Hi all this is my first post in here so I'll try to introduce my self too. I'm a car designer living in turin in Italy. Currently working for mostly Japanese clients however I had the chance to work for ferrari in the begging of my career. In the past years I've had classics and I've always been DIY guy..most of the times successfully.I have owned some triumphs and old alfa's in the past. I could strip a Dolomite Sprint with my eyes closed..But with this one I prefer to ask before act.. Less than two years ago I got able to make one of my childhood dreams become true. I bought from England a 1980 308 carb dry sump single distributor version. The price was average and since I really wanted her I bought her! It had full service history since new but a lot of hidden problems I couldn't see. Now I know that in order to buy such cars, having experience about old cars is not enough! you have to have experience in ferrari 308.!! Ignorance sometimes is a strong tool in life though..I was brave enough to drive her all the way back in Turin. 1600km and the first 800 with heavy rain and cold! The heat wouldnt work the brakes blocked (had to change pads and renew the front callipers once i came in turin) but she wanted to come back home. I had one stop in Paris where I hit the traffic on Saturday night being in an Italian car with English plates (french don't like none of those two). the temperature high the pressure low and the clutch like a stone (the cable spring was in the opposite side fighting my leg instead of helping it..sometimes I was confusing the clutch with the footrest!! that heavy!!!).The expansion tank blew when I arrive a the house because it was rusty but fortunately the gaskets didn't. I fixed it there quickly with some chewing gum like material and it made it to Turing while loosing some water from the pump and consuming brake pads and lot lot of fuel! I knew that I would spend a life and a fortune on her but I had six months till register her classic and felt I want to keep her. I still do. After spending 6 months and some thousands I brought the car in a very respectable condition. My file of pictures can prove how clean this chassis is. I did a full service including water pump and renewing almost everything but I didn't touch the engine inside. I drove her last spring and summer with no problems. The engine run fine but I never felt that it gives me all the horsepower it should. This specific version should have 255hp but I'm pretty sure mine doesn't. When the oil is new the oil consumption is as mentioned in the manual (1littre every 1000 km) however mine consumes a bit more depending on where i drive it (1 littre every 7-8 hundred kms).However I maxed her some times and she delivered. The oil pressure always very good (as it should be according to the manual) The winters here in turin are pretty heavy so the last time I drove her was till the first week of December. Since I got a very big garage I started working on little things here and there. Firstly on the fuel tanks. One of them stared losing some fuel and I was not comfortable at all with this. I had some new high quality aluminum done from a racing company here in Turin. That's how it started..now suspension bushes are replaced, shocks are replaced, engine out, frame cleaned and painted, half shafts done and so on. So far everything was nice and fun. Since the engine was out i cleaned it and changed clutch too. Birdman's site was really really helpful!. Before having the engine out I did a compression test. All 8 had 150-155 Psi dry test and 170-180 wet with cold engine. I dont know if those numbers are good but at least they were consistent. All opinions accepted and important. Once the engine is out I checked the valve clearance. All exhaust valves had 0.030mm clearance but on couple of them the 0.025 spacer was passing free and the 0.030 was not at all. All inlet valves had 0.020mm but again on couple of them the 0.015mm was passing free and the 0.020 didn't. I suspect that it had a valve adjust just before buying it and the 'mistakes' are because the shims defer every 0.05mm. Since they are bit tight I didn't touch them and reminded my self that the engine was working fine. However (and here is my stress coming up).. I discovered that the rear camshafts (destra) were 1mm off in respect to the marks on the cam caps once the engine is on TDC. May be they are close enough but still not perfect as they are in the other side. I finally found that I should realign the cam pulleys to bring them on the right position. I had to unscrew those cam pulley bolts. On the exhaust shaft I could fit a spanner so I did it. On the other though there's no hexagone to fit spanner so I though is was a good idea to keep the spanner again on the exhaust camshaft and using the tension of the belt unscrew the other too. Unfortunately its too tight!! the belt jumped 2-3 teeth and when I tried to put the engine on the TDC again, the valves of the exhaust camshaft touched (not hit) the pistons. I took out the belt end turned the shafts on the right position again. I re put everything in order and turned very carefully the engine till it finds the TDC again. I felt it exactly as before..But! I'm very very stressed about the case I have damaged something. I have no idea if the valves where changed before buying her. I'm my service history there's not such thing. I have seen (but not sure again) that the head gaskets are not the original copper ones. Did they change valves too?? who knows..I've read a lot of scary posts about sodium valves here. I have no clue in what to do. A compression test or leakdown would give me some. Starting her and listen to her would do too. I really dont want to be in the senario of spending more thousands in opening it. I don't need only advices and opinions about this but share the thing with you guys..most of you are a lot more experienced than me. I have to tell after I serviced and renewed radiators brake etc the car changed completely. She has been very reliable and friendly ever since. Never overheated never let me down mechanically. It was not treated very well but its a good motor. I'll try to upload some pics too. Thank you all! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
