Knocked out CS Timing Belts today...

I have done my own majors for years.... 308, F40, TR, 348 and a plethora of other stuff.

I have to say that the CS was one of the most straight forward and 'easy' jobs, second only to the F40.

For all the "Gotta change the belts at 3 years or the world ends folks".... These were in 3.5 years and were absolutely perfect. They easily cold have gone 5-10. And there have been plenty of track days and trips to red line.

As for the tensioner bearings......... perfects again. But I had a set of Hills, so in they went. The aux belts were fine as well..... but I had a set of them, so......

Ferrari has us all pretty snowed on these intervals.

The biggest surprise was upon removal of the speaker box, which is part of the $4K "Hi-fi" option... the upper 'speaker' is a non working blank... with its own part number! I'm sure it's a bargain from your local Ferrari store.
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I think I have heard it referred to as a passive resonator but I never knew what they were talking about! Is this it?

 

It's called a passive radiator, and is designed to be driven (for want of a better word) from the pressure from the main driver.
It's a way of getting more bass basically. It actually works well in some home speakers as well, or use to in the old days.

I wish I had the nuts to take on a cambelt job.

 

Nicely done! Start to finish, how long for the CS compared to the F40?

 

"Passive Resonator"....... You gotta love Ferrari. It looks like a worthless blank to me. But you can have a brand new Passive Resonator for $369!

Both the F40 and the CS are basically the same 2 belt job, which is similar to a 308, and much like a Fiat X1/9, with one more cam. The trim on the F40 behind the seats was a bit easier to deal with as I recall. Both were a 4-5 hour start to finish, including lots of chatting and lunch! I would imagine it could be done in 3-4 hours if you did these all the time, which has me question, ~$600 in parts, where is the rest of the bill from your local, friendly Fcar dealer?

If you've done timing belts on any other car, you could tackle this.

 

Nicely done!!!! Big $$$$$ savings too.

I had an Indy do my cam belts at 20k miles. I think they were the original belts as I bought the car at 14k miles and they were not done prior. The belts did look to be in very good condition. I had the idlers replaced with Hill Eng. units. The metal bolt spacers were squeezed to one side in the rubber.

I agree, the belt change interval put forth seems to be a money maker for shops. I think I will go 30k miles till the next change, and to the work myself too.

 

Sounds like Mercedes dealers.

 

I was afraid to try changing the belts on my own so I paid an independent shop charged me $1k labor while I bought all the parts from Daniel Ricambi to replace my CS.

 

That's 10 hours @ $100/hr.

To me, the only difference between working on a Ferrari or a Fiat, is the Ferrari forces one to be meticulous. Slacking on the Fiat is a $100 mistake, where the same thing on a Ferrari is $30K. Beyond the money, I just like the bonding experience with the car... and really seeing the engineering and what makes it work. Or in the case of the speaker blank....

 

Nice Dino! I'm due for the "major" next year. Might have to look for my particulars and try it myself too.

 

Hey Dino, just wondering if you might be willing to help some of us out if we decide to tackle the job ourselves? Of course there would be compensation for your time

 

Can you do a DIY write up with pics?

 

A step by step description with pics would be awesome for those inclinded to tackle the job. Maybe you could create a dvd and sell it. It would have to be very detailed for those of us who have limited experience (like me).

On another note...how are things going the the CS Reunion Tour? I'm getting excited at the prospect of driving those roads with a group of CS's and meeting the owners.

 

I do light works such as changing oil, brakes pads, flushing brake fluids but not timing belts and I hope I will try the timing belts next. Thanks Dino!

 

wow that's awesome. I wish I knew how to do stuff like this and save myself buckets of money (though my local fcar mechanic is pretty reasonable). My last major was around 3k after tax and everything for all fluids and belts.

 

I too would love a DIY. I plan on keeping my 360 forever.

 

What method and equipment did you use to set the proper belt tension?

 

Have you had the cams looked at to ensure you are correctly timed? At TDC you can remove the rear cam covers to see scribe marks on the back of the cams to see if they are also at TDC marks. They are not machined scribe marks and rather were done by hand so they are not always exact nor straight. Don't forget the exhaust cams have variators and more than 3 degrees between the two banks can set a check engine light.

Also you need to be sure the tensioner is set correctly with the pin.

 

Done and Done! Thanks John! How are you and Andy doing? I could use to have a look with that magic device you have called the SD2, to see how everything is else is doing...

 

Great DIY photos, thanks for sharing!

As for the speaker "blank", it is technically referred to as a Passive Radiator, and allows a subwoofer enclosure to be much smaller in size than a more common ported enclosure. It's a legitimate speaker design, not a scam. But having said that, $369 for a replacement is comically expensive....

 

great post and pix

 

Anything that comes in a pretty yellow box with a horsey on it demands a 10X price increase!

 

I can't agree more from my experience. I bought into the paranoia on belt change in my CS and had similar observation. The belts I replaced appeared new, bearings and tensioners felt perfect, no leakage. In my opinion unless you race the STRADALE it's overkill
FERRARI says belt change in 3 years or 30 k miles. If you shift in the 6k to 8 k range for 30,000 miles you have had a lot of fun , are in jail , and should have your belts and bearings and tensioner changed for when you get out!

I'm going to make my belts into a belt and when my friends say " cool belt.... How much was it " I'd reply "2.5 k"
If you beat your car , do it the Ferrari recommended way... If you are " normal" warm it up , push it around , hit 6-8 k sometimes, the machine is so amazing 6-8 years they will still be new

love to hear from some some " F car mechanics " on this
Maxer

 

Maxer- Has been beaten to death hundreds of times already. It is your car, change the belts whenever you like.