1981 Ferrari 308 GTSi R2 Points Bypass

Hello everyone,

My 308 has been idling very rough recently and wanting to cut out, but at higher rpms it seems fine. After doing some research, I believe that the r2 points are the culprit. What is the easiest way to temporarily bypass them for the sake of diagnostics. I really do not know much about distributors so please describe it as simply as possible if you can. I am no mechanic lol. Thank you all in advance for all your help!

 

Put a piece of electrical tape over the contacts on that set of points.

 

R2 points were last used on 1979 US version carb 308 (so not present on a 1981 308i of any version). Can you be more specific about what year/model/version 308? The 1980-81 timeframe was when VINs got standardized so you might still have a non-standardized VIN (and "model year" in Europe could more represent when the paperwork was created rather than the car), but, if you have the standardized 17-digit VIN, you can decode it here: http://www.red-headed.com/vin.html

 

Oh I did not know that. It is a US spec 1981 308 GTSi 2V. Any other suggestions on what it could be then?

 

So many things . Your symptom could be fuel as easily as ignition. The usual investigation strategy is:

1. Examine the easy things in the ignition system -- spark plugs, spark plug wire resistances (and repierce at the dist cap, if necessary), inspect the extenders for resistance/holes, inspect the dist rotor and cap. If all that seems OK,

2. Start looking at the basic parameters of the Bosch CIS K-Jet without Lambda injection system to see if anything is now out-of-spec -- cold WUR control pressure, warm WUR control pressure, regulated supply pressure.

After that, it gets harder .

 

Ok I will try all of that. Thanks for the info Steve, it is much appreciated!! I forgot to include that it just came out of a belt service as well so I hope it is not a timing issue but it is normal at higher revs which leads me to believe it is not, unless I’m totally wrong.

 

Assuming your problem is on the k-jet, you should first determine whether idle is bad within the first 10 minutes, or rough regardless of cold/hot.

Cold idle is managed as follows:
1) there is an idle air valve that increases the airflow for 10minutes or so. This one is easy to check : apply 12v, after 10 minutes the valve must be closed.
2) there is a warmup regulator that increases the fuel flow. This one is more complex to check: you do have to install a test gauge between the fuel distributor and the warmup regulator, and check how the regulator adjusts pressure over a 5 minutes period. The control pressure should progressively raise until it reaches 3.4~3.8 bar.

If the car does not idle properly when hot regardless of the position of the CO set-screw (it's on the fuel distributor, clockwise = richer), then it's time to read the k-jet book.

You should perform these tests with regular spark plugs, as thin tips plugs (iridium, platinium) do not like to be wet so they are a real pain when you want to adjust a stubborn engine...

 

If it just came out of a belt service, why don't you let the mechanic have a shot at it.

 

Thats exactly what I am going to do. I wanted to see if I can try to fix it myself but obviously it is way over my head. Thanks for everyone's feedback, comments and suggestions!