Hello everyone, I am in need of finding a good machine shop to perform a thorough valve job on a pair of 348 heads. I purchased the car with a broken timing belt and most of the valves are bent. I have sourced replacement valves, guides and seals but I'm having a hard time finding a machine shop I "know" will do the job right. I'm a longtime (20 years) Porsche guy that is venturing into Ferrari. I'm in Sacramento, CA and I would love to find someone that is somewhat local. I'm willing to pack and ship the heads if needed but the less distance they have to travel the less risk of something happening to them. If you have any recommendations I would truly appreciate it. I'm trying to learn as much as I can about these cars and this engine as I can while I prepare for the rebuild; this community has been very helpful so far and I look forward to the journey of putting this engine back together. Thanks in advance, Dustin
That cannot possibly be. Timing belts dont break. Ask anyone here. Call Dan Marvin In Berkeley. 510-525-1164 Still doing exotic machine work. Was the machinist at Griswold Restoration. Known him over 40 years.
Also if you have not yet bought the parts do not do so. Any good machinist is very selective about the parts they want to use.
Not a question of whether they break, but why they brake. Frankly, in every post I have seen here about broken belts, even my own, belt failure a the result of some other issue, drive bearing, tensioner bearing, belt guide failure, oil contamination, foreign object, .....
Agreed, mine did not break but the drive gear stripped all of the teeth that were contacting it at the time of failure. The rest of the belt looked fine except for a strip of around 10 teeth that were sheared off. I'm still a bit unsure what the ultimate cause of failure was but the three things I found were: 1. The outer fence of the drive gear had been completely ripped off. 2. The ring nut on the drive gear was cracked from the threads to one of the drives on the nut. 3. One of the valve adjustment shims was jarred loose and made an imprint into the cylinder head Problem is I cannot determine what was the cause and what was resulting damage. I'll post some pictures of the ring nut and the lifter bore.
Thanks for the lead, I will give him a call tomorrow. I already purchased the parts as I thought I had a guy that was going to do the heads but when it came time to send them out he backpedaled and showed very little interest in the job. If it comes to it, I think I can return the valves but I will cross that bridge when I get there.
