Where’s your comfort level? | Page 3 | FerrariChat

Where’s your comfort level?

Discussion in '308/328' started by 308 milano, Oct 9, 2021.

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  1. 308 milano

    308 milano F1 Veteran
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  2. thorn

    thorn F1 Rookie

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    Get a few shop towels (optional: lightly spray with oil), and lay them over the valve train while you work. Keeps stuff that shouldn't fall in there from falling in there, as well as a bit of ahumidify/moisture barrier.
     
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  3. 308 milano

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    sounds good. Thank you!
     
  4. 308 milano

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  5. thorn

    thorn F1 Rookie

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    I don't have the back covers either. As best as I've been able to determine, the brackets (the angled "arrows" that point to the cam teeth) allow a visual reference; if you're at TDC, all the arrows will be pointing at a particular tooth, assuming the engine is in time.

    Many other engines have marks on cam brackets, balancers, covers, etc - doesn't help you get the lift degree perfect, but at least you can see that all the parts are basically in the correct relative position.
     
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  6. 308 milano

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    Okay, that makes sense. Had no idea why they would have two sharp little angled pointers on them. Thanks.
     
  7. smg2

    smg2 F1 World Champ
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    85 qv ... Kinda rare or at least short run. Timing brackets as you've noted. The switch to back cover plates have the index pointers in them.
    '84/'85 has a bunch of little unique things.. esp '84 with either crossover from the 2v or most likely adapted 2v parts left over from the assy line.
     
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  8. 308 milano

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    Image Unavailable, Please Login Ran into an issue this evening..
    Found TDC on flywheel but I only have timing marks lining up on one cam. It’s on the front bank closest to the Plenum, (intake?) The lower cam looks like it’s about a tooth off. Rear bank cams are both equal but are 1/4” off the index mark. An abstract black paint Mark coinciding with this on the cam gear for that rear bank leads me to believe that this was done last belt change or earlier. I’m positive belt hasn’t slipped. tensioner looks good and the belt tension looks good. Cam cover gaskets were of a black material and orange ATV sealant was used in places around the cam o-rings but none of it look like it sealed I mention this because I’m wondering if The last person to perform this had less experience then even myself. Let’s not forget the missing water pump alignment dowel that allowed the pump impeller to chew the hell out of the pump housing. Anyway, looking for some advice . I can see the front bank exhaust cam being off one tooth pretty easy if you’re not careful, but (knock on wood) how can I be almost a 1/4” off on marks lining up for the rear cams and not have valves colliding with cylinders? Given all these index marks are factory would I be OK removing the rear cam belt and rolling both those cams back so they line up? Making sure that each cam only moves that 1/4”? Then do the same for the front bank where that exhaust cam is off one tooth. Really don’t want to start removing cams as I’m not comfortable with that at all.
     
  9. 308 milano

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  10. 308 milano

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  11. Glassman

    Glassman F1 World Champ
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    Kim,
    Some time ago someone posted in a timing belt thread that you could be off something like 4 or 5 teeth and still not have interference.
    No idea how true that is, but if you are 1/4" off that's about the width of one tooth.
     
  12. 308 milano

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    Well I’m glad to hear that. Starts easy and sounds good (to me). Had visions of now needing to borrow an enclosed trailer and take this to Spokane for repair. Still bothers me immensely that these marks don’t line up.
     
  13. Glassman

    Glassman F1 World Champ
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    As far as I know the marks are for assembly only.......not dead on. If you want everything perfect you need to verify the cam timing. That's not a road I am able to go on right now.
     
  14. 308 milano

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    Good morning. Yeah, degree wheels and pulling cans are above my Pay grade. Probably wouldn’t be so intimidated by it if I would just study up on it.

    A little history on my 308. It was originally shipped to Saudi Arabia and accumulated around 10,000 miles on the odometer. Was then purchased and imported into the United States where the next owner put 2000 or 3000 miles on it and it developed a major motor issue. Was brought to Tim Holt/Holt Motorsport in Indiana, he employed 3 Ferrari factory train mechanics that rebuilt the engine top to bottom. I spoke with Tim the same year I purchased the car and he called me another couple times after that. Reason I bring this up is that the car had maybe 13,000 miles on it when this happened. He said the Saudi‘s are notorious for not checking the oil and that’s what happened to my car. Odometer now shows 40,370 miles so it has less then 35,000 miles on a total engine rebuild. So I guess now the question is.. do I take those factory marks as assembly only? And that the discrepancy was done fine-tuning by the Ferrari mechanics OR is this the product of some nose picker holding a wrench in one hand and a tuna fish sandwich in the other and not paying attention? What to do, what to do this morning besides drink coffee.
     
  15. 308 milano

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    Going through the service records that I have on the car..
    1992 in Reston Va. - belt/bearing/water pump replacement. Odo. 24,672

    1995 in Reston Va. -belt/bearing/water pump replacement. Odo. 29,298

    2011 in Jacksonville Fl. - belt/ bearing/ water pump replacement. Odo. 39,300

    So with this, it’s had three belt/bearing services since being rebuilt. Leads me to believe the discrepancy in timing marks has more to do with not being careful. Nothing to confirm this however.
     
