Timing Belt Replacement

Anybody know how long you can expect a good mechanic to take to replace timing belts and rollers on a 328? The tutorial makes it look like a 6-8 hour job, at most. A mechanic I just talked to said 10-12. Thanks!

 

I would tend to believe the 10-12 hr process. Having done mine, there are a lot of little nuts to take off and lots of contortions to do to get at them. All needed to be done in reverse to put it all back together. Maybe 6-8 hrs if noting else is done like the water pump.

 

Last time I had mine done by an Indi here I dropped it off at about 8:45 a.m and it was ready by 1:30pm - but all he did was change the timing belts & put new V belts on it. My car is a UK 328 with AC on it. I would imagine you could add another 30 minutes if you wanted new tensioner bearings stuck on it.

If all you are changing is the belts, its not a 10 hour job assuming you don't hit any snags / seized nuts or bolts etc.

 

If you want a data point, look at the time maintenance schedule manual. It will tell you what Ferrari will bill hour-wise for the belts and tensioner bearings replacement ONLY.

BUT, these are old cars. If you don't find some "While you are there" additional projects, you probably did not look hard enough. A good knowledgeable wrench would do the same and the time required would go up.

 

That seems perfectly reasonable. But I am getting the impression that its a lot longer on US cars. I have seen "lots of little nuts to take off" mentioned here and on other threads. We dont have these on our cars, are these something to do with the fact the cam belt covers have backplates on US cars? Also our A/C compressors are easier to get out of the way I think, than the US York units which seem to be bigger.

 

Yes on the back plates for the cam covers. Those little nuts are difficult to get at especially 3 of them.

 

Looking at an indy, for example: Ferrari Service | Ferrari Servicing | Ferrari Service Costs

Their price for cambelts only is 295 GBP so that would be about 4-5 hours on a Euro car.

 

+1
Not seen as a big deal in the UK but in the States it always seems to be at least twice the price.

 

My experience is that its a 5-10 hour job. if done right it takes longer... water pump rebuild etc.. but i guess if you are great at wrenching - 4-6 hours can happen just for belts... but that is like Ron Reineke expertise.... having done it hundreds of times ..... for me its like 2 full days at best. getting the AC compressor out of the way is its own nightmare!

 

On my UK 328 it took me two lots of 4 hr blocks..
I started at 4pm and have everything off by 8pm..
I had to pick up the AC belt and AC idler pulley bearing as I had everything else besides them so the next day after work it took me another 4 hrs to put it all back together,,that's just all belts and tensioner bearings as well as replacing the AC idler pulley bearing and including refilling and bleeding the coolant.
Biggest time waster is removing and refitting the AC compressor..that's almost a 2hr job on its own!!

 

Friends,

It takes me 2 months!