Change Timing Belt/Bearings Yourself?

I have been told with basic mechanical skills it can be done by the DIY. Everything has to be carefully marked as to not lose the timing...which is CRITICAL being an inteferance motor. You can do this on a 308 with the motor in the car.Others will elaborate or do a search...it's been talked about alot.

I was lucky...the seller of mine did the belts, etc just prior to sale.

 

here's my two cents, since your capable of doing the work I'd highly suggest pulling the motor going over it, replace all the hoses gaskets and anything else that looks like it's past it service life. you'll be intimately familiar with the car and anything else that 'pops' up will be easy to figure out. with the lift and tools it should be doable in a 2wk period, of course parts availability will always change that. engine is doable but the front bank can be frustrating, the extra few hours of pulling the motor will be worth it as then the lump is out and it's sooooo much easier to get to everything.

a quick search here will net ALOT of threads on the job, cheers and good luck!

 

Few things you want to make sure you do in this service besides just changing the belts/tensioner bearings:

Replace cam cover gaskets. While you have the covers off, you should take measurements of the intake and exhaust clearances between the tappets and the cam lobe to make sure they are within spec. I believe the factory recommends a valve clearance check be performed every 15k.

The cam timing needs to be dead-on with these cars otherwise they will not run right. THe marks on the cams and cam caps themselves can be a little off sometimes, so many people recommend setting up the cams with a degree wheel. My particular car ('76) factory cam timing marks were actually very close when I set them up with a degree wheel. Others have seen the marks off a good .5 millimeter or so.

Replace the distributor gaskets. In order to get the cam covers off, you have to take the distributors off which will ruin the distributor gaskets in place already.

If it is a carb car, replace the points in the distributors. Check the rest of the ignition system thoroughly and make sure everything checks out. If not, replace those items as well (ignition wires, extenders, distributor caps).

If the carburetors have not been attended to for some time, this is a great time to rebuild them. Make sure you have the tools to tune them back up correctly once back together (carb sync tool). Tuning these carbs is not a difficult process, and Birdman on this site has written a fantastic 'do it yourself' article for these weber setups.

When I first bought my car, I did a major service on it myself. My previous experience was with Porsche, Maserati, and Lotus. The Ferrari was not difficult, just time consuming (took about 30 hours). It is the perfect time to familiarise yourself with the cars inner-workings and you can save quite a bit doing it yourself. I look at working on the car as part of the hobby of owning these cars. Thanks goodness I don't spend more time under it than in it. They are very reliable when serviced correctly. Have fun and good luck


John

 

Everything John mentioned is correct, it's not that difficult.

 

With your background you shouldn't have any problem. Does not require removing engine, but unless you know that the various fuel, coolant & oil lines have been replaced, you might want to consider doing as smg2 suggests.

Here's a pointer to the procedure that helped me get thru my 1st belt change:

http://www.camerafilters.com/ec/ofsm.htm

---------------------------------------------
Here are some pointers to other online resources that you'll probably find useful. I haven't checked some of them in awhile, so they may not all be usable:

'Online Service Manual' - http://www.cameragear.com/ec/

308 GTB Register TechTips - http://www.r-design.net/308/index_e.html

Ferrari Club of America:Northwest Region Site: FerrariFAQ - http://www.ferrariclub.com/faq/
(Click on Ferrari FAQ & scroll down)

FerrariList.com:
DIY and Mechnical information and instructions - http://www.ferrarilist.com/?query=docs&action=catlist&cat=5
Forum: Technical/DIY - http://www.ferrarilist.com/forum/list.php?f=3
Also the FerrariList archives are searchable.
Another, quite new, forum is: http://www.*****************/

Technical Articles and Writings by Tony Palladino - http://www.modena-motors.com/Technical%20Articles.htm

SERVICE & PARTS MANUALS, SPECS & SERVICE BULLETINS:
Private Ferrari Document Collection - http://ferrari.jenkins.org/books/

PARTS SOURCES

The most comprehensive parts sorce is Ferrari.uk. A few years ago the Ferrari factory shipped them 51 TONS of 308 parts, the remaining end of life inventory. If they don't have something, then you'll be lucky to find it anywhere else. In general their prices are a lot better than buying thru a local Ferrari dealer. They're a FerrariChat sponsor, but their online catalog is only accessable via Ferrari's owners club:
www.owners.ferrari.com

You'll have to register with the site. Once youre in the site, keep clicking the 'spare parts' menu items & gadgets until you finally get to ferrari.uk's catalog.

