Greetings after 18 months of ownership... | FerrariChat

Greetings after 18 months of ownership...

Discussion in '308/328' started by DrScientist, Jan 10, 2021.

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  1. DrScientist

    DrScientist Rookie

    Feb 3, 2012
    25
    #1 DrScientist, Jan 10, 2021
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2021
    hello ladies and germs,

    thought i'd introduce myself since the forum has already proven invaluable.

    i picked up an '82 308 a couple of summers ago, somewhat on a whim--actually i unexpectedly won a BaT auction. i never really thought about owning a ferrari, but hey! sometimes these things happen.

    anyway, i happened to be a couple hundred miles from where the car was at the time (and 3000 miles from home), so i took a short trip to pick it up, and drove it across the country (and some canada) to get back east coast in the summer of 2019. it did surprisingly well.

    anyway, in response to a confluence of events last summer (aug '20), i moved out of my house packed up the least reliable car i own, yes, the 308, with as much as i could, and have been on a somewhat epic road trip since!

    so its been over 6000 miles so far, 4 breakdowns, and lots of smiles. the car is currently with steve in san antonio (learned about him from the 308 forum) getting some much needed maintenance to the steering rack and a new water pump.



    thanks to all of the folks on here who have pointed in me in the right direction for simple parts and fixes and indy mechanics along the way!




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  2. lkstaack

    lkstaack Formula Junior

    Dec 9, 2020
    252
    San Diego
    Full Name:
    Lars
    Epic. Route 66 meets Magnum. You should blog it.
     
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  3. DrScientist

    DrScientist Rookie

    Feb 3, 2012
    25
    #3 DrScientist, Jan 10, 2021
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 10, 2021
    greetings everyone!

    been lurking around here for more than a few years, and then picked up a 308 summer of 2019. to be honest, i unexpectedly won a BaT auction on an 82 gtsi. i thought it was a good idea at the time... and well... cant say anything has been unexpected. im not really a "ferrari guy," but miss sapphire convinced me it was a good deal.

    the rest of the garage is german, '02 996 carrera, '89 928s4 5spd, '88 m6.
    but at least my prior ownership experiences prepped me for anything, '91 v12 xjs, '76 tr6, and '91 850i 6spd.

    picked the 308 up in oregon in jul '19, drove it to seattle, and then niagra falls, and eventually back east coast to philadelphia. 4 months in the shop, maintenance, headwork, valves, etc etc etc. at least he prior owner had most of the suspension up to date.

    last summer, aug '20, after a confluence of events, i moved my things into storage (including the spare tire), packed as much as i could squeeze in, and have been on an epic road trip ever since.

    3.5 months, 6000 miles, 12 states... 2 oil changes, an additional tanker of oil poured in the filler cap, 4 break downs, and lots and lots of smiles and memories.

    re the 4 breakdowns: THANK YOU SO MUCH to the folks on this forum who pointed me toward bill everden at maranello motorsports in denver and steve castillo at prova motore in san antonio. the breaks were:
    1) misaligned alternator belt, started sounding bad around the mississippi river, terrible by the mo/ks border, and then finally ate itself 50 miles outside of denver--luckily 1 mile from an oreilly's. an extra battery got me to friendlies in denver, and a flatbed to maranello. thank you so much again bill for squeezing me in, and getting me back on the road quickly.
    2) fuel pump. no idea on the age of the thing. so couldve been just age. luckily also was back in denver after a trip in the mtns. back to bill, and back on the road quickly.
    3) alternator/waterpump belt burned up about 10 miles east of presidio texas. not far from big bend national park--mexico border. this was a little scary, as its really the middle of nowhere, and at 6pm on a friday night. but i had a belt, and with the kindness of some strangers, i wrangled a lift and a bay, and had the car moving again by 10pm.
    4) belt again, marathon tx, because its not just the belt, its the water pump seal failing scenario, heating the bearings, melting the belt. luckily again, i had made friends in the area overheard of a flatbed headed to houston the next day. hopped a ride and stopped in san antonio. no... there are no spare water pumps in the basement of the alamo, but there is steve at prova!

    anyway, car is still with steve. waiting on a steering rack. but hopefully, we'll be back on the road by the end of the week!

    thanks again for the contact info and the little tips on everything.





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  4. Brian A

    Brian A F1 Rookie

    Dec 21, 2012
    3,079
    SanFrancisco BayArea
    Full Name:
    1983 US 308 GTS QV
    AMAZING STORY!! WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!

    Keep us posted. Trips like the one you are on are so worth the “risk”! You are demonstraring that the risks are seldom life or death but rather mostly simple inconveniences.
     
    Brian Harper and Dane like this.
  5. till.a.fischer

    till.a.fischer Karting

    Oct 18, 2006
    241
    Stuttgart, Germany
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    Till Fischer
  6. DrScientist

    DrScientist Rookie

    Feb 3, 2012
    25
    and, goddammit... typo in the title of my first post o_O
     
  7. energy88

    energy88 Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 21, 2012
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    John
    Love that photo! Where was it taken?
     
  8. NeuroBeaker

    NeuroBeaker Advising Moderator
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    Oct 1, 2008
    38,744
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    Andrew
    What typo? ;)

    All the best,
    Andrew.
     
