Finally 360 Timing Understood !!!

The purpose of this thread is to share with you my understanding of the 360 timing. Feel free to add any comments / correction in the thread below.

Theory

The 360 has fixed timing on the intake camshaft and variable timing on the exhaust cam (with phase variator 20 degrees that works on/off).
It is 100% vital to get the timing right and synchronized, because the 360 engine works like two 4-cylinder engines sharing the same crankshaft. Everything else is separate, separate ECU, separate fuel injection, separate ignition, throttle bodies, etc.
The exhaust cam variator gives an electronic signal that allows you to check the timing ONLY on the exhaust cam (I believe it is measured in bits and I've read on this forum that factory default is 657/657). For the intake camshaft you need to check the signs on the other end of the camshaft. These markings must match at piston 1 TDC. NOTE however, that these marks are assembly approximation and cannot be trusted when timing a 360 engine.
To check the timing on based on the WSM on the 360 you need to install dial gauge indicator and find 1.66 mm at TDC for each of the side valves on the intake camshaft (not the middle valve). This is achieved by bringing cylinder 1 & 8 at TDC and using a dial indication to set the opening.
The exhaust camshaft is trickier. Based on WSM you need to lower the engine and install goniometer to turn the engine at 9 degrees before TDC and measure 0.60 mm for the exhaust valves.
This is the point where overlap starts.



Action

As you can understand removing the engine to fix the timing on a 360 is a lot of work !!!
On way to fix the timing on the exhaust camshaft (finding 9 degrees before TDC where overlap starts) is to put the dial gauge indication on the INTAKE camshaft and find the exact point where the valves slightly start to open (in theory at 9 degrees before TDC). Of course this is tricky and will most likely NOT give you the exact 9 degrees as it is impossible to measure the exact position where a valve start to open !!!!


Suggestion

Short of removing the engine and installing goniometer for find EXACTLY 9 degrees before TDC, maybe you can do it by using the computer and looking at the bits... Q1 : How accurate are the bits of the crankshaft on the Ferrari diagnostic ?
Q2 : If you where to do it this way, it would have to be trial and error (changing the screws of the exhaust camshaft little at the time) and checking with computer. Does the engine need to be running to show exhaust variator position ??? Is it feasible?

Any other suggestions on how to fix exhaust camshaft timing (without removing the engine and installing goniometer) is welcome !!!!!!!!!


Synchronization

As I mentioned above it 100% crucial to synchronize right-left cylinder banks.
How would you go about fixing the timing :

1) find TDC cylinder 1 , fix timing intake & exhaust camshaft right bank,
next find TDC cylinder 8, fix timing intake & exhaust camshaft left bank.

OR

2) find TDC cylinder 1 (which has to be the same as TDC cylinder 8) , fix timing intake right & left bank camshaft
next find 9 degrees before TDC on cylinder 1 (same for cylinder 8) , fix timing exhaust right & left bank camshaft

I think method 2 is more work but is more syncronized as there is less chance of error when rotating crankshaft to find TDC for each bank !!! Opinions ???


Final Thoughts (360 timing topic beaten to death !!!)

Since it is so difficult to find 9 degrees before TDC (beginning of overlap) why doesn't the WSM mention valve opening both the intake and exhaust at TDC (since there is still overlap till 10 degrees after TDC it would be measurable...) ??


Thanks !!!