Hi everyone, I'm planning on changing the belts on my 3.2 this summer (the car had a 'major' done in 2019 8K miles ago at a Ferrari service center). I'm planning on just the belts and draining the coolant on this one. Apart from the belts and the tensioner bearings (I am planning on the Hill Engineering ones), what other parts and tools will I need? Thanks!
I can’t offer thought on parts. Belts and tensioner top the list. I also think you will need to recharge the AC. I can tell you my 3.2 Cab is at Ferrari of New England for this service and the quote is $4200. Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Thank you! The AC doesn't really work now, so recharging the AC isn't on the to do list. $4200? Hence the DIY
I just did mine and also replaced the springs in the the tensioners since I had no idea how old they were. Kind of pricey at about $20 each for a short spring, but what else is new, lol. Getting the A/C stuff out of the way is the biggest pain, but not impossible. Since this was a first time for doing this job for me, it was a bit nerve racking turning the key after finishing the job. Don't think I have been that nervous since trying to get the Homecoming Queen to date me in high school, (unsuccessfully), lol. Alls well that ends well. Only unusual tool I can think of is a 36mm socket to turn the crank with.
Just putting my 308 GTB QV back together. Belts and Hill bearing. The AC isn't a big deal. The biggest pain in the rear was removing and reinstalling all the little screws that hold the back side plastic covers on the timing belt covers. Image Unavailable, Please Login Good DIY tutorial here: https://www.birdman308.com/service/timing_belt/timing_belt_procedure.htm Proper belt tensioning procedure here:
Howard and John: Many thanks--your posts give me confidence. Yes, I was planning on following the Birdman tutorial. What did you guys use for a cam locking tool?
Cam locking tool. 4" x 1/4" bolt and nut, a couple of washers, wooden triangular pieces cut for 3/4" board. About 1" wide on base. Image Unavailable, Please Login Tools: Over all a good set of 1/2", 3/8" and 1/4" drive metric sockets and a metric wrench for the small screws on the back of the timing cover (a 5/16" also works well). Torque wrench (3/8" driver is sufficient). Medium Phillips screw driver. Only thing you might need to go out and buy is a 36mm, 1/2" drive socket to turn the motor via the crank screw. Most of the other major bolts and nuts are 17mm or 19mm (tensioner bolt). And patience, patience, patience. Don't try to rush things. As with all things Ferrari, actually changing the belts only takes an hour. Getting too the belts is another story. FWIW, I'm 77. If an old man can do it.......
John -- that's great. Thank you. Actually, I think I've tackled more difficult jobs. I think what makes the belt change intimidating are the catastrophic consequences if you do it wrong. But I don't see much of a danger of that if I am careful and, as you say, patient. I'm actually looking forward to it (apart from dealing with the AC).
If your AC isn't working disconnect the hoses from the compressor before you remove it. Makes it a lot easier. Also, at least on my 308, you only have to remove the two stud noted with arrows to get the compressor out. I'm actually just finishing up the job on my car. Image Unavailable, Please Login
As above, patience, patience and more patience. Then think twice every time you do something. It's not difficult, but as you pointed out, there is a lot at stake. I tend to do one bank at at a time. Reduces my paranoia of rotating the engine with a belt off! Small G clamps are a good way to hold the cam wheels in place, if you've got such a thing. They don't need much holding force. The auxiliary belt tension system on these cars sucks. The belts need to be tight! If you don't know how many miles they've done I would also replace these items. Make sure you get the correct point on the flywheel for TDC number 1 cylinder. There are several timing marks and stamped letters, all close together. If you rotate the flywheel past the point don't be tempted to rotate the engine backwards. Go around, again!
Why not? There is nothing in that engine design that prevents the engine from being turned backwards. It is impossible to time the engine according to Ferrari methodology without turning it backwards...a lot of times. It reads good in car magazines but if an engine cannot survive being turned backwards how will it ever survive a spin?
Many years ago my mechanic screwed me and after delivering my car to him with the deck lid removed as per his orders, he decided he didn't want to work on it anymore. Said it was a pain in the ass. So I took the 2K I was going to pay him for 6 hours of labor, and bought two floor jacks, four jack stands, a set of Blue Point tools, and every type of parts and workshop manual available. Getting older it takes more time and hurts a lot more but glad that happened. When I left his shop he said .........you know, a Ferrari Mechanic makes $500.00 an hour...............I said your not a Ferrari Mechanic. We never spoke again.
I followed the factory procedure: vice grips! I had forgotten about all those little 8mm screws holding the covers on. They were indeed a royal pain. I had to get at at least one of them through the trap door behind the seats in my cab.
I needed a third hand to tension & tighten the alternator belt. A small quick-grip clamp with the head reversed to be a spreader worked well to hold tension while tightening the bolt. I did mine with the engine out, and and those 8mm cover screws were still pain, just too small to grip properly to start the threads.
