Yea well people give strangers with a random email address in Nigeria their bank account info so they can transfer the lost portion of the state treasury so it can be split up later too. There is more than one born every minute.
I prefer blissful ignorance . As some said it seems to be a lottery. Why would I pull the engine from, what I can tell, is a gently used, but very old, 308 and change the valves? How much worse is dealing with the aftermath of catastrophe compared to what seems to me near lunacy of pulling a perfectly good engine out -- with great difficulty -- of a car with only 50K miles. Yeah, sodium valves can fail. All kinds of things can happen. I still have the original "plastic" cam belt sprockets. I'm doomed .
Oh no...are you suggesting that the 40 million dollars that Babatunde Obasi promised me might not actually get transferred to my account? I can't believe that. He was a former finance minister of a country I promised i would not disclose. I was hoping to use the money to buy the 928 motorsports supercharger for my 328..
I assume your being sarcastic? Pulling the engine and replacing the valves is a few w/ends of work and about $1500 in parts. IF a valve lets go at anything over 2500rpm, your entire engine will most likely become a boat anchor. The only advantage you currently have is the fact that the increased values of these cars make the repair worthwhile......a few years ago, you would end up with a parts car.
Well, as pointed out by VMAXIM, if the motor is otherwise sound it does not need to be terribly expensive. If you can R+R the motor, or better yet do most or all of the work yourself it can be done for a reasonable sum. On the other hand if you break a valve and need to pay someone to fix it, it suddenly becomes a calculation of "is the car worth that expense"? Seriously at 50k miles you are on borrowed time. Nothing in the world wrong with the old plastic belt sprockets. That's BS. They do wear but they do not fail unless as a result of human interaction.
Well my car was built in the leaded gasoline era of 1977, it was also a non cat car, she runs just fine on it thank you. Goes to show how much you know about a Ferrari. Are you the sixth owner of yours, any idea of its history? Leaded gasoline was banned from the pumps in the 80s, you best go and get your facts correct. I'm sure your one of those idiots that modify your car to something other that what Enzo intended. You have those stupid shields on your wheel arches, changed your rims? Ya, you did didn't you.
I'm prepared to get flamed for this question but has anyone ever lapped in a set of exhaust valves without cutting new seats?
What's wrecked engines are idiots. Fools that don't let the oil or water get to operating temps befor the go off redlining their car every time they drive it. Idiots that don't know how to drive. Idiots that think they know the car better than Ferrari themselves. Idiots that like to modify their cars engines, suspension, electronics, the idiots that keep tinkering with it like its a rice rocket, wreck their engines because they do not understand their car or know it's history. If the sodium valves were such a massive problem why has Ferrari not recalled them, or suggested the valves get replaced. You think you know better than Ferrari, or their trained techs, but you don't. But it's people like you, that will blame Ferrari and their sodium valves because you broke them from your own lack of knowledge and proper care of the car. Go drive a Honda, it's better suited to your modifying ways.
just calm down a little ... as for lead additives, just for your information: here is the statement directly from Ferrari . Image Unavailable, Please Login
I was joking - sadly, I have no prospects of 40 million being added to my account! "If the sodium valves were such a massive problem why has Ferrari not recalled them" As far as a recall - if the engines (valves) made it successfully through the warranty period, there would have been no recall. All of the failures - at least the ones I've heard about - have occurred MANY years beyond the warranty. Heck, Porsche refused to repair the transmission under warranty on my 1999 911 at 53k miles when the car was 6 months and 3000 miles out of warranty. They were happy to offer to fix it for only 6k USD. I offered my thanks and had it repaired by a pro racing tranny shop for half that using better components than the Oem unit.
A friend of mine just had his 1980 308 engine and transmission rebuilt by an reputable known Ferrari shop. I was told that the shop used th same sodium filled valves when they redid both heads. Question: is this a dumb move by the shop by not using the better quality valves like the stainless steel?
Hard to imagine they still had them available. Probably New Old Stock, they were happy to get rid of. They will of course probably last many years just fine like the previous valves. There just isn't any real advantage to using them. Even if complete originality was the goal, internal engine parts aren't judged.
My idea is that nobody can look inside the engine, so you can change pistons, bearings, valves, seats and so on. Sodium valves work, but modern valves work better. If you rebuild an engine with sodium valves, it's not a problem: vintage cars don't do much mileage so they will last more than you and than your son too. But I would prefer to use new valves and (above all) new pistons: 40 years old pistons are a disaster if compared with the new ones. ciao Edit: for Tim Keseluk. I'm starting to consider that you colud be right with the shop no fault: a sodium valve with many miles could break in any moment also at low RPM.
Sodium Valve Pic for Future Reference- with valve modified piston Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thankfully all the OEM pistons are gone, used up in the "'80 -81 "oil burners" that were rebuilt under warranty. Any new engine job these days will use an aftermarket piston...
It looks that the big problem wasn't the sodium itself but it's that particular valve on 308 engines that was too thin. If you don't want engine problems, better buying a 328 ciao
He is on the phone confirming his insurance coverage..... "A bird flew down my intake, seriously......."
Lots of motors have had sodium cooled valves with zero trouble. Like anything else, there are good and bad ways and good and bad suppliers. Ferrari chose the latter in both cases. The same can be said of many of their suppliers over he years. In this application, with modern materials they are not needed.
