Any seasoned 308 DIYer interested in mentoring me?

At some point you are just going to have to pick up a wrench, go for it and build up your own confidence. You already bought a 40+ year old Ferrari so deep inside you already know you want to do this.

 

Hello Greg,
I looked at your request again and again, and admire the thought. On the one hand it brings me back 10 years when my neighbor's son got all exited watching me work on the car in my garage. He was 10. He gave up the second saturday when he joined me. Too much effort for too little result. And hands too dirty. And hard work.

Now, you are over 10, which brings me looking back 45 years when I was 15. I watched my mate assembling his bike, and learned from it to do it myself.
My first car wasn't driving. A year later I blew the engine of my third car. Always on a budget, I replaced one piston! It was a 327 Chevy. At the age of 23 I built my first kit-car (Cobra)

Now I build cars from scratch and rebuild every component, except the gearbox and the differential. For a pittance (hourly rate). In fact, I let others now rebuild the engine. Looks better with an invoice.

It's tedious. Frustrating. Painful. Often unhealthy, even dangerous. Expensive. Did I mention frustrating? It did build character, but not wealth. In any other industry I would have made millions. Or at least double of minimum wage...

To find out if you are made for it, build a bike from parts. Uses little space and costs little when you fail and throw it away. Watch YouTube to learn, seriously. Then go to shows and find people doing the same. Hand around their shops, if they allow. You meet them along the way when you source parts.

Build something old, as in OLD, like from the 50s. You meet interesting "oldtimers" who have more patience to take you be the hand. Ask again in 10 years for advise on books to read. Read every night before you fall asleep. Find a good forum for your bike, or a general "old school" forum. Like the HAMB.

Did I mention this being tedious?

 

I learn much better by watching video. There are some pretty good videos surrounding the 308 in YouTube. Not everything but good ones.

I was a "mechanic" right out of high school. But really I was a grease monkey that greased chassis on big diesels. The best thing I learned during that time is that nothing is as daunting as it seems. It all comes down to doing a lot of little things the right way... taking your time... and when you're unsure, yes find out from those who have done it before.

There's a wealth of info on here and YouTube.

Would I recommend you trying to start doing mechanical stuff on a Ferrari... ummm hell no?

Why? Because things are just too damn expensive on this car when you make mistakes.

I would start with a Ford (this is what I started with)... pick your poison.. I'm a Mustang guy so that's what I did.. rebuilt a 1991 Mustang GT.

The systems are very similar aside from the KJet stuff (fuel system) on the Ferrari and when you make a mistake (and you will) it won't cost you 500 bucks to replace something that on a Ford will cost you maybe 50.

But since you already have the Ferrari... maybe you have the budget for those kinds of mistakes?

But again... take your time, follow the directions, when you get frustrated and annoyed STOP... go have some tea or beer or something until you calm down. Then come back fresh and start again.

You'll be fine.

 

I will say, you are absolutely right and on the right path. I am sure someone here will step in.

I am still pretty far away from being able to complete a major on a 308, or bigger projects in between, but when I did have my GT4 at my house, I was blessed to have a good friend nearby who is ALSO a master Ferrari mechanic. So while it took 7-8 months, and a lot of beers and mountain biking in between...we had fun hanging out and talking while he showed me a few things (but did 99% of the technical and "you'll **** up the timing" things...

 

I am a lawyer/amateur mechanic who, over the last 60 years, has rebuilt about a dozen European sports cars and motorcycles and successfully done hundreds of "minor jobs." I am not a professional and there are doubtless others who are far more expert than I am. My suggestion is to actually start by reading a basic book, or two, on auto mechanics, but not one which is too modern. (That's how I started.) I did a little research and saw one called Auto Mechanics Fundamentals by Martin Stockel, published in 1990. Although the 308 service manual is not a particularly good one, some of them are very useful. And then there is YouTube, a relatively new but almost limitless source of normally useful information which you just have to sometimes take with a "grain of salt." Start with minor jobs, but don't be afraid to dive in. Just be very careful and soon you will build confidence; it's not brain surgery. This site can be a your best resource for a 308.

 

If I was in the area, we got this!

There's a TON of knowledge here. Research, research, research. Have that mentor on speed dial. Surf and understand the exploded view diagrams at maranello classic parts (they have the best interface). Ask questions even to double check your answers. you CAN do it! Buy the right tools.

You will sometimes learn you have to take a step back... (I've got to take the oil and transmission pans back off the below picture to "fix" something that I don't want to take a chance with...

current situation here (it came like that):

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and the hardware for it came like this:

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but I'm a weirdo and buy them this way....

am I a seasoned 308er? no. I've had my DIY 348 for 7 years now...and this is way simpler.

 

I'm no mechanic, so unfortunately I have nothing to offer in terms of mentorship. But I think we live in the same general area, as I've seen your 308 at Hayfield's. I would love to get to know any other 3x8ers around Westchester County, so if you're interested in meeting up with a fellow newish 3x8 owner and going on some nice drives, let me know! -Matt

 

I'm not exactly in your neck of the woods, (DC area) but I'm happy to assist with some of the basics. My business partner and I are very much into the DIY side of things and have been repairing and modifying analog-era performance cars, and Ferraris in particular as a hobby for years. As winter maintenance season arrives, we've committed to doing some video shorts on exactly the type of routine maintenance and common modifications you're talking about.

Regarding pushing in your US spec bumper, I recommend against it. IMHO, you are better of either leaving it stock, or committing to the full Euro-spec conversion The latter will shave over 100 lbs off your car--which you will notice. The problem with draining the US impact shocks and pushing in the bumper is that you no longer have any give should you hit something. What you have is a very solid bar of plastic-wrapped steel, directly connected to your frame--which will happily transmit every once of energy to your neck in a crash. At least the Euro bumpers will crush like eggshells and absorb a little energy; the front clip of the car will crumple and absorb even more. You can replace the front clip of a 308. But once the frame is bent, or your back or neck is broken, it's game over.

I converted my US spec 308 to full Euro look with fog/driving lights, and I'm happy to advise you on that project when your ready. PM me and we'll discuss.

 

I started out by joining FCA, went to some events and met other owners in my area. A handful of us started a chat group and now there are 15 or 20. We've had many get togethers and even pulled a couple of engines, one of them being mine. While you don't see a 308 on the road every day there are probably a lot more owners in your area than you realize.

 

Tom Yang is the shop to hang out at, he does this well

 

[QUOTE="gdl203, post: 149891598, member:
So, I'm wondering if one of you would be interested in passing all this knowledge in person and mentoring a newb like me who wants to learn? Ideally somewhat local in the NY/Westchester/CT area, who could meet from time to time at your convenience, or if that's not in the cards someone who could do Facetime from time to time?

I want to learn how to do a basic oil change, I really want to push my US bumpers in, replace the fusebox, etc.... etc... but any of these tasks are so daunting for someone who does wrench, never learn with is dad or anything like that. It's hard to even get started. And yes, I do see and read a lot of the DIY threads, but it's still really daunting for someone who has so little experience in this. The human connection of someone who could show me and encourage me would make a big difference.

I know I enjoy mentoring others in different areas and I thought I'd check if there's anyone there who would enjoy mentoring me ![/QUOTE]

I think know what you are looking to do
I live in mid westchester and do all my one service’s and just recently put up a 308 gtsi after having a few newer models

PM me