308 GT4 cam belt success

After struggling to get the cam belt covers off my 1975 308 GT4 a couple weeks ago (see earlier thread; it took 12 hours to gain access to the cam belts), I took yesterday off work and finished up the job in 8 hours. I got the belts in, new tensioner pulleys, and meanwhile had my water pump rebuilt, which was weeping, and installed it. Buttoned it all up yesterday, and so far it seems to work great. Engine runs just as before. I drove it for about an hour and it runs well. Idles at 700ish rpm.

This engine having been rebuilt 2500 miles ago, I assumed the cam timing was OK, so I didn't pull the cam covers off and check the marks. I just made a ton of marks on the belts, pulleys, crank, etc., and made sure I lined them up with the new belt as with the old belt. I took a few pics and will write up a blow-by-blow if anyone's interested. I did this work in my home garage with no lift. I'm an experienced Alfa mechanic, but am relatively new to Ferraris. All by way of saying it's a manageable task for the experienced home mechanic, though you do need a good assortment of tools. I wouldn't try it if the sum total of my experience was oil changes.

This is a Calif car, no longer required to take smog checks. I removed the rear air pump, and took the belt off the front air pump. I'll remove that pump once I climb in through the left wheelweel. For now, I left the AC compressor off for easier access, as the system had no charge left in it.

Andrew Watry
Berkeley, CA