83 Cab QV - Timing Belt broken, again...

Back after a long time. Will be proceeding with my 83 mondial QV timing belt repair soon.

 

Thanks for your input. Figuring out why this happened is the first order of business. Hope I am lucky with minimal internal damage. Either way it goes, I appreciate your suggestion and no, the opening up and diagnosis process is scheduled to begin in a couple of weeks.

 

Superformance UK looks useful. Thanks!

 

Underway at last. Dropping engine at my place this weekend. Wish me luck!!

 

Shudder... Quake...

I won't know the level of damage for a few more days. I have decided to drop the engine out, pull both heads, and have a good look at everything. Should things turn out to be anything more than a simple belt issue and there are topside damages, then I will need to determine the root cause of the failure and start repairing things from there.

Updates to follow soon.

 

Good news. The tensioner bearing on the rear bank failed causing a shift in its operating plane. This caused the belt to slide off of the tensioner and destroy itself on the center tensioner bolt. While not an ideal scenario, much better than the oil starvation / cam seizure I had been worried about. Just a reminder, I experienced a brief oil pressure "red light" during a hard right hand 270 degree freeway ramp about 25 miles prior to this timing belt failure. Much relieved to find the two events were unrelated.

Have had contact on all valves in all cylinders on rear bank. Pistons all look OK. No loose parts laying around. No signs of liner damage. Bottom end seems OK. Whew!

No apparent wipes or gouges on cams or followers. Whew 2!

Not going to venture a guess on valves or guide condition. More feedback as technical info is available.

 

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While I may learn something about Ferraris, which is good, and have encountered a number of well adjusted Ferrari owners here, which has been awesome, I had no idea I would become a long term shriveled hand cleaning expert!

Without a doubt, I will spend more time on cleaning than any other aspect of the project. Ahh, but that's where the love affair blossoms! As I swish away with my toothbrushes and old T-shirts and peel away the grime, that elegant beauty of an Italian masterpiece continually reveals itself.

Glad to know that the stories about loving hot Italians are true.

 

All levity aside, I learned 3 very important lessons here:

1. Change the timing belts and tensioners at the recommended time and mileage intervals. No kidding.

On a Mondial, you can do it yourself with the aid of a small tool sold by members of this forum to hold the cams in place while doing the work. Or, have the work done by a reputable shop. The belts and tensioners you replace will look fine when this service is performed. Do NOT be fooled into thinking you could have gone longer between these timing belt replacements. The fact that the "old" parts look good means that they have done their job well and precisely as intended by Ferrari. Simply throw them away.

2. Use the Hill Engineering tensioner bearings only. They are significantly superior to the official Ferrari tensioner bearings. Genuine Ferrari parts are appealing, but make an exception with these. Ask your mechanic if you are hesitant. There are a number of threads here in the forum on this subject (SKF Tensioner Bearings) if you want the details. If your mechanic does not approve the Hill Engineering tensioner bearings, find a different mechanic.

3. If you buy a used Ferrari and are the least bit unsure of its maintenance history, immediately schedule it for a major service appointment with a reputable shop. These major service appointments are expensive, but cheap insurance for your Ferrari. Consider this service expense when evaluating a car's purchase price.

OK, those are the lessons I learned.

In my specific case, a $40 Genuine Ferrari tensioner bearing failed with only 5,000 miles on it. Cost me thousands of dollars in repairs and a lot of downtime for the car. And I agree with Ferrarimike83, I was lucky.