Y'all Is there a thread within the site explaining in detail how o adjust the valves on a 2 valves 1980 308i. Thanks Marc-André (33603)
It starts with a lot of car wrenching experience. You want to be confident with your skills going in. It's straight forward, but unforgiving and costly if goofed. Beyond that, look at the owners manual. The specs are in there. I think the numbers are .009" Intake and .013" Exhaust. You also need a shim kit, although you could do it one shim at a time. People get religious doing this task. You aim for nominal, then measure 5 or 6 shims of the same size going after that half thou variation to get it spot-on, which doesn't matter much, but it's part of the Ferrari Zen. There's a fair amount of diss-assembly that must take place and typically a valve adjust is done as part of a major service (belts, tensioner bearings, lots of rubber bits, water pump, ignition bits, etc etc). All the best
If a "Major" is warranted, pulling the engine may be the better way. Valve adjustment is truly "Ferrari Zen", and YOU'VE only got 16 valves to deal with. Doing your front bank will be tough. While my QV Mondial made engine removal much easier, I think, in balance, you'll want to remove the engine. (Protect that rear window). Either way you'll want to cleanse your body (three enemas) and your mind (chanting your own personal Ferrari mantra for two-three hours). Good luck.
Once you have access you check the gap, if it is good you leave it alone. If it's wrong you take the shim out, measure it with a micrometer, add the gap that you measured initially and documented, subtract the desired gap and that is the thickness of the new shim you need. Access to the forward bank I understand can be a bit difficult. I did my Mondial with the cams out, easier to access everything. Also I have an access port from the back seat into the front bank of the engine. Slow and steady with plenty of patience. All this of course skips all the problems and stumbling blocks I ran into, but it is very possible to do if you have the time and patience. PS, don't drop anything into the engine that will drop into the recesses and maybe make themselves to the oil pan, or somewhere worse. In the end it was very rewarding for me.
There is some info to be found in the 308 section with some digging. I'm not sure there is a comprehensive step-by-step. It's a lot of work, so maybe nobody's kept focused on doing the extra work to document it. Start with these timing belt adjustment procedures. http://www.camerafilters.com/ec/timing.htm http://www.birdmanferrari.com/service/timing_belt/timing_belt_procedure.htm Much of the rest of it I culled from a bunch of searches and it takes a fair bit of mechanical prowess to figure out what needs to be done next. I think I saw a reference that it's booked at 10 hours on top of a belt change. That's for an experienced mechanic costing you $110/hr. It's not for the faint of heart, and maybe I shouldn't talk about it since I haven't successfully completed mine yet! The general consensus in my research suggests leaving the engine in place for a 308, but taking the rear deck lid off.
