My 308 restoration is nearing end of the tunnel!

[jdubois]

A year and a half ago, my poor old 308 was in sad shape. Collision damage on the front, rust starting to eat away at her on several sides, and a slipped timing belt which took out the motor completely. I thought I wasn't ever going to get to play "Magnum PI" again...

But many long hours of sworking, a lot of heat damage to my credit cards, and accusations of neglect from my Triumphs, she's gone from this:

To this:

Just a few more weeks and we can take a shot at starting her up for the first time in a long, long time.

 

[aeronca65t]

Whoa! Nice!!

 

[JPSmit]

Impressive how's the moustache coming?

 

[drooartz]

Very nice! One of my favorite Ferraris -- and one of the few mid-engined cars (along with the Muira and Dino) that I think are genuinely pretty.

Peter Egan's latest column in R&T talks about his possibly looking for a 308/328. Makes it seem almost like a sane decision...

 

[jdubois]

Peter Egan's latest column in R&T talks about his possibly looking for a 308/328. Makes it seem almost like a sane decision...

I enjoyed reading that article. I think he's fooling himself though by trying to rationalize that the 5 year/30K major service is both cheap and not really that important. It isn't, and it is. It's the folks who cut corners on the major by "only doing the belts" that end up in a mess.

As I discovered, the Ferrari world isn't like the little British car world. The classic Ferrari enthusiasts and owners are pretty much the same great bunch of guys, but the parts vendors, mechanics, and even Ferrari themselves can be, and often are, brutally greedy and backstabbing. This often makes maintaining the cars not a lot of fun.

 

[GBlearner]

Oh wow very nice restoration there, I like the modern suspension and brake setup haha

 

[DrEntropy]

VERY nicely done, Jeremy! The 308's ain't my "jump-up-and-down" favorite Ferraris (one too many diff bearing R&Rs, mebbe), but it still has that horse emblem on the nose.
Congrats! :wink: :thumbsup:

but the parts vendors, <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-style: italic">mechanics</span></span>, and even Ferrari themselves can be, and often are, brutally greedy and backstabbing. This often makes maintaining the cars not a lot of fun.

I've found there are more than enough OWNERS with similar proclivity. Usually they were the posers without a clue as to what is involved in keeping one properly set up and didn't care to hear it, or even try to understand. Bad apples in every barrel. :smirk:

But will say I've gone into more than one of the cars after a supposed "Authorized" shop has done some of the bodge work you allude to. One that stands out in memory is a boxer engine in a T-R... some "pro" seems to have forgotten to put the roll pins back into the dizzy shafts after a rebuild (it ran, but not well/properly) and had used the wrong cam cover seal kit (started dripping oil externally AFTER filling the plug wells)... many other sins with many other cars but that one had me shaking my head fer sure. It was just SLOPPY work.

 

[jdubois]

I've found there are more than enough OWNERS with similar proclivity. Usually they were the posers without a clue as to what is involved in keeping one properly set up and didn't care to hear it, or even try to understand. Bad apples in every barrel. :smirk:

There are certainly clueless owners (there are some in every crowd!), but it seems that for the most part the 3x8 line is now mostly ignored by the posers in favor of newer, more "look at my money" cars.

many other sins with many other cars but that one had me shaking my head fer sure. It was just SLOPPY work.

I (and my mechanic, who I had do all the engine work for me... I know when I'm out of my depth!) found enough horrible work just in this car alone to fill volumes. But here's the best one... Broken flywheel to crank bolt? (Torque wrench? what's a torque wrench?) No problem. JB Weld to the rescue! Yes, they really did. And no, it didn't work. By the time we got in there, the bolt head had completely disintegrated, but you could see all the damage it did to the inside of the bell housing flying around loose in there! I can see why they took the shortcut though. Getting the broken off hardened stud out without ruining the crank had the machinist cursing at me and swearing to give up doing Ferrari machine work forever. But you'd think if you were going to be sloppy and unprofessional about it, you'd just let the broken bolt be. Why in the world would you attempt to glue the bolt head back on?!?! What purpose could that possibly serve? It's all hidden inside the bell housing anyway.

