Basic tuneup

Balancing 4 Weber carbs is not an easy job for a DIY first timer unless you have a friend with you who knows what he's doing. Getting everything at optimum performance takes some experience; although you can dive on in with your Haynes book in hand and give it a go. The worst thing that will happen is it won't run really well and you'll have to take it to someone. But in the long run you'll save big bucks since it's almost all labor.

I don't understand what you think you don't know; the points adjustments are all in the manual as is the timing. You'll want to check the advance to be sure it's correct. I did mine in the car: my son revved in 1000 RPM increments and I checked the advance via flywheel marks. I don't know if the twin distributor set up is as straight forward. If the advance IS off, you'll be playing with springs and weights...


I've always gone on the assumption that I can screw up my car for a lot less money than a mechanic and when it comes to basic tuning, there's not much permanent damage you can do by accident so I say go for it!

Ken

 

http://home.att.net/~ferrari/308faq1.htm

 

Background: I have had my 79 308 GTS for 15 years, and do all the work myself. Get a shop manual first, even if it is for the 308 GT4. Almost all the info is the same. The version I have is translated from Italian-sort of. Refer to your High School Latin! If I may be so presumptuous, I would suggest the following: take your distributors to a reputable shop to have them "set up". this means having the advance curves set, point gaps set (dwell), and will save you untold hours of frustration. It ain't cheap, but it is really an essential baseline for any performance. When you get them back, mark the flywheel with two different color paints on the two TDC marks for each cylinder bank. This will allow you to set each distributor to it's corresponding bank with a timing light flashing on the correct mark. I did mine in white and red. The shop manual will show you the relationship between the two banks. You are really setting up two four cylinder engines on the same crankshaft, with their own ignitions. Then, if you don't already have one, get a carb synchronization device that will measure airflow into each venturi (carb barrel), and go to work on getting each one equal to the next. This procedure is spelled out in the Weber manual. This will take anywhere from 15 minutes to a case of beer, depending on your skill and how far off the carbs were to start with! Most importantly, BE PATIENT! When you get everything right, you will be astounded at how well your car runs for 179 cubic inches, and you will have a great deal of pride in knowing that the job was done right--by You! Good luck!

 

This is really true. My Lotus is just one 4 cylinder engine as opposed to two, so it was a good car for me to cut my teeth on. It took me 2 years of trial and error learning before I had it tuned to it's optimum, but the results are astounding. I bet I was only getting 75% of the HP before and I must be getting 98% now. I had it tuned twice by my mechanic and he didn't squeeze out the HP I was able to get. I'm a big advocet of carb car owners to learn how to do this stuff because you'll ultimately do a better job for a fraction of the cost.

Ken

 

Go for it.

Basic tune up will include

spark plugs, maybe wires, cleaning up of points and condensors and caps (replacement is very expensive). Oil change, and replacement of oil/air filters.

Timing for your 2 dizzy uses two different marks, one for each bank with the timing light connected to either 1 or 5 wire. When you have time, convert to Crane Cams electronic boxes (2 of) to eliminate the points and condensors. YOu will still need the dizzy caps and rotors.

If you have experience with webers, you will be just fine with the balancing.

 

Doc, most of the books you'll need, courtesy of the very kind Mr Jenkins.
http://www.ferrari.stevejenkins.com/books/

 

One condensor for each point is needed.