how old are your cam belts

Rewriting history now?

What industry are you in so I can lie about it and insult it too?

I have no need to rebut ****. You seem to be the only one here that fails to get it and I have no expectation or need to change that. I just think that rather than to start off by offending the very people that can help the most that you keep your ears open and your mouth shut unless you have something positive to add.

You ran it off the rails when you suggest the fantasy of Ferrari dreaming it up to help the starving dealers. It was a pretty good discussion prior.

The truth is Ferrari makes money selling cars. Ferrari dealers make money selling cars. Neither make money servicing cars and would not be in that business unless forced to.

Your version of the business model is a fantasy born of a complete lack of knowledge.

 

LOL! Brian you make the best quotes. All I can say is JohnK please follow the instructions in my signature.

 

I'll tell you this.....

I am friends with an ex FCA regional director who has a pristine car that is driven regularly....sometimes as his daily driver. He has the ORIGINAL belts in it and the car's age is WELL into the double digits. Oil and other fluids are checked religiously and the car is immaculate but the belts have never been done.

And he doesn't have any plans to do them either anytime soon.

 

My 2 cents...there is no doubt belts can last a very long time. As Huskerbill stated, I also was told by a VERY well known F expert (everyone here knows him) that the belts don't have to be done as often as commonly stated.

Having said that....we all know rubber gets old and hard with age, heat, dirt and oil being thrown at it. Not to mention the stress as the rubber belt is moving at some high RPMs.
A fan belt on a 1970 Chevelle...OK..no big deal...roll the dice.

A timing belt on an F-Car? ....different ball game. Common sense says better to do it sooner than later. The later could be a blown engine with white smoke out your tail pipe. Why roll the dice? My money would be on Mr. Crall's advice.....

 

And I know people who've smoked 2 packs a day for 70 years are still kickin' at 90, but...

You can roll hard 8's all day long, but eventually you'll crap out.

 

1999 550 Maranello
Right bank belt failure at 2 years 11 1/2 months and 29,600 miles.

There are 23 other valves that look similar to this one...
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Great analogy.

Just as I was smart enough to quit smoking twenty years ago, I will have the belts done every three years. I can't justify spending 15 or 20 thousand dollars on an engine for a car worth 40k.

I've gone through the aggravation and expense of removing the engine and having it rebuilt (for the most part) and I'll do what I can to avoid doing it again. Six or seven hundred dollars a year for belt replacement is definitely money well spent IMO.

 

That is a neat story, but what is his point of NOT replacing them when they are THAT old?

risk vs reward...

 

My better half is an ex FCA RD and a current member of the FCA National Board Executive Committee as well as a Senior Concour Judge. She doesn't know **** about timing belts either so I am unsure what that point is.


But we can agree we have all seen timing belts go for many years and just like Nick Jagger they really have no right to still be alive.


There are probably a few cars out there somewhere with 50 year old tires. They still hold air. They still hold up the car. They still roll. Does all that mean it is a good idea to drive on them? Not really. They are without doubt fragile, and just like your friends timing belts are far too prone to damage or failure to make sense to continue to use.

 

I almost wondered if he was talking about Charness. He told me once that he last changed his belts when they were 12 years old when I mentioned mine were due after only 5 years. We both looked at each other like the other was crazy.

 

Everyone is different. Everyone has a different standard of care and expectation of reliability.

If I can't jump in it and drive coast to coast knowing I'll get there without drama I don't want it in the garage. With my experience I know what that takes.

Rode an 11 year old motorcycle to the Arctic Circle this summer via the ALCAN and didn't so much as burn out a light bulb. Doesn't happen by hoping for the best.

 

How often is it a bearing failure and not the belt?

 

Whow, I am more than impressed. That ride would have killed me one hour north of Vancouver BC

 

Not really all that often on cars that are serviced by people that know what they are doing. Besides the bearings get noisy. You have to be deaf not to hear it. But then I have seen motors with rods hanging out the side and been told they never heard a thing.

In the early days we often didn't change the bearings, just the belts but people got squemesh about that.

 

My belts are 6 years old. I have been avoiding driving the car because of the age of the belts.

The car was in a show a few weeks ago and the only way it was going to get there was on a trailer and it wont leave the garage again until I change the belts.

Belts are easier than engine overhauls.

 

With the history of that car change the bearings. I really do not like what Ferrari is offering.

Get them from Ricambi and tell Daniel you are my brother. He might feel sorry for you and give you a discount. He's selling the Hill bearings and for the 308 it is the best choice out there.


TR motor is coming out this winter for the same reason. Leslie wants a 67 GTO. I told her we have too many already and if she wants another car point out which one she wants me to sell. With any luck maybe it will be the Lambo.

 

BC was by far the best part. North Eastern BC is really beautiful.

 

She wants a GTO? really you want a 389 tri power?

 

Man, it's been a while since we've had a barn burner belt thread.

It is nice to have a car that you know you can drive like it's meant to be driven from coast to coast. Heck a drive from coast to coast would be the best thing for my car.

-F

 

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My belts are 5 days old. Just had the 30k major done. I know...smart ass. I just wanted to join in the discussion.

 

The ALCAN ain't what it used to be....it's MUCH better now. That thing used to be hundreds of miles of washboard gravel/rock.

 

From Destruction Bay to the Alaskan border would be far better if it was washboard gravel. I had my Harley airborne a number of times it is in such bad condition. Actually the entire Yukon portion is pretty 3rd world despite the fact that the US pays for maintaining it. And large sections were gravel. They pave roads so badly the gravel portions were better much of the time.


Of the entire trip BC had the best roads and that includes I5 through CA, OR and WA.

 

I haven't been on it since the 90's and that was only up near Whitehorse. My dad has driven from Desert Hot Springs, CA to Haines, AK and back a dozen times over the last decade plus after living in Haines most of the 80's and 90's. He says its a breeze compared to what it was back in the 80's when I was up there every summer as a teenager.

 

We drove two cars up the Alaska Highway from the US (through Great Falls) to Alaska (Anchorage) in 1980. It was all gravel then and actually was no problem. We then lived in AK for 8 years and I would bet that based on how concrete/asphalt responds to frost heaves, the "modern" paved Alaska Highway is rougher than the gravel road was...