328 Timing Belt

yes. Using the search function, you will see the "belts replacement" theme has been beaten to death.
Ciao
Eugenio

 

A full major should be done. Depending on what area you live in, the cost would be $2,500 - $3,500, assuming only the bare minimum major services costs. If anything else needed to be done (Clutch, brakes, etc) the costs go up from there.

 

Yep - What Jerry said. Plus you're encouraged to get the water pump rebuilt while everything's apart - another $500 or so. The tensioner bearings should be done as part of the 5-yr maintenance.

$1K is for a half-baked job.

Negotiate/bid accordingly and good luck.

 

Great comment. I would agree.

Also good point about the water pump. The price I referenced above would include that. I know it was just done on my TR & it was included in his estimate.

 

Jerry's erudition and my ramblings, no doubt...

Sounds like you're doing things right. Compression/leakdown are the important part of the PPI. Also fill out your profile so we know what region you're in.

BTW, if I were seriously, filthy, stupidly rich the Ferrari I would have in my garage, based on looks, driving feel and usable performance would be:

A 328.

Now, my garage would be a helluva lot better, and attached to a different house...

 

328's are fairly easy to work on (as far as Ferraris go). It does pay to go to someone who has experience with the cars. While a good foreign car mechanic could most likely to the work, unless he had some ferrari experience, I would not want him to shorten his "learning curve" with my car. I would be willing to travel the extra distance to find an experienced mechanic for the piece of mind. Which is what I recently did. There is a dealer 1 hour away, and a couple of independent shops within 2 hours, but I traveled 3 hours to get a first rate shop that really knows the 328 inside/out. When you have to leave the car for a couple of weeks, a couple of extra hours one way or the other doesn't matter. What does matter is your piece of mind, so do what makes you feel comfortable. Do a search, ask around and you should be able to find a good shop within a reasonable distance.

 

Do it right and have it checked out thoroughly by qualified mechanics and don't do short cuts as you will later regret it.
Better be safe than sorry especially with this nearly 20 year old machine.

 

I believe you are talking about the 328 which is for sale at either April Miller motor cars or her husbands shop, team motor sports....same car. The car was on ebay a couple weeks ago and I was considering it.

I had discovered they got the car from another dealer who had it on consignment for 46k. Even after finding out about this I was still interested until I had a detailed conversation with April where she was talking about the service on the car and if I wanted a belt change done she would get it done for $600. Yes, $600. They hit their bottom price with me at $50,900 even after I confronted them on the 46k price. I decided against the car because of the information I had found out, I did not consider this a credible dealership.

As others will tell you, the dealership you buy the car form is just as important as the car itself.

For me it was the right color and the right year...just the wrong people to do business with.

 

Patience is indeed your best approach.

Nine years is way too long between major services. There are a couple of recent threads on F-Chat about a 308 and a 348 that recently ate their timing belts after about 5 years and need new engines.

The 328 you're considering is a "deferred maintenance" car, and $1500 isn't going to cover what the car needs, even assuming nothing's wrong.

Drew's right, find the right dealer.