328 Timing Belt DIY

Hi Gene,

Welcome, and with your maintenance background you should have very little trouble changing the belts. I'm an ex F-15/A-10/F-4 Crew Chief and easily maintained a Mondial for several years. Although I didn't do a belt change the water pump was a piece of cake.

My first suggestion is to get a Factory Repair Manual and also search for more info at this site.

Try this link for starters http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100888

 

Gene,
I suspect you were searching specificly for '328' and 'belt replacement'. While there have been very few 328 belt changes documented, don't worry, there's lots of documentation on 308 belt changes.

Changing the cam belts on a 328 is identical to changing them on a 308QV, and extremely close to changing them on a 2V 308 engine. Just search for 308 belt replacement instead of 328, you'll find a lot of good reading. I and many others have posted advice, as well as many links to the online belt change procedures by Ric Rainbolt and others.

 

Not unless it's leaking - I'd leave it well alone. Change the 3 accessory belts, the timing belts and the tensioner bearings - its the bearings that seem to fail more often than the belts.

I.

 

Gene-

The difficulty of the project depends on how far you plan on going. If it's just a simple belt/tensioner change, plan on a weekend. The A/C will give you some fits of rage, but is probably a cake walk for someone who works on C-130s!!.

That being said, if you don't know the last time the cam covers were off, valves adjusted, and cams timed, you need to do that too. This adds quite a bit of time and effort to the job. So, instead of purchasing just cam belts and tensioner bearings, you add to the list many new gaskets (cam cover gaskets, distributor end gaskets etc), new o-rings for the cams, cam seals, dist. oil seals etc. So, the cost goes up also. If the main crankshaft seal is leaking, add that to the list. Outer cam drive bearings?- might as well while you are there. More special tools are required to do this, like valve adjustment tools, special sockets to remove ring nuts on cam drives, etc.

So, it all depends on what you know about the "new to you" car. What do the records tell you, and do you trust them? If the valves were adjusted 1200 miles ago, that means the cam covers came off, and you should be all set with that.

Defered maintenace is the worst thing that ever happens to these cars.

Like Verell said, there are many postings on 308 QV Timing belt replacements.

Good luck and please keep us posted-
jwise

 

Gene,
I second what jwise said. Here's the thing. Valves only wear based on usage. So if it has been 10 years since the valves were adjusted (normally done during a "major" service) but the car has only been driven 5,000 miles in those 10 years, you really don't need to adjust the valves. They just don't wear that much. It is common for a 308/328 to go 30,000+ miles without the valve clearances going out of spec.

The belts on the other hand "wear" as a function of age. In fact, most experts maintain that they actually last longer when used more. Sitting is worse for them than being used. You do not change belts as a function of miles but of time. (Unless you actually drive your Ferrari a LOT and rack up miles more than time, but 99% of Ferrari owners don't). Three years is the current Ferrari recommendation, although they reduced it from five years IIRC so some people say 4 or 5 instead of 3. (Don't even open that can of worms...)

When you replace belts, you ALWAYS replace tensioner bearings at the same time. Period. No exceptions. It is not worth the risk to save $100.

If it were me, I would rebuild the water pump while I was in there. Once you are in there, it doesn't take that much longer or cost that much. If the water pump fails next summer you have to go in there all over again.

If the valves were adjusted 5,000 miles ago but you are not sure that the cams are timed right, you may still need to remove the cam covers to verify the timing. Once you do that, you might as well check the valve clearances.

Doing the timing belts is actually quite easy. There are a few tricks, but it's honestly not that bad at all. A lot easier than in a Civic!

Birdman

 

Yes. Any you'll continue to have them until weeks after the purchase. Enjoy it.

 

Yep! Enjoy it. Just take a close look at those records, which should be part of a PPI anyway.

 

10 months as a first 328 owner... and I still get them everytime the engine cranks.
Enjoy!

 

Yes, the QV & 328 engines are identical as far as belt maintenance & most other work is concerned.

BTW, you can down-line load the QV-328 Service manual for free. Search for "Steve Jenkens' and 'document' for links to it.

 

Perhaps just try PMing Daniel @ Ricambi directly from the FChat site (Jack Russel Racing).

 

Gene,

send me a PM with your address, and I will send you all the manuals on the 328.

Milton

 

Its JenkINS ...

http://ferrari.stevejenkins.com

 

With the exception of Ferrari.uk, & Dennis McCann, the web sites aren't too complete. you'll generally do better with a phone call to the parts places. Often they'll know to suggest something else you're going to need that you haven't thought of yet.

Btw, do you have Ric Rainbolt's 2V belt change procedure? It's the most complete one available & is still applicable to the 3.2 engine.