Technical Ferrari 360 Timing Question

Can you install a goniometer (also know as degree wheel) on the crankshaft to check the timing in a Ferrari 360 through the passenger compartment without removing the engine ?

Thanks !

 

Thanks Greg for your reply !!

My mechanic has already done the timing with dial gauges on my Ferrari 360 at the last timing belt change...

The intake valves were pretty easy... Just find TDC and measure intake camshaft at 0.60mm (side intake valves, not the middle one)...

However the exhaust valves were a little trickier...

He had to find 9 degrees before TDC and measure 1.66mm for exhaust valves...

This seemed to me like a goniometer (degree wheel) job... meaning he had to install the goniometer to find exactly 9 degrees before TDC...

He didn't install the goniometer, but instead he put a second dial gauge on the intake valve and found the exact moment when the valve is about to open (!!!)...

He explained to me that this is the OVERLAP which I guess in other word this is what happens at exactly 9 degrees before TDC...

Therefore, because I believe that it was difficult (almost impossible) for him to find the exact point where the intake valve is "about to open" , I am going to ask him at the next belt change (in 1 year from now) to do it with a goniometer...

See the youtube clip of him trying to find 9 degrees before TDC... Tough job even with the help of his assistant...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbf9N-I65S4&list=UU2R2_PEpqjY8YeazWPlmVZw&feature=c4-overview]Ferrari 360 timing - YouTube[/ame]

(trying to find when a valve is "just about to open" is almost impossible, as the valve needs to slightly open to give a reading on the dial gauge... Therefore, I conclude that goniometer is needed for exhaust cams)

I think by now I've become an expert on timing belt change on F360...

Below are 2 attachments : One is a degree wheel from a 348 engine that looks pretty small and the second picture is the opening on the 360 compartment... I think it could fit... Right ? LOL
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The reason why I've become obsessed with the F360 timing, is because I think that regardless of all the efforts of my mechanic to get the timing right, he missed the exhaust valve timing by a small margin, and my engine is not performing 100% as it should...

Sometimes it seems to be out-of-sync and as I am coasting and the engine idling, if I press on the accelerator pedal I get a hesitation to rev followed by a small bang of unburnt fuel..

Idling is sometimes uneven as I come to stop too...

Plus the engine exhaust note is a little milder and the engine slightly less responsive to rev (like the two 4 cylinder banks are a little out-of-sync and one side is pulling the other)...

On the other hand the intake noise it just perfect.. I can hear the metallic sound of the intake just fine...

I think by now I must have the most trained ear to hear a 360 engine by far... LOL

 

Wow !!! That's so cool !!! Thanks Kevin for your photo !!!