328 timing belt change

I brought my 328 in to a local shop to have just the timing belts/tensioner bearings changed, I still was a bit under the milage but after rechecking my records to my suprise they were last changed in 10/97 which is coming up on 8 years old, for some reason I thought they were 6 years coming on 7 so these belts are fairly old especially considering I drive the car fairly hard hitting redline many times while taking it out, they were inspected about a year ago and looking new but of course you can't tell true condition by appearances.


The wrench found my main crank seal was leaking a small bit probably from the car sitting alot over the past year or so, they also mentioned if the crank seal is usually leaking the cam seals will be also which they had not gotten to yet as of Friday to inspect so we ordered 4 new ones as well in addition to the crank seal.

I have done the majority of the rest of the 30k myself since I bought the car, with my Boxer carb tuning project and the tight access to the belts in the 328 along with the a/c compressor possibly needing removal in addition to myself never changing a timing belt on a car before it seemed prudent to have a pro change them for piece of mind, when the Boxer needs to have the T belts changed I wlll do it myself as the engine will be out and it would be easier to meticulously check everything before putting it back in.

So we are changing the t belts, tensioner bearings, acc belts, main crank seal and 4 cam seals, the water pump was rebuilt just before I bought the car 3 years ago.

Anything else they should look for while in there?

I have heard when you get the old belts out you can twist them and listen for how many glass strands are breaking as to their condition.

Hi Jeff,


One thing you will want to do while you have her open is to have the valves adjusted. There will be more items that come up as you get in there and look around.


JL

Hi Jeremy,

Valves were adjusted last major, from what I understand the valves rarely get out of adjustment in these motors and since the
covers are not leaking I don't think it's worth the extra expense and hassle to check them and risk new leaks on my new t belts.

The water pump has the tell tale weep from the hole signaling its going out sometime in the future, it was just rebuilt by a shop in Fresno Ca before I bought the car 3 years ago and I have put less than 5000 miles on the car, oh well I'll keep an eye on it, looks like a fairly simple DIY for me when the time comes.

This shop has done some Ferraris before and they have worked on my 930, I know the tech that is doing it who is one of the owners and is one
of the few Women wrenches I have seen, they are giving me a good deal on the labor for the job at 8 hours plus .5 for the crank seal, I supplied the parts.

Regards

Jeff,

I just performed my major 60k service on my QV this winter. I have receipts for every major and minor service for the car. That said, I had 22 of the 32 valves that needed to be adjusted. It is worth looking into and getting the valve covers to seal is not that big of a deal. I did mine myself in my garage and I have no leaks or issues after 600 miles of solid driving. If I can do it, an experienced mechanic can surely do it.

My waterpump was on it's way out also. I had it rebuilt with a one piece bearing that is said to last 15k miles or more. The old bearings are notorious for not lasting very long (5-10 miles etc.. ) Lindsey Automotive in Kenner, Louisiana did the rebuild. (504) 466-2744.

Jeremy

Update on the belt change, the car was close to 29k miles and 7 1/2 years on the belts, the belts were in relatively good shape, you could see micro cracks by folding it over in the inside, tech thought the belts would last another 10k but both tensioners showed heat scoring and discoloration on the outside of them, one fell apart when taking it out, they were supposedly changed last 30k also but they were at the limit.

Took abit of freon and changed the main seal which was leaking a bit due to it being dried out, changed all the acc belts and the car is good to go and running extremely well.

I don't know if it's changed since my early 308,
but according to the book, valve clearance should be checked every 9k miles.

For the 328 valves should be checked during the 30k service, the 308/328 engines use a hardened shim for proper valve clearance, they are not like a Porsche motor that uses an adjuster with a locking nut that will wear and work its way loose hence needing an adjustment every 15k.

Their is also subjectivity and experience doing a valve adjustment, getting the right feel for the clearance and resistance with a feeler gauge, so one mechanic may feel they are loose by .001 vs another might feel they are tight by .001, the more experienced the mechanic on these motors the closer the true values will be.

Back to the Ferrari valve design, as their is no adjuster to wear or nut to work its way loose just a hardened shim and your camshaft hitting it,if your valves are out of adjustment by much you are in trouble as you need a valve job probably or valve springs weak, my cam covers are not leaking at all in both the seals or O rings so opening the covers is a waste of money and time along with the risks of creating oil leaks that would create another premature belt change neccessary. This is the advice I had gotten from several Ferrari techs basically stating if the cam covers are not leaking leave the valves alone unless you hear valve noise or suspect other problems, for someone paying for a full complete
30k service from a tech I would want them to check the valves and take the covers off
otherwise you are not getting your full moneys worth.

In addition, my car was serviced all its life for 3 separate majors along with other work in California by a very well known tech that set the cam timing perfectly to Euro specs which is why my 328 is much faster than most others I know of so I didn't want the cam timing touched in any way also negating the need to remove the cam covers and check the cam timing.

I got out my 328 manual,
it shows check valve clearance every 15k miles.