Major Service Update. WHAT! WHY?

BTW, I keep my broken (stripped) cam belt as a maintenance reminder. We had a track meet - oops, I mean a driver's school - back in 2000, just after I broke that belt. I gave everyone bent 308 valves as gifts! If you put a valve guide on the valve and a c-clip on the stem-end, they make nice desk play toys!

Today, I have a scuffed 308 piston on my desk. Everyone who comes in wants to know what it is. Many don't even know that it is a piston.

-LittleTex

 

Is the term "rubber belts" just a generic term or are the belts actually just rubber? I ask because, with today's technology, I would think there would be a newer belt out that would actually last longer.

 

Some rubber-like material but with strong cords bonded into it. They're called cog-belts or gear belts. Google these terms and you can probably find out more than you ever wanted to know.

BTW, cam bealts break by shearing the cog-teeth off of the backing. They don't actually break the belt in the classic sense. Another quirky point: The belts fail more often at slow speed than at high revs! That's because the motion at high speeds is more uniform and smooth. At slow speed, the shearing stress on the belt is jerkey as the cam encounters the valve loads.

 

how does this jive with your signature on each of your posts?

(and I am NOT suggesting you don't know what you are talking about, either - because you do)

 

There are and everybody else uses them except Ferrari.

I think we should just call Honda or Toyota and find out why they don't say swap every 3 years too - or do they? I have a little 80 VW Scirocco that had a belt on it when I bought it 1 Aug 85. It still has that belt, but the engine is sitting in a storeroom because I changed the motor back in 02. Daily driver and about 175,000-200,000 miles in 17 years. One belt.

That's how I want Ferrari to do it.

 

See Dude, all ya gotta do is mention them belts and the whole world stops rotating for a second. You could have talked maintenence all day long and barely filled a page.

Rifledriver is correct as to the TSB and the spec. What anyone else does after that is thier buisness. But we all know this too. That anyone looking to buy a car is going to hold it up to that standard, and many that are selling are going to try to poo poo it.

I knew of the potential for failure when I put a belt on a Fiat over 30 years ago. I knew of several 308's that had slipped thier ragged bonds and ended up for sale in Hemmings 20 years ago. 10 years ago I seen a big pile of engine blocks at TRutlands, most from belt failures, and everyone of the cars those blocks came out of no longer call muster roll. Taken forever out of existence over a twenty dollar part.

I dont think these will fail quite so easily.....
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To begin with it says 50% (conservative estimate) is B.S.

The trick is to know which 50%. The 50% lies I am talking about are things like 80-82 308's didnt burn oil, 550 wheels don't crack because they are junk, 355 exhaust manifolds and valve guides don't go bad, a bunch of 360's that were in a flood at FNA headquarters in N.J wont be sold to unsuspecting buyers in the USA. You know, all the things they do to deny warranty work, screw the owners and the dealers, minor stuff like that.


Secondly I am also saying anyone who goes on record telling you to ignore Ferrari recomendations because they do not know what they are (in the case of that Chicago dealer) or just because they "Feel" or "Believe" they are wrong and cannot back it up with some science is an idiot.

I have a Ferrari and I cannot begin to tell you how much I hate to work on cars for free. I change my own belts on a very specific schedule. For my use I feel 5 years is a good life span. I would never tell a client not to do them in 3 years but if they do not do them in 5 they are not my client anymore.


And last but not least, Doc you tell patients to brush after every meal in the hopes they do it once or twice a day. If you tell them once or twice a day they will do it 5 or 6 times a week.

 

Brian, I love your sometimes-morbid viewpoint. I don't like people either! That's perhaps why I enjoy machines so much.

Upon visiting my indy-mechanic, I once commented that I would like to own a restoration shop. His reply was, "That's a good way to ruin a great hobby."

I enjoy working on my cars - probably as much so as driving them! Then again, my cars are therapy. I come home from work where I pick locations for 80 million dollar oil wells and wander into the garage. I pick up one wrench and the entire oil and gas exploration business disappears. Nice touch that.

regards,

rick

 

Yeah, you're right.

And by the way I have my belts changed every 3 years too. I just get aggravated doing it - but I do it.

 

It's OK, one of the problems with often discussed subjects here is the number of threads becomes mind boggling when you want the ONE ANSWER!

Here it is: With thanks to Rifledriver for the Bulletin numbers,
"Belts are 3 years now."...all other service intervals remain per your Manual...

Follow your Manual, stamp your Warranty book even past the warranty period ....be happy!

Be real happy you can call your Dad, all I have is a lil' piece of granite to talk to.......it's one of those Veteran ones, it doesn't even stick up out of the ground ...............

 

My pleasure.

Next to "Look, an F50 that floats", "My Z06 is faster and cheaper that your Ferrari" and "What did you do to earn enough money for a Ferrari" the question is about the most asked and most contentious here.

Next time try the search function, you'll find about 10,000 posts addressing it.

 

LOL! That's pretty much the Big Three, there.....you forgot:

"Will XXX wheels fit a XXX?"

and

"What color should I buy, after I made a gazillion dollars working hard all my life?"

Those come up pretty regularly, as well......

 

Hey, just trying to keep it light around here!

Some perspective on things......

It's OK but I miss him, he would think Ferraris are ridiculous, he didn't take his '63 Impala coupe in, every 3 years.....it's probably still out there running somewhere!

Happy Holidays!

He's probably driving one, right now...........

 

I have one 308GTB with 12 year old belts, but it's going in soon..it's parked, not in use..

NOBODY's luck is that good!

 

Two years ago I went shopping for a truck and hadn't been in a Toyota dealership for years. I asked about the maintenance interval of the belts and the Toyota salesperson stated "a few years back Toyota had changed to chain driven cams"

So the answer as to why Toyota doesn't swap every 3 years is because they removed it from the design, although this probably calls for some attention to an idler or tensioner...

 

I just bought a Toyota Truck I'll go look.......2.7L 4 cyl......

 

Correct, either system would require a tensioner, on my old Toyota it was oil pressure related somehow......

 

Why did Ferrari move away from chain driven cams?

 

I think they went back to them starting with the 430

 

Did somebody say prostate? what'd I miss?

 

Rubber was a cost effective light weight design at the time, compared to the steel chains which had the be internal to the engine...

Steel chains wear as well of course, just not every three years!

 

No, but he TRIED to! LOL!

You are late to this party!

Did you see the Kruse Auction Houston in Vintage Section?

They forgot to mail me a catalog, AGAIN!

 

My wife's old 94 Civic is supposed to get a new belt every 60K. The car has 220k on the clock and it's on it's second or third belt. I might try to do the change myself just for kicks and giggles. The maximum financial consequence for this car is about $300, so it's not a stressful situation.