  16. Brian Harper

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    If the engine was rebuilt for oil starvation perhaps that isn't the original cam, bearing cap, or maybe not the original head. When you start mixing up parts from different builds then perhaps hand-struck marks no longer have any relevance.

    That's my best guess beyond your tuna fish sandwich theory. Those marks certainly aren't to be used as exactly precise, but I don't know that they were that far off from the factory.

    I think that's several teeth off. Yes, 1/4" on the 5" diameter pulley is one tooth, but 1/4" on a 1" diameter rod is many more degrees.
     
  17. tuttebenne

    tuttebenne F1 Rookie

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    Maybe new owners wanted to benchmark the service on the car? I can't for the life of me explain how someone would seriously think belts, bearings, and water pump should be changed every three years or 5,000 miles. The parts sellers must love all the confusion.
     
  18. GordonC

    GordonC F1 Rookie
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    Hi Kim, just catching up on this thread. Good work so far! My QV is a Euro late-84 build, same as the 85 specs - I also have the cam pointers and no rear belt guards.

    I've done my timing belts twice, in 2014 and in 2020. The first time I did valve clearances and cam gaskets and seals, water pump, last year was "just" belts but also installed the Nicks Forza XDI ignition kit, changed front header, new oil pan gasket and sump baffle, etc.

    My car also has the Sanden 507 AC compressor, but I've not had to trim any studs for removal of the compressor. It needs a certain sequence, you can remove the compressor first from the bracket, then remove the bracket from the front bank belt cover.

    Cheers,
    Gordon
     
  19. 308 milano

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    Yes, I found it’s a little bewildering myself this morning.
     
  20. 308 milano

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    I remember asking Tim Holt if he had any repair invoices for the rebuild. He looked for me but they were long gone by that time as they had moved to a different state? IIRC The repair bill was just shy of $20,000 so I’m sure if any parts were needed they were all brand new and not salvaged.
     
  21. 308 milano

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    good morning! Yes, this was not the case with my AC compressor could absolutely not get it out without hitting the fuel tank. Ended up disassembling all the brackets/ Compressor to get it removed. Added about 2 1/2 hours to the project. Included me shortening the studs and grinding some of the aluminum out of the mounting bracket so the belt had more clearance.Next time should be a breeze. Was void of R-12 and really don’t think I will reinstall it,just put it in a box in the shop. Never use it any way. :)
     
  22. 308 milano

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    So I’ve just spent the last four hours reading archived threads on degree wheels and setting Cam timing. Two observations..
    - It’s going to take a loooong Time for me to understand and use a degree wheel.
    -I was surprised that some Ferrari technicians and professional mechanics that post here ,(won’t name names) stated that after using degree wheels and other aspects of Cam timing procedures, that once said and done the factory timing marks on a 308 engine were extremely close to right on, maybe 1/2 degree + or - and unless you’re setting up timing for a race car (paraphrasing here ) it was wasted effort.
    So..
    Am I Okay with realigning these camshaft marks? And exactly how do I go about doing this? OR, do I start making preparation of transporting this vehicle to Spokane Washington which is 250 miles away to someone knowledgeable. OR find a Ferrari technician that wants to visit Glacier National Park in the fall with compensation and complementary suburban included :)
     
  23. smg2

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    I've found the marks to be so dang close that's it not worth the time to dial them in unless you have reground cams with different profiles. What is critical is that engine must be at TDC, the marks on flywheel get you in the ballpark but are not as accurate as the piston stop method with degree wheel. The technical reason is due to dwell, there's a number of degrees where the crank rotates but the piston no longer moves up or down, hence the bracket marks on the flywheel.

    If you know the cams to be of factory OEM grind, set the engine to TDC, set the cams to the tick marks. Done.
     
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  24. smg2

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    I'll add this, a number of yrs ago I took the time to check the tick marks against timing events on every lobe of a 2v. Results? They all varied by a +-2* crank . In other words, even if I set one cylinder to exactly the right events, the others were out a touch. That's variance... It's also exceedingly difficult to get every valve to have the exact same lash...neh impossible with oem bits.

    I also had our cam grinder run a cam thru and measure every lobe in relation to the master.. open that file up and you can see that the lobes are not exact to each other.. again it's just mfg tolerance of the day. It's not a huge variance but it's enough to where I don't concern myself with the factory cams and just use the existing tick marks. As long as the lash is in tolerance... Good to go.

    Then there's the whole, adv/rtd for performance tweaking...
     
  25. Glassman

    Glassman F1 World Champ
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    If you haven't moved the cams, and your car was running to your satisfaction before starting you could just change the belts and call it good for now. I have not yet tackled this job and I agree it is confusing. Be sure to take your engine to TDC and lock and mark the cams before removing the belts. Plenty of threads on this.
     

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