Chain retrofit for belt drive | FerrariChat

Chain retrofit for belt drive

Discussion in '308/328' started by dinode, Nov 30, 2009.

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  1. dinode

    dinode Rookie

    Nov 22, 2009
    34
    livingston nj
    Full Name:
    Dean De Furia
    Hi all! New Guy here.

    Wonder why no one has ever come up with a chain drive retrofit to replace the belt drives in these motors. It just seems to make sense with all the fuss and expense in replacing them.
     
  2. BDCVG

    BDCVG Formula Junior

    Apr 9, 2007
    262
    Cincyish
    Full Name:
    Brad
    What and deny Us the ability to spend 100's of posts asking "when to do a belt change?" ...You My good sir are mad!
     
  3. Steve King

    Steve King F1 Rookie

    Feb 15, 2001
    4,367
    NY
    This had been discussed in the past. I belive the major issues are how to seal the chain assembly and how to lubricate it.
     
  4. Spasso

    Spasso F1 World Champ

    Feb 16, 2003
    14,648
    Land of Slugs & Moss
    Full Name:
    Han Solo
    From the other threads that have asked this question, in summary, "Cost of development and production out weighs the the small size of the market thus making purchase price so high it is actually cheaper to just change the belts every 5 years."

    Only 12,000+ 308's were built and probably only 8k are still on the road.
     
  5. GrigioGuy

    GrigioGuy Splenda Daddy
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Nov 26, 2001
    29,385
    E ' ' '/ F
    Full Name:
    Trailer Swift
  6. miketuason

    miketuason F1 World Champ
    Owner Silver Subscribed

    Feb 24, 2006
    15,517
    Cerritos, CA.
    Full Name:
    Mike
  7. Tony K

    Tony K Formula 3

    Jun 7, 2006
    1,769
    Toledo, Ohio
    Full Name:
    Tony K.
    If timing belts are too scary, buy a Corvette! ;)
     
  8. Rifledriver

    Rifledriver Three Time F1 World Champ

    Apr 29, 2004
    33,736
    Austin TX
    Full Name:
    Brian Crall
    Why fix what ain't broke?
     
  9. mk e

    mk e F1 World Champ

    Oct 31, 2003
    12,899
    The twilight zone
    Full Name:
    The Butcher
    Because it's no fun working or broken stuff ;)
     
  10. AZDoug

    AZDoug Formula 3

    Jun 17, 2009
    1,606
    Along the Verde , AZ
    Full Name:
    Doug
    #10 AZDoug, Dec 1, 2009
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2009
    My thoughts:

    Recommended cam belt change: Every 30K miles.

    Reality: You can usually go 50K miles w/o worry, as just about every other car has 60K mile cam belt changes, though I will not suggest you do this.

    Timing chains: should be replaced at 50K miles on any high performance motor as slop in chain starts to degrade cam timing on finely tuned motors.

    Does not apply to grocery getter cars where no one would notice the slight performance drop off from chain stretch, but chains should be replaced at 100K miles even on low perf cars, or when ever the chain gets so loose it slips a tooth.

    Only real advantage to chains: You don't have to change them from just age related sitting.

    Net result, not worth the hassle, IMO.

    Edit: Leave the AC compressor off and timing belt changes are a snap.

    Doug
     
  11. AZDoug

    AZDoug Formula 3

    Jun 17, 2009
    1,606
    Along the Verde , AZ
    Full Name:
    Doug
    Another thought:

    If I was going to engineer something like this, I would be temped to go to a gear drive rather than chain drive. It would be noisier, but it would sound cool, and would not suffer from chain stretch. The lubrication would be possibly more critical.

    If you want to see timing gears, look at the cams drive arrangement on a Hawker Sea Fury radial engine.

    Doug
     

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