Guys ... My car went in for the 60k service and 4 out of 5 of the timing covers were either cracked or so brittle that the almost crumbled ... And just try to find new ones ... is this common ... what are others doing?
Are you talking about the "plastic" timing belt covers? On 348s, the early ones were aluminum. My 348 is a '92, and the timing belt covers are in very good shape.
All the plastic ones break. Extremely common. Sadly, most of the plastic pieces now are skyrocketing in price and a total beyotch to source. If you have the aluminum ones, count your blessings!
Counting... Timing belt covers - 1 No mouse belts - 2 Spacers to fix the funky handling - 3 Center console armrest - 4 Dual disk clutch - 5 ???? BT
Daniel: Could a good set of plastic timing belt covers be used as a template by the FChatter (I can't remember his user name) that runs that Unobtainium Supply? Didn't he fabricate the mirror triangles for the 348? Can the aluminum ones be retrofitted?
Aluminum ones can be interchanged, if you can find them! ND found a set a few years ago and has them on his Spider. Re-manufacture of the plastic covers is not a simple process. There are pressed brass bushings, complex shapes, and more importantly, the plastics in use must be capable of repetitive heat cycles. For me personally (and I really don't have a horse in the race), I would *not* use an after-market item in such an absolutely critical section of the engine, unless I had pretty good assurances from a supplier. A crack or failure in that area, while in use, would be an almost-certain catastrophe for the engine timing mechanism.
Yup. Allow me to elaborate. My 1994 348 Spider had the black Italian plastic timing belt covers. Had. We had a thread going years ago about inspecting your timing belt. Well, maybe I had been drinking but it seemed like a good idea at the time to pull my black plastic timing belt cover caps to look at my timing belt. Oy vey. The belt was fine. But the brittle black plastic shattered even though I doused each allen bolt in Liquid Wrench the night before I removed the caps. Just unbolting those allan bolts shattered the black plastic. One shard of that plastic caught in one of my cam belt pulleys just long enough for me to blow my engine when I started it up for the first time after reinstalling what was left of those cam belt cover caps. Ouch! Sounds like a poker card caught in bicycle spokes when the pistons hit your valves, by the way. Brrrrrrp. Well, after pulling my motor, machining my warped heads, and replacing half of my valve guides (valves and pistons were OK), I decided that I'd prefer to not go through the above again unnecessarily... ...so I looked around and found a wrecker in the UK who shipped me the early 348 aluminum cam belt covers and caps. Sweet pieces. I think that it cost me between $800 and $1,000 at the time for those used parts. Very pleasant "upgrade" to go back to what Ferrari started with on the 348. Exact fit, metal pieces for plastic. Over time I've removed the metal cam cover caps a couple of times without problem. If you've got the spare ca$h, this is a recommended retrofit for the later model 348's...and you don't need "new" units. The old, used metal cam covers hold up just fine...save your money and use them if you can find them instead of ordering NOS.
It's just an absolute disgrace that Ferrari switched from perfectly good aluminum covers to junk plastic that won't last 15 years. Inexcusable. I was wondering why anyone would sell the aluminum covers from a used engine. For $1000, I guess I understand. Jeeeeeeeez! I'd make a cover out of sheet metal before I paid $1000 for them.
Mine are alu too, and I polished them when I did the belt. Maybe you could you retro fit alu ones to the later cars. Cant see those falling apart easy... EDIT: Just saw No Doubt ´s reply....Go for it, find some alu parts..
Well guys ... I needed them to finsih the service. The only ones the shop could find were new plastic ones from a many different location ... this added 2k to my servive bill! YES THEY ARE HARD TO FIND AND VERY EXPENSIVE!
Mine were cracked and replaced during my Major last year. FofNE mechanic (Nick) said its real common and caused by plastic embrittlement AND over torque on assembly. Apparently you need them to be just snug. Here's some shots Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
