Hi With the help of people in a previous post I am slightly closer to getting my 308 to run again! (Dual Dizzy, Euro 308GT4 - R1 and R2 points present and operational) The last changes have been to fit a new set of Bosch blue coils, and to bypass the ballast resistors. Both distributors give a good spark to all plugs. I have also fitted the third set of inlet manifold gaskets (genuine Ferrari this time) as coolant was again weeping into the bores. It starts, but is only running on the rear bank, the front bank carbs are spitting fuel out like a garden fountain from all 4 chokes. It must be burning some of the fuel, the rear bank exhaust gets hot quickly, the front very slightly warm. It will idle for about 15 - 30 seconds then just stop I have tried tweaking the mixture screws - 3 turns seemed to be about the best, 2.5 kept popping through the rear carbs as well. I'm beginning to question the timing on the front bank, so.... My next steps were: Double check the compression of all the cylinders Swop the distributors (is this recommended)? What is the easiest way to check the baseline static timing of the front bank so I can check the dizzy isn't 60 degrees out or something daft? Any more help gratefully received. Nigel
The fastest and simplest way I know of... Pull the plug wire from the number one, or number 5 plug, depending on the bank you want to test. Plug in a used spark plug, and you can either lay it on the engine or use a aligator clip test wire to ground it. Place the flywheel on your idle timing marks. You can tell which rotation your on by looking through the oil cap hole for the camshaft reference marks. If in alignment, your on the rear bank number one. Rotate 90 degrees for forward bank number 5. Loosen the distributor, turn on the key, and rotate the distributor forward and backward. As you rotate it counterclockwise the spark plug should spark. At that exact point, lock down the distributor, your close enough to run. In fact if you go back and forth a few times and make sure you can place the distributor in the right spot, your close enough to drive home from some bad place far away. If your not getting spark, your going to have to pull the cap and see if your rotor is aligned properly with the housing index line.
It sounds like the front bank distributor is 180 degrees out. I would put the engine at TDC then pull the Distributor caps and make sure both rotors are either pointing at the slot in the distributor body, or both are pointing 180 degrees away from the slot. I'm guessing that one will be pointing at the slot and the other pointing away.
Rule of thumb: do NOT TOUCH the carbs until the electrical is sorted! Be sure the timing is right, wires are good, etc. etc. first. Only then start adjusting the mixture and balance of the carbs. If the electrical is bad, you'll be wasting your time with the carbs, but if the electrical is good then you'll quickly get the thing in correct tune. Ken
Hi Thanks for the input so far. Breif update as not had much time to work on it. Both distributors are pointing at the red dot in the cut at the same time. http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57362&highlight http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50158&highlight=distributor+positions As the rear bank seems to work, today I concentrated on getting the front bank to run on its own (or at least fire!) so the plugs were removed from the rear bank, and the coil HT unplugged. Just for clarification, the HT leads of the front bank exit the dizzy cap facing towards the bulkhead, and from rear bank they exit upwards. With the distributor rotated to its maximum extent, it will almost fire, seeming a timing / position error. I will go through and check the position of the flywheel in relation to the cylinders, but it doesn't seem right to me, that when say the rotor on the rear bank is pointing at cylinder 1, the front rotor is point at 5 - should it not be some degree's (45 or 90) before????? As far as I can see the sequence of the HT leads in the front cap is correct, but I will double check after lining all the marks up. Thanks Nigel.
Yes, they should not be simultaneously doing anything -- the relationship you want is: 1. When the crankshaft is at PM1-4 and cyl #1 is at the end of its compression stroke (or the more true cyl #1 firing point -- which is not that far away), the 1-4 rotor is pointing towards the red mark on the 1-4 distributor body, and 2. When the crankshaft is rotated 90 deg to the PM5-8 mark and cyl #5 is at the end of its compression stroke (or the more true cyl #5 firing point -- which is not that far away), the 5-8 rotor is pointing towards the red mark on the 5-8 distributor body. Of course, this only gets the rotor-to-cap relationships right -- the relationship between whatever is firing the coil (points, optical trigger, etc.) and the distributor body also has to be "right" (i.e., the event that fires the coil also has to occur when the rotor is pointing at the red mark on the distributor body).
Thanks guys for your help, but I dug my compression tester last night, and checked them this evening.... (engine cold) 150-155 on 1,2,3,4,5 0 on 6,7,8 Not good I think the coolant weep (now fixed) from inlet gaskets #1 and #2, have somehow contributed to the demise of my engine I am hoping it is just the head gasket..... Nigel.