 

Enjoy you should be able to do it without a problem. I've done mine twice so it's not a bad job. You'll have fun working through the wheel well and you might even lear a few choise Italian words.

 

Wow alot of great info in this thread! Im going to be doing this as well. starting this weekend

 

Do the community a favor and post pics/write it up if you can. We LOVE to read stuff like this!
Good luck and have fun.

JIM

 

Read every write up you can find and make notes. Everyone will do a few things a bit differently. The tool references for stud pullers, clamps, Tips and small things that make the job go easier are what you are looking for in addition to the sequential dissasembly process.

chris

 

Question: Some people say you have to remove the AC compressor out and

some says you can just move it out of the way, is this true? I don't want to

remove it if I don't have to. Thanks.

 

And for those of who haven't done it yeat but have it on our things to do list, please take careful notes and forward the Italian cuss words you use

 

I have heard the same, suposidly you can unbolt it and push it over by the fuel tank

It is also recommended to change the V belt ideler bearings too, when I did mine I found the ideler pulleys heavily work and had to replace them too.

Everyone has a different opinion of what to do, some suggest to pull the engine, some say to change the cam seals which means removing the cam covers. On mine, I am changing the 2 cam belts, the 2 cam tensioner bearing, I'll check the water pump and hoses, change if necessary.

I didn't buy the car to take it apart and make T. Rutlands rich

Doug

 

Belts are easy enough to do if you have the experiance of doing timming belts, Other wise its a bit diffrent than chains. It wasnt my first mutiple timming belt engine so I was confident.

Instead of the tool that Ferrari refrences too to hold the cams at top dead center use a small peice of paper under the cam hold down cap closest to the Belt pully works good and doesnt mess up the cap! It holds the cams perfectly No body told you that did they????
Do not use two peices (single peice folded over) only a single peice is all that is needed.
(you do not want to stretch the cap! just hold the cam with it)

Next yes AC can be held out of way with safty wire

Replace all the belts and hoses while your working on it

No you do not need to remove engine

Idler/Tension pullys were fine on mine.

Make sure you have a Manual before you dig in, READ IT FIRST several times! before working!/ Manual leaves alot to be desired in the translation to english.

 

Just looking at the ac pump last night I do not for see a big challenge with unbolting it and just using safety wire or string something to hold it up and out of the way or maybe place it ontop of the fuel tank.

I need to remove my engine cover and Ill let you know what I did and I will take lots of pictures.

johnny

 

I was supprised at the price of the cam belt tensioner bearings, they are twice the price of the belt each

 

What do you do on an MV-22? got any interesting pictures?

 

Yes please, thanks Johnny

 

I am a crew cheif on the V22 so I am first a mechanic on it, But I love flying!

I dont really have cool pictures most of mine are from my cell phone so they are not good but here are some one of my guys took while I was crewing a plane this summer while on one of the ships for a week of training.

Hey im not trying to steal your thread so this if this is out of line I appologize just a couple of pictures
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Sounds like you have the aptitude and tools to do the job. It's not that complicated but I agree with above posters....once you're in there do gaskets, valve clearances, carbs if necessary. But like any special item there are unique issues/requirements...do searches here and ask lots of questions especially stupid ones. Then once you've done your research ....get the wrenches out and get to know your car. It can be very rewarding, take your time, use the experience on this board and other Fcar people. One thing I was amazed at was how the Ferrari community is so supportive. I can name a couple of top notch fcar mechanics who've been very helpful and accessible for no other compensation than an interest in the cars.

BTW the ac pump doesn't need to come out. It's got to be removed from brackets and swung up and away...I found this the hardest part of the job but I did not remove all the bracket studs on the front bank. I did it later and removed the studs and it was alot easier.

Good luck, take your time and enjoy!