot more the 2 hours. To do it, you must unbolt the engine and trans mounts and slide the engine back as far as you dare. Lots to undo and remove just to get access, that alone takes more the 2 hours.

 

To be fair he did not say it takes two hours to complete the job. He said it takes two hours to reach the water pump.

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Yes..you are correct. My bad. Either way it is not a fun job. I've done it twice. Took me 6 hours not including refilling and bleed the cooling system, total time out the door was closer to 8 hours.

Edit.. Both were done on gtb's. Spider would probably be much easier with the roof down. You could probably cut an hour or 2 off that time.

 

And today that same basic pushrod engine design is dominating in the DP Corvette. You did watch the 24 hours of Daytona, didn't you? Much as I love Ferrari I think they could learn something about reliable high performance engines form Chevy. And also today those squeaking, hopping C4s are running around with 30, 40, 50, 100k miles without issues. Let's not kid ourselves, like it or not the 2014 Stingray, well what do you think the Z06 version will do to a 458 when it comes out? Like they say, there is no substitute for cubic inches. But I guess we won't know how the Stingray compares to the 458 on the track this year since the 458 is in GTD and the Corvettes in GTLM.

 

LOLLLLLLLLLLLL! !

 

Ferrari is chicken to run in anyother factory backed race series other then F1. They damn well know they will get there ass handed to them. The C7-R would lay such a smack down on a 458 challenge car it wouldn't even be funny. And before anybody says that the C7-R is a different chassis.. It's not. It's a full production line chassis that is unchanged from the Z06.

The corvette has far more real world race tech then anything Ferrari has ever put on the street. The C7 Z06 is basicly a tamed version of the C7-R.

 

We need the VIN Number.

Need it.

Must.

Gotta have it.

For the files. FoR Fchat.

Must.

Important for "future" reference.

 

Agreed. I have been racing a Z06 vette with SCCA for a decade. We dominate over 5 amateur racing classes. Those guys who drive the "R" cars since the C5R...I know them and some of their technology trickles down to us low life club racers. GM has always taken a different route. The C7 will do to the 458 what the C5 did to the 360's...dominate. Point is that with a less high strung motor you can beat the living snot out of it all day long and it will live. You build things into the hottest race motor in town even starting from a GM block and lifetime is measured in hours. Aside from defects, a lack of attention to detail is probably the number one cause of Ferrari failures of stuff that is "fixed" that does not stay fixed.

 

Jay
So your saying that shops are the only ones that can do it right.I cant see how someone pays 7or 8 k to change belts when it only takes 5hr to drop a 355 motor.lets say its 20hrs re/re to change your belts and rebuild your water pump and a $ 1000 in parts how does that come to 7 or 8k ?If it makes you feel better to pay the Ferrari TAX all the power to you.