308 carb rebuild complete - by Pierce Manifolds

Last December I took off my carbs and sent them to Pierce Manifolds to get rebuilt. They clearly know what they're doing, and run a pretty professional shop. I worked with Mike; website it http://www.piercemanifolds.com/.

So in general, the carbs are in much better shape. Total cost for all four carbs was $815. This was not a special deal for me, I get the feeling this is just what they charge. It's evident that they do tons and tons of these, and also that the 40 DCNFs on our 308s are pretty straightforward.

Mike's stance is that the carbs are "better than new" by the time they get done with them, since one of the biggest things they do is to replace the "Exposed" throttle shaft bearing (which techinically requires periodic lubrication every so often, though nobody ever does it) with a sealed bearing (p/n 32650.003). Mine also needed throttle stop screw adjuster springs. Of course all this is in addition to a standard DCNF rebuild Kit.

I had Mike fax me what all the kit entailed; here's an exhasutive list. For each carb:

1. Insulator block
2. Starter cover gasket
3. Base gasket
4. Top cover gasket
5. Needle and seat, .175
6. Accelerator pump diaphragm
7. Fuel filter cover gasket
8. Fuel union gasket
9. Pump jet washers
10. Idle jet o-rings
11. Needle valve o-ring
12. Split pin
13. Pump spring
14. Throttle return spring

I was a bit disappointed (pissed off for a second) that the FLOATS themselves were't replaced (about $25 each from Ferrari UK). They're old and look like hell, though I don't think they're punctured. I kind of expected them to be replaced, since they're in the "Ferrari 308 Weber Rebuild Kits" up on eBay, but Mike convinved me "they do tons of these" and if the floats needed to have been replaced then they would have. OK, fine. Floats stay.

The other thing they did was totally tear down each carb and put each one in an ultrasonic cleaner. They turned out nice. I've got some before/after pics.

Let me know if you have any questions... Would also love to hear thoughts on the "need" to replace the floats.

Pictures to come...

 

Final Product - Picture #1

 

#2

 

#3

 

#4

 

#5

 

Before #1 of 2

 

Before #2 of 2... Yucky!

 

Bill,

That, I don't know. I broguht up the lead plugs to him before, asked if he "sealed" them and he said something that handled my question but I don't remember what it was. I think he said he did something to just really, really jam them in there. I do know he said the carbs were "completely" torn down--I don't know if that means the lead plugs, too. I've been kind of bugging him lately, he got kind of pissy with me when I questioned him about the floats, if somebody ELSE wants to call and ask what they do on a 40 DCNF regarding the plugs, that'd be nice .

They also put the carbs up on a concrete slab to measure their true flatness at the base and can make them even if necessary (mine apparently didn't need them, or they didn't record it--might have all been part of the "labor").

Now, Mike himself doesn't do the rebuilt--one or two of his techs do. They apparently have a "system" of sorts.

Malcom, thanks for the confirmation regarding float replacement.

Also Bill, when you say refurbished/reformed all of the seats--what do you mean? The needle comes with a new seat, of course... How can I tell this?

 

Ya know, I agree. In retrospect, I could have done this myself. But, my priority was having the job done right, and I just didn't have the confidence--I didn't want to "learn" on these carbs. Now that I've gone through a few books, and have taken the tops off of the carbs, adjust the float heights, and identified every little plate and screw, I feel like I know them better.

Yelcab, I'm about to be a student again this fall. Money *is* an issue. Getting this car right, the right was is also an issue... I just figured for this one I'd let Pierce do it.

LOL, yeah, the tuning part promises to be fun. But I've found the prep to be very rewarding--I'm getting my syncrometer and all that good stuff. Of course, five sources quote five different ways on how to tune our webers, so pulling a "best practice" out of those promises to be fuuuuuun!

--Mike

 

I think you can probably buy the flat-sided ones. My guess is, that's what's available from the Ferrari 308 weber rebuild kits up on eBay (from what I can tell). My guess is, that's what you would get if you got them from Ferrari UK.

However, if you bought them as a "Weber Calibrated Part" from a weber dealer, then you might start getting into the concave floats...

 

Also, I'm comforted with the idea that if I ever wanted to change out the floats, it's a "carb on, carb top off" job, just take the tops to your workbench and do the replacement and adjustment.

--Mike