308 gt4 engine rebuild

Mike

What a ambitious adventure. I can't help any since I've never taken mine appart before. What was wrong with the motor to begin with? I would love to hear about what goes on with the rebuild. Pic's would be great too. If you were close I would come over to help. There should be pleanty of folks here to help with some good advice. Is there a Ferrari dealership close? You could possibly call thier service dept. and see if they would be willing to give any advice. Good luck! Hope you keep the thread going with updates and pic's as you go along.

Cheers

Kurt
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There ia nothinig like a Ferrari, there never has been and never will be!

 

Mike,
I learned more on this site in 6 months than a year of manual reading.
There is a huge amount of info on this site and a fair number of experts that can steer you in the right direction. There are step by step threads and many aftermarket upgrades (pistons etc....)

This site can save you money. Going to the dealer is unnecessary at this stage. There are sponsors and consultants on this site that can help you as well. (blue tool bar, click sponsors)

You can start by going up to the blue tool bar and click on search. Type in "308 engine rebuild". Lots of reading and pictures.

Here is a link to a few parts resources,
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28256

Here is a link to part cross references,
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=64460

Go to this section for specific information,
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=55

Keep checking this post and you will see a few more guys chime in.

[size=+1]The best thing you can do is subscribe to this site so you can utilize all of the benefits[/size].


By the way, CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!.and welcome. I am glad to see someone saving a another little Dino.

 

Now Mike is my kinda dude. Rock on Mike! Your first post and it's about rebuilding an engine.

But for some reason you don't look like a Mike, maybe a Michell. LOL

 

Once you are a registered owner at www.owners.ferrari.com you can access PDF files from Ferrari of UK of the shop manual and the parts catalogue.

Ferrari of UK can also supply you with the very hard to get "New Old Stock".

There is a member here that can supply some of the "Unobtanium" for your car as well.

 

Mike,

I am 80% through a complete, top end, bottom end and gearbox rebuild on a 1979 308gt4 engine.

Feel free to fire any questions.

Be careful, and take it slowely, if in doubt post a question, this site is very helpful.

I have a load of pictures of my dismantle each about 800K in size, if you are interested send me a PM with your email address and I can forward a number of them to you for reference.

 

You need to chat with Jay: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/member.php?u=518

He rebuilt his GT4 from a project. It's well documented in this and the old Fchat if the pics are still around (server crash a while back)

Also, Peter: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/member.php?u=265

He's done a lot of work on GT4s and runs the GT4 registry

 

Mike-
Great project! As far as seperating the trans from the block: there are a couple alignment pins (see photo) in the flange and these can get quite corroded.
So, a little persuasion with wood wedges, some penetrant, and time will get it apart. There is no connection with the output shaft. If it's started to move on one side, just close that back up after applying some penetrant and work on the other side. Once it seperates at all, you are almost there.

Note: my experience is only with a 308QV, so your car may differ, but I doubt it for this situation.

Good luck and keep us updated.
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If you are talking about the bellhousing, not the transmission, there is a circlip BEHIND the bearing on the input shaft. One of Ferraris little jokes, I guess.

 

Oops- I think you are right. After reading the original post again, I think he was asking about the bell housing, not the transmission.

Here is the transfer case without the lower bearing. I don't remember a cir-clip behind the lower bearing that needs to be removed.- but i could be wrong. There is a clip that retains a spacer behind the lower bearing but it can stay on the staft during removal. Make sure you remember to install that spacer when reinstalling the bell. It will usually just slide off of the shaft as you remove the bell.

The upper output shaft stays connected to the bell during removal.

Again- GT4's could be different that QV's.
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The circlip I speaking of is only on the early cars as far as I know; it's not present on a QV. Can't remember when they changed. Maybe when they wised up and used bolts on the front covers so you didn't have to pull the studs to get the covers off with the engine in the car. Ah, gotta love that Italian engineering.

 

The circlip is on the GT4. On later cars (like the 80's) they machine the hole bigger in the housing so that the housing will clear the circlip on the way out. Then, it is easier to remove circlip if you want to.

For those unfortunate enough having to remove the circlip (proper name: retainer ring) you need a $15 tool that spreads the ends apart, and carefully move it over the shaft and pull it out. 15-20 minutes with lots of colorful words for those stupid engineers.

 

Hi Mike,
you've got the right idea, but if you don't even have the transfer gear cover off and you are trying to remove the "transmission" per your original post, you are walking on quicksand that is way over your head- move carefully. You will also need the ring nut tool, which you can make with a mill and a good heavy impact socket or you can buy for big bucks. We've all been there before, and you have to start learning somewhere, but be careful and think about each step or you can really screw things up.

 

Baum tool sells aftermarket ones (www.baumtool.com) for about $100. I think the Ferrari one is several hundred. Do a search on ring nut tool here and you'll find lots of info. I made myself a full set (I think there are a total of 4) years ago, and you may want to do the same.

 

Agreed- take it slow.

After removing the transfer gear cover, you will need to remove the lower gear (as seen in the previous post). To do this, you need the Baum tool or make your own or just borrow one. The ring nut (again- on a 308 QV) is peened into groves on the end of the shaft- so the nut should be replaced. Just buy it from Ferrari UK, or any usual suspect. When reinstalling the new ring nut- use some locktite- you do not want that sucker coming loose later and needing a new transfer cover or gears. An impact wrench is really useful to get that thing off.

To split the transmission from the block- you will need to remove the clutch, and the huge spacer behind it that holds the rear main seal. The attached photos show the back of the engine with the clutch/flywheel removed, and then with the spacer removed. You can see the pilot bearing in the center.



This will help:
http://www.camerafilters.com/ec/clutch.htm

Good luck and keep asking questions- we know how it is to do this for the first time.
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When i had my clutch plate and pressure plate rebuilt, i noticed that the TO bearing is mounted on a collar that attaches to the fork and that the housing slides on a guide tube.

The collar and tube were showing signs of gauling and sticking. Evidently, the parts were not cleaned and regreased with the prior clutch replacement. I attributed some of the clutch effort to just trying to make these two parts slide.

I spent quite a bit of time filing off the burrs and ridges on both pieces, polishing them with wet or dry paper, then using some cv joint grease to lube the assembly. Some have suggested synthetic wheel bearing grease might be the best.

I do not know how much this helped reduce the clutch effort, but it was noticeable.

BTW, The fine folks at centerforce rebuilt my disc and pressure plate after disassembling and cleaning them. The PO had this done by them about 5K miles & 5 years ago and one of the friction pucks came off and wedged the clutch assembly into a fully stuck unit. The PO suggested i talk to Centerforce, which i did. They rebuilt the disc with a carbon Kevlar material, dialed in the plate for 10-15% more pressure, balanced the unit and shipped it back to me for the princely sum of $175.00 (No, i did not misplace the decimal). That is a fine bit of customer realtions.

Unfortunately, someone just mentioned that they are no longer doing clutch rebuilds. This may or may not change back. I will go to the office today and post the phone number for them.

I also had a local machineist do a bit of lightening on the wheel and rebalance the unit - final weight 8.5 pounds, cost $400. The responsiveness is significantly better but not too light for street use.

When you are ordering a new ring nut don't forget to get the "O" rings. The vendor will know what you are talking about.

hth,
chris
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