Need photo of '1 year old' 328 timing belt

Miles would be more of a factor than age...

 

My timing belts were 6 years old and had 10,330 miles on them when they were last changed. The printing on the smooth side was very faint. Without my reading glasses on I could not see it. The edges of the belt were perfect, no fraying or pieces missing. Same for the toothed side, no teeth had any parts missing or chipped corners, etc. Those belts were originally installed by Lake Forest Sports Cars, a Chicago-area Ferrari dealer.

 

Many variables at work and very hard to pin down. Your tensioner bearing has very little wear on its outer surface suggesting very few miles since bearing replacement.

Color is a tough thing with a photo between camera differences and monitor differences but from here the cad plating on the tensioner bearing looks to have little wear.

 

I have six year old belts on my car and the lettering is plain as day. I don't think it will establish anything.

 

I think it establishes that miles driven are indeed a better indicator of wear in some cases than time.

 

If we looked only at visable wear as an indicator of viability, and if that was a good enough indicator, we would all be well off. Unfortunatly it is not visable wear that is our undoing, it is the internal structures, the invisable fibers and materials within the belt that cause the sudden failure of teeth to shear off or the belt to unravel. And we cannot see inside it. Too many good looking belts have let go and destroyed engines to ever assume looking at them is some indication we can drive on a ways farther.

 

Jedi,

Just had my belts changed 5 yr with 5k and they looked substantially newer than your "one" year old belt.

FWIW...I've got pictures, but it might be a bit till I can get them to you.

PM me if interested.

 

Here's an old one I took off 2months ago

7 years old and 12,000 miles

2nd pic show the old belt (left) and new belt (right)
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Hi,
From the picture, that belt looks very old to me. There are after market belts that don't have prints all around the belt or Ferrari prints on them.

 

Please be careful with those unmarked aftermarket belts

 

I just picked up my 1988 328 today .. its second Major in 28,000 miles (first one on my dime). I took one of the belts which was 7 years and 5000 miles old. You asked about the backside printing. Although the printing is now yellowed .. probably from heat .. I can clearly read Ferrari, Dayco, Do Not Crimp, serial nos. Made in EEC .. all the printing is easily visable.

 

mostly due to the fact that I am thinking of having my belts done in the spring. You mentioned " that a dealer" did the earlier work, are we talking about a independent repair shop or a factory dealer?

I have talked to a local repair shop and just talked to my local Fcar dealer. After reading this thread, and some advice from others, I am thinking of the Fcar dealer, due to the experience level.

I know there are many great independents that have Ferrari trained techs, and I wish they were closer to me. However, the Fcar dealer has the experience, and at least I know that I will have a Ferrari mechanic working on the car.

I learned many years ago, with all things; A JEEP. Having the Jeep dealer work on the car for all the major services, as the jeep mechanics know the car, since they work on them all the time and know all about any "strange" things that should be looked after.

I have worked on Fiats all my life. All the cars that I worked on that others had messed with, I always had to fix what others tried to do. I found that if the car was repaired like it was originally, it was way more reliable. I really feel this why Fiats got such a bad rap, as many of the folks working on them had no clue on what they were doing...........

 

Dont fall into the mistaken assumption that a good dealer always has Saintly mechanics. People are still individuals, and the greatest person could be having a bad day. Its not an excuse, its just a data point. And likewise, just because you have a reciept with a bunch of parts listed from a great dealership, its no guarantee those parts were ever installed. Getting back old parts doesnt mean they came off YOUR car. If your not seeing the work getting done, all you can hope to have is faith.

If the condition of those belts is telling you they are older than you were led to believe, there is only one truth.

 

Re: Dealers. In this part of the country (SF Bay Area) if you come in with anything older than a 360 they will turn you away. They are not interested in the older cars. In fact, they usually do not have a mechanic that knows about the older ones. This is why you need to find a quality technician who specializes in the older models .. check him out and become good friends with him. Be cautious though .. there are independents who are not skilled. We are lucky out here in that there are several great technicians .. our own RifleDriver is one in the East Bay area.

 

I have photos of my belts, but not at 0ne year.... it was more like 7k miles & 5yrs
here is the link:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=209609

 

I would suggest fresh belts and and a quick once over for peace of mind. Enjoy the 328. Ive had mine for 5 years and havent had any major problems over 30,000 km's .....