348 engine out major

Depending on how long your socket is, you may find that as you are pulling the bearing it will bottom out on the inner race of the bearing. What I did was add another 10mm socket to the end for some added room to finished pull the bearing off.
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With the idler bearing off you can now remove the rear belt cover, exposing the idler bracket I was talking about earlier.

As you can see there are 2 nuts, on the right holding the bracket to the block. The retaining bolt goes through the bearing, through the bracket, and gets screwed into the block. So if you try and pull the bearing without something in the bolt hole for a fulcrum, you run the risk of snapping the bracket in half. I had to learn this the hard way. So be sure to use a long socket in the retaining bolt hole, or whatever, when pulling the idler bearing.
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Here is a shot of the old idler bearing manufacture and part number.

Nachi 6005NSE 351
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With the tensioner and idler bearings removed I had a feel of them.

When checking the bearings I'm feeling for ANY kind of lateral movement, and for smoothness. The tensioner bearing didn't feel rough, but it had a tiny bit of play in it. The older bearing on the other hand had lateral play in it, and felt a little bit rough. This explains the squealing I heard a few of times at start up.
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And here we see rubber from the belt that got burned to the bearings as there were beginning to fail.

This is why I will not be waiting almost another decade before I change the belt, and more importantly the bearings. Had one, or both of those, seized up solid the belt could have burned up to the point of it snapping = the pistons and valves playing UFC with one another.
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While I was checking bearings I had a feel of the water pump bearing, and it had some play in it. Last time I did the belt the water pump bearing felt just fine. No lateral play, and spun smoothly so I left it be.

This go around I was not so lucky. You'll see more on that in a bit.
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The belt and the bearings, the belt and the bearings…………. hmmmm.

I can understand why Ferrari recommends changing the belt every 3 years/30K miles. My opinion is because of the belt stretching, which can throw the time off, be it ever so slightly, but it will be out of spec. So to keep the timing as perfect as possible slap a new belt on every 3/30 which ever comes first.

For me I think thats over kill. Yeah my timing was off 1/2 a notch, but big whoptydo. At our Stooge dyno day, about 2 years ago, I still made the most power. Yeah it's not perfect, but I'm not trying to win the Challenge Series. I can understand if I was racing the car full time, or turning 9000 rpm regularly, then yeah. Heck I may even change the belt every season. But I'm not, so I'm not worried about the timing remaining ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. The belt is tough, really tough, and took all the punishment I handed it.

Now the bearings on the other hand, that is where the real danger is in my opinion. Those things failing can cause a whole lot of damage. Any one of them could seize up and wreak havoc. It could be the water pump bearing, or the idler bearing, or the tensioner bearing. The thing is they are not in an easy location to inspect or change. You must remove the engine to check them properly in my opinion. Changing them out every 3/30 will ensure they are running like brand new, but again, for ME that is over kill.

Would I push it 9 years plus again?
Nope.
Will I be changing stuff out every 3/30?
Nope.

For me, again, for ME……… I think I'll stick to the old 5/50, and whatever the milage ends up being at that point, is what it is. But that is just ME. I don't think I'd wait any longer because of the issue I had with the water pump. And no it wasn't because of the bearing. You'll see more about that on the next go around.

So for today, your friendly neighborhood Stooge is checking out.

 

Around 30,000 miles +/-.

 

The longest my belt sat in one place was 2 weeks short of a full year, and several 3-5 month stints. I'm telling you I was HARD on the thing. THEN I would STILL do dyno pulls with it. The belt can take a beating.

 

Thanks.

The date number on the old belt is 2203171. So then that means the belt was made the first week of June, 2002. The last three numbers 168-171 are the position of the belt in the production run.

So even though I had the belt on my car for 9.5 years, the belt was actually 11 years old by the time I took it off.

That is one tough belt!

The code for the new belt 09282108 is read a little bit different. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/138215700-post28.html
The first two numbers 09 are the year = 2009
The next two 28 are the week = last week of July
And the next number 2 is the day of that week = Monday the 27
The last three numbers 108-112 are the belt position inside the mold.

So my new belt is already 4.5 years old. Should I buy a newer one? Naw I'll Stooge it and still use it. Especially after how tough the last belt was.

 

Yeah that sounds right to me Bertil.

 

Let's get back to this major service.

Just to get them out of the way I remove the valve cover gaskets. I used a plastic putty knife the get them off. The white stuff you see is ThreeBond. I used it to seal the gaskets last time. It works ok, but I have found Hondbond HT works better.
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With that out of the way I'm gonna remove the water pump.

First up is loosening the clamps for the center hose connoting the pump to the crossover pipe running to the heads.

It is a straight piece of Gates hose (if I remember correct) 609. I got it from NAPA auto parts. I actually asks for the Gates Green Strip, and they gave me this. It held up just fine. Other than the clamp marks it's still in decent condition.
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Next up is removing the 3 nuts holding the feed neck to the water pump.
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With the neck removed it exposes the thermostat. To take the t-stat out you simply grub hold of the bridge and lift it out.

And those of you why may be wondering, You do not need to remove the engine to change the thermostat. It can be done with the engine in stu. Matter of fact this thermostat is the same one I put on in this link. ->http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/technical-q/385608-348-thermostat-removal.html So I will be reusing it when this go back together.
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Now the 4 allen bolts holding the pump to the the engine get removed.

When you remove them pay attention to the length of the bolts, what holes they come out of, and you can even mark them for reassembly. The reason is because they are two different lengths, and if you put them in the wrong holes the pump won't get tightened back down properly.
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With the allen bolts out the pump comes right off.

I'll set it on the work bench for disassembly.
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After I removed the 4 nuts (you can see them in the last post ^) holding the pump together, I tapped it with a hammer to get the seal to pop loose.

Then I separated they halves.
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