  9. Dave Bertrand

    Dave Bertrand Formula Junior
    Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 24, 2005
    770
    Castle Rock, CO
    You're a brave man to set sail in a 308 for a lengthy road trip. But if all the trouble you've had is with a fuel pump and failing water pump, count yourself lucky as well! I wouldn't have thought that a 308 would be comfortable enough for touring like that.
     
  10. DrScientist

    DrScientist Rookie

    Feb 3, 2012
    25
    thanks! that was somewhere between prescott arizona and the california border. along route 60 i think?
     
  11. Dane

    Dane Formula 3
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Apr 25, 2002
    1,512
    Awesome adventure!! A video blog would be awesome. Keep us posted!!
     
  12. Dr Tommy Cosgrove

    Dr Tommy Cosgrove Three Time F1 World Champ
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    May 4, 2001
    35,282
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    Tommy
    That belt failure thing is mostly a QV issue. Exactly they way you have described your experience too.

    I dont think your problem is going to disappear forever
     
  13. DrScientist

    DrScientist Rookie

    Feb 3, 2012
    25
    West Texas
     

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  14. Vinsanity

    Vinsanity Karting

    Sep 9, 2013
    225
    Washington, DC.
    Full Name:
    "VD"
    Holy s--t that stupid fake Prada store is still there. I drove through that dustball nothing-town about 19 years ago, and it was there then. (I wasn't driving a 308--didn't own mine yet--but I would have stopped and taken the same photo if I had been.)

    I envy you the freedom of the road. Even getting away for a weekend is a seemingly insurmountable challenge for me these days. Keep on motoring!
     
  15. DrScientist

    DrScientist Rookie

    Feb 3, 2012
    25
    do you mean it usually only happens to the QVs and not the 2 valve cars?

    and with a new water pump, im hoping to remedy the melting belts.

    also, i definitely read through some of your posts dr cosgrove, thanks for contributing.
     
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  16. Dr Tommy Cosgrove

    Dr Tommy Cosgrove Three Time F1 World Champ
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    May 4, 2001
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    Tommy
    It was a quirky thing on the single belt QV that prompted Ferrari to issue a Service Bulletin to the dealers recommending swapping the single belt to a two belt set up via a kit. Ferrari eventually changed the design at some point midway in the 84 model year.

    I didn't know it was seen on the 2Vi.

    Someone here explained that the alt on the QV was under-engineered for that model or something along those lines which is why it was a rarely seen issue prior to the 4V.

    I could be wrong about all that, just trying to remember how it was said.

    Anyway mine tore belts a lot. About one every year and a half, two years or so. I sourced the parts to convert it to two belts and it hasn't happened again since. So far so good about 15 years now. Mine is a Jan 30, 1984 build date so the change on the assembly line at the factory happened sometime after the beginning of Feb 1984
     
  17. miketuason

    miketuason F1 World Champ
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    Feb 24, 2006
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    Mike
    Dr. Tommy, when you say single belt, what belt are you talking about, is it one belt that drives all three, water pump, AC compressor, and alternator? And you said the change made in the beginning of Feb 1984? Here’s a pic of my 84, built date is DEC. 1983, but has two belt, has mine been converted? Image Unavailable, Please Login
     
  18. Dr Tommy Cosgrove

    Dr Tommy Cosgrove Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Mine had 1 belt that drove both the alt and wp. The two belt design has a belt for the alt and a second for the wp. Neither design ran the a/c. It was always separate.
     
  19. Dr Tommy Cosgrove

    Dr Tommy Cosgrove Three Time F1 World Champ
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    Looks like you have the single
     
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  20. Dr Tommy Cosgrove

    Dr Tommy Cosgrove Three Time F1 World Champ
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    This wasn't something that affected all single belt QV's

    Some, for whatever reason, were perfectly happy that way.

    The SB stated that if the dealer saw a frequency with failure on a particular car, they should convert that car. It wasn't a model wide recall type thing.

    Some apparently never did it. At this point, I doubt you have anything to worry about.
     
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  21. Rosey

    Rosey F1 Rookie

    Nov 5, 2015
    3,587
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    Mark R
    Great photos of a 308 with a big, wide sky behind it.
     
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  22. miketuason

    miketuason F1 World Champ
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    Feb 24, 2006
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    What makes it a single though? I still don’t understand what they meant by that.
     
  23. Dr Tommy Cosgrove

    Dr Tommy Cosgrove Three Time F1 World Champ
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    May 4, 2001
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    Pretend you and I don't have an a/c compressor a moment. Forget the a/c belt.

    You will see one accessory belt on your car going around the crankshaft pully, alt and wp. It will be the only accessory belt down there.

    On my car you will see two. One going around the crankshaft pully and up to the wp. Then another around the crankshaft pully and going over to the far right to the alt.

    I can break that one and still have a working wp. You cant.
     
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  24. kcabpilot

    kcabpilot Formula 3

    Apr 17, 2014
    1,527
    California SF bay area
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    Paul
    2 belt has one belt for water pump and one belt for alternator. On a single belt it drives both water pump and alternator. FWIW when a single belt fails you know because the ALT light comes on. With a two belt if the water pump belt goes you won't know until the engine overheats.
     
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  25. Dr Tommy Cosgrove

    Dr Tommy Cosgrove Three Time F1 World Champ
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    May 4, 2001
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    miketuason likes this.

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