 

[DrEntropy]

My guess is there was somebody in the shop as a "supervisor" who would FIRE that wrench if a visual inspection revealed the sin before it could be "hidden".

In the late '70's, Porsche-Audi instituted a "team concept". Three guys for any "serious" job/work. Nobody could (supposedly) cheat if three sets of eyes were involved. feh. I believe it had a deleterious effect.

p'raps that was the case with the flywheel bolt. Less-than professional whatever the case, tho.

That's one of the reasons I became independent of "production shops", where beating book time was more important than craftsmanship or morality/ethics. My standards weren't flexible.

I can see why they took the shortcut though. Getting the broken off hardened stud out without ruining the crank had the machinist cursing at me and swearing to give up doing Ferrari machine work forever.

mehheh. Totally sympathetic to the machinist. :wink:

 

[Scott_Hower]

Beautiful Jeremy!

Looks like Bosch K-Jet. You couldn't pay me enough to tune that thing.

 

[jdubois]

Looks like Bosch K-Jet. You couldn't pay me enough to tune that thing.

Yeah, it's K-Jet with Lambda. Actually not all that bad a system when it's working. But as soon as something goes off, it can be pain in the rear to diagnose. Not as bad as the KE3 systems in some of the V12 cars though. That rat's nest has like a 12-hour diagnostic procedure in the Bosch manuals.

 

[GBlearner]

There are a whole lot of dodgy workshops around, it is really annoying. I agree with the questioning of mentality of individuals like the one that glued the bolt head back onto the component, haha. Interesting non the less.

 

[DrEntropy]

Looks like Bosch K-Jet. You couldn't pay me enough to tune that thing.

Yeah, it's K-Jet with Lambda. Actually not all that bad a system when it's working. But as soon as something goes off, it can be pain in the rear to diagnose. Not as bad as the KE3 systems in some of the V12 cars though. That rat's nest has like a 12-hour diagnostic procedure in the Bosch manuals.

Bring it down here. I work fer CAB.

 

[jdubois]

Bring it down here. I work fer CAB.

Sounds like a tempting offer... but if my K-Jet system still needs work after all this, I'm setting the car on fire and then dumping the charred remains into a lake.

 

[Scott_Hower]

Looks like Bosch K-Jet. You couldn't pay me enough to tune that thing.

Yeah, it's K-Jet with Lambda. Actually not all that bad a system when it's working. But as soon as something goes off, it can be pain in the rear to diagnose. Not as bad as the KE3 systems in some of the V12 cars though. That rat's nest has like a 12-hour diagnostic procedure in the Bosch manuals.

Had K-Jet on an old Mercedes. It's pretty much bulletfroof when set up correctly. The innards of a fuel distributor look like a swiss watch.

 

[jdubois]

The innards of a fuel distributor look like a swiss watch.

Or, in my case, a Swiss watch that had rodents living in it (and tinkering folks who couldn't keep their fingers off it!). But I sent it down to Larry Fletcher at www.cisflowtech.com. He's <span style="font-style: italic">the</span> Bosch CIS go to guy here in the states. That man is a wizard.

 

[DrEntropy]

Last CIS system we fussed with was on a 930 Porkchop. Did a full engine rebuild. I really llike the CIS units.

All the V-12 Ferrutzi engines I did were <span style="font-style: italic">proper</span> Weber induction.

 

[jdubois]

All the V-12 Ferrutzi engines I did were <span style="font-style: italic">proper</span> Weber induction.

No argument there!

 

[Banjo]

Did an old MB with the K Jet setup. I'd never touched one before,had no Idea how it worked, and had no manual to go by. I hit a wall. And my boss at the time got a bit steamed when I suggested to find a manual, or a tec that knew about them. I was wasting time and money poking at stuff I didn't understand.
BTW. that 308 looks GREAT!

 

[jdubois]

I guess it's a little late now, but https://www.amazon.com/dp/0837603005 is the best 3rd party book I've found. It'll get you oriented and then help you solve most issues. Anything beyond that you gotta go to the Bosch technical books. Some of which are high purity unobtainium.

BTW, I've got a good friend who lives in Horseheads (or maybe it's Corning now, he moved recently