Ferrari Mailing List: Re: 308 Engine Rebuild II

[Michael James (cavallino_rapante]

During engine dis-assembly, there were a few things noted - most of the hoses 
and wires around the block have been 'cooked' from years of overheating, and 
the head gaskets were experiencing some minor liquid seepage.  We could tell 
from this, and some of the old service records, that the car had been 
overheating before I bought it but never correctly diagnosed.
 
Prior to removal of the heads, each head bolt was 're-torqued' where they were 
when the cam covers were removed.  This was done to 'see where they are'.  Two 
were loose, another was found to be VERY loose - a defect in the head casting 
prevented the factory head-bolt wrench from slipping over the head nut for 
re-torquing, This nut was finger-tight, at best, and the factory tool had to be 
cut-down to access the nut for torquing and removal.  The rear heads almost 
fell off the car, the front heads required minimal pursuasion - I've heard 
horror stories about pulling QV heads off the block before, but mine were 
easily removed.....
 
The head gasket looked alright - there were dark 'traces' from the edges of the 
cylinder liners (exhaust gas leakage?) but no cracks or tears.....the first 
smoking gun was when the transfer case cover was removed, along with the 
water manifolds that are under the plenum and feed coolant to the heads and 
block - large amounts of mineral 'deposits', like arterial blockage, had formed 
throughout all of the tubes - large amounts of corrosion and scale were 
everywhere, impeding the coolant's ability to 'flow'.  Coolant leakage existed 
on all of the Block Galley Plugs, as well as coolat corrosion at the #8 exhaust 
port.  I'm guessing the years of 'sitting' had caused the coolant/water to 
coagulate, which had coated the passages with 'gunk' unreachable with your 
garden-variety radiator flush.  This gunk had also completely blocked one of 
the water pipes running to the top of the 7/8 cylinder passages, which was 
found after the pipes had been cleaned of
 the hard-mineral scale (looks like white calcium build-up).  
 
When we found this, the next step was to pull the pistons AND the liners to see 
how bad things are in the block.  We have one piston liner out now - it was 
VERY difficult to remove, but the liner looks pretty good.  We may be able to 
save those, provided we can re-surface the inside.  The piston rings are shot - 
leakdown numbers on most cylinders is above 12% (should be 5% or less, 
according the the Factory cold-leakdown spec) and #7 piston had around 50%-80% 
leakdown - BAD.  My engine has 36K miles on it - high heat conditions do more 
damage than just cooking one's oil apparently (I have burnt oil glazing 
everything at the bottom-end).  
 
The crank was especially interesting - all of the bearings here were TOAST.  
The Crank looks perfect, but the bearings look like they came out of a car with 
over 100K miles on it.  We're concerned that the head 'might' have an issue and 
need re-honing.  The cams were gone-over with a fine-tooth comb, and no unusual 
wear on the cams or the cam caps were found, so we're confident 
that little-to-no head warpage exists.  The heads are in the shop now for 
examination, crack testing and thorough cleaning.  New Valves seats and guides 
will also go-in, and each valve will be checked as well as new shims 
installed.  
 
Most-every seal or gasket in the engine was actively weeping oil - they don't 
last forever, so everything that leaks is getting replaced.  The block, at the 
bare-minimum, will need to be chemically dipped to clean-out the crap blocking 
the coolant passages and around the cylinder liners.  I don't know what was 
used for coolant (maybe pure water?), but if its allowed to sit for long 
periods of time without periodic flushing it WILL gunk-up the engine.  This car 
obviously 'sat' for far too long, never had something simple as having its 
fluids replaced regularly, and now its time take out that second mortgage.
 
Did I mention that my engine ran quite WELL, aside from the overheating?  Make 
no mistake, Ferrari engines are tough bastards.....
 