Great advice on this thread -- thank you all. So I take it at the minimum I need: cam belt (x2) tensioner bearing (x2) Maybe also (?): tensioner spring (x2) alternator belt (x1) water pump belt (x1) I was going to order from Superformance, but since I'm in the US maybe Ricambi is cheaper. Also: what kind of grease do I use for the tensioner assembly?
It wont destroy the engine but turning the engine backwards onto the timing marks won't necessarily get all your timing marks aligned correctly. The tension on the belts is in the opposite direction. Can't say I've ever had to turn an engine backwards to get timing marks aligned.
True. That's why you back off past TDC (i.e. BTDC) and then rotate forward to TDC to align the marks.
New at this huh? Turn it back 20 or 30 degrees then forward again. Just finished a 355 Friday. Probably timed over 1000 Ferrari engines in the last 40 + years. The guys in the Ferrari engine room would have quite a laugh at your efforts
When changing the belts wit the engine in the car I haven't disconnected the A/C compressor, just moved it out of the way. Removing it enough to do that is tedious, but the lines can stay connected. I recommend getting every stubby screwdriver or wrench and extension bar you never thought of, because with the engine in the car access is the main issue. It makes life much simpler. I got a tiny led pen-light with a flexible neck to look in and see the timing marks when getting things lined up. The timing marks are very hard to see and on my car the view is obscured by a hose. I put some yellow paint into them, but it is still challenging. I also used a paint pen and straight edge to mark across the cam gears and pullies on the crankshaft to know that nothing shifted while doing the work. You can also mark the teeth on the cam belts relative to the drive gears to ensure that the new belts have the same spacing as the old. I put all the fasteners I take off in ziplock sandwhich bags and mark what they are for with a sharpie.If they are then lined up and numbered in the order they are taken off, reassembly is faster especially if you are working in a cramped space or frequently interrupted. After doing the work you can easily turn the engine over a few times with a wrench if the spark plugs are out. That way you will know that there is no valve interference. Do remove items to give yourself more space to work, it is not wasted time. By this I mean the air filter box, the flex line that feed to it, the fiberglass box inside the body under the strakes, etc. There is nothing particularly difficult about the task, but it is best done methodically. Good luck.
Started this job today. My goal was to get all the accessories out of the way and the cam covers off. All went pretty smoothly. The AC wasn't a big deal like I thought (but I'm not looking forward to the reinstall). Got the rear cover off, but the forward one doesn't want to come off. I think I got all the 8mm bolts and the 10mm bolt near the dipstick. It should just lift off the four studs (?). Also: does anyone know offhand the order of the accessory belts? The alternator is the outermost, the AC is the middle, and the water pump is the innermost. Or is the water pump in the middle and the AC on the inside?
Finished the job yesterday. Took me three full days, beginning to end -- that's how slow I am. Changing the belts wasn't that difficult at all. Things I learned: The parts I replaced -- the tensioner springs, the tensioner bearings, and even the belts themselves -- didn't show any signs of wear, after 5 years and 8K miles. I probably could have waited another year or two. Unless a car has been driven esp. hard, or the service history is unknown, the three year rule would seem to be overkill. Birdman's instructions are great, but the Mondial AC is mounted completely differently than the 308 (I think the Mondial is easier). You absolutely have to remove the large fiberglass vent from the side strakes to the airbox, as well as the airbox. Be careful removing the strakes: remove a screw in the upper rear corner, gently slide forward, and very gently pop the end of the strakes from the body (I wish the Ferrari shop that did this for the previous owner had done this!). Before you reinstall the tensioner bearing assembly, bolt in the bearing, depress the spring as far as it can go, and tighten the bolt. Then when you install it on the car with the new belt, place the assembly over one of the studs and rotate/twist the assembly to line up the other two, using the first stud as a pivot. It's easy this way, next to impossible any other way. Also, bolting in the bearing first prevents the spring arm from jumping loose while the assembly is on the three studs. If this happens -- as it did to me -- it's very difficult to slide it off the studs to put the assembly back together. Believe it or not, one of the hardest parts of the job was reinstalling the plastic engine cover at the very end. Maybe I was tired, but I had a devil of a time threading the little bolt in the side behind the fuel evap canister. It's a major job for the backyard mechanic, but it's manageable if you break it down into its component tasks (and keep all the parts well organized so you know what goes where). Making little cell phone videos helped me put everything back together.
I didn’t remove the side strakes or airbox on mine, but maybe it would have made the A/C easier to deal with if I had. Noted for next time!
Hi there, here is a shopping list. Did mine and ALOT of other things last year. Unfortunately my list is in german and I am too lazy to translate. Online tools will help to translate. You will have the parts numbers and also cross reference if available. You might also check for the valve clearance and change some shims. I made a template for that as well. I did not need any special tools for the cam fixing - just clamps. For the tensioning - Look for the videos of THE MESSENGER on youtube. That helped alot.