M


--- On Sat, 11/14/09, Michael James <cavallino_rapante [at] yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Michael James <cavallino_rapante [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] 308 Engine Rebuild
To: "Doug and Terri Anderson" <dnt [at] dock.net>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Date: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 5:01 PM







Yea.....this looks pretty bad.  I tore-into my engine for a 30K engine service 
this summer, and decided to think about what was causing an overheating issue 
I've battled for five years now.  As Charles Perry can attest, I've tried 
everything under the sun to fix the problem - new coolant hoses/clamps, three 
new/different thermostats, rebuilt water pump, new fan switch, new high-speed 
fans, new thermo-time switch, half-a-dozen new radiator caps of various BAR 
ratings, high-capacity aluminum racing radiator (three, first two had pin-holes 
in the welds), removed the CAT, ceramic-coated much of the exhaust system, 
flushed the cooling system, etc. etc. etc.

Still, the car would overheat if I drove less than 40 mph - above that speed, 
the inrush of air would compensate for the overheating engine and keep the car 
cool.  At highway speeds, the car would run all-day-long just fine.  In 
stop-n-go traffic, the engine would attempt thermonuclear meltdown.  Something 
was 'wrong', and I feared it was in the head/block coolant journals.  A 
friend/fellow mechanic stuck a 4-gas analyzer in my coolant expansion tank and 
measured CO2 levels there last summer - he found well-over 100 ppm of CO2 and 
rising when the engine got hot.  That was indicative of a head gasket 
failure.....hmmm.
 
SO, I had an oil sample sent-off to Blackstone Labs for analysis during my 30K 
service.....they didn't find any traces of coolant in my oil.  In fact, my oil 
looked quite good, with normal levels of metals and water.  SO, the only thing 
to do was have my local mechanic pull the motor and yank-off the heads to 
determine just what in the hell was really going on in there......
 
Some history of my car - I had bought a vehicle that was stored for a long 
period of time by a Doctor, who had purchased the car as an 'investment' in the 
late 1990s.  He never drove it, and really didn't do anything in the ways of 
preventative maintenance.  He did drop over $14,000 at various times including 
a full-boat 30K service around 1997, but did nothing between then and 
2004...the mileage was low, and cosmetically perfect.....a PPI by Norwoods in 
TX said that I had a very-solid driver with some interesting leakdown numbers 
(that I didn't understand and they didn't interpret for me) that were well-over 
10%.  
 
 
 
 
 

--- On Sat, 11/14/09, Doug and Terri Anderson <dnt [at] dock.net> wrote:


From: Doug and Terri Anderson <dnt [at] dock.net>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Politics - Not List Material
To: "Michael" <Cavallino_Rapante [at] yahoo.com>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Date: Saturday, November 14, 2009, 10:55 AM


308 engine rebuild ya say???
What year
How long did it take
You do it yer self?
DOUG

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael James" <cavallino_rapante [at] yahoo.com>
To: "DOUG" <dnt [at] dock.net>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 9:09 PM
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Politics - Not List Material


Larry, I think you'll find such information fundamentally flawed. Most folks 
get their health insurance through their employer - as costs rise in 
healthcare and the insurance premiums rise to pay for it, its our nation's 
employers who are taking it in the shorts. Company profits fall as health 
care costs rise, which makes it more-and-more expensive for US Companies to 
offer and pay-for this benefit to American employees. Many of these 
employer-backed plans are paring-down benefits that used to be much more 
all-inclusive years ago. We're paying more, and getting less coverage than 
ever before. And I firmly believe this fact is part of what is driving US 
companies to move the bulk of their businesses overseas where providing such 
benefits is unnecessary or radically cheaper than what they have to pay in 
the US.

Let's also not forget that individual deductables have greatly increased 
over the years to stem the tide....and that elderly end-of-life care hasn't 
reached critical-mass yet (the coming tsunami of Baby Boomer retirees 
demanding care well into their 90s will come sooner than you think). It 
would be premature to determine what, exactly, people should be 'happy' 
with. We'll see how happy everyone is when six-digit medical bills become 
the societal norm, and insurance companies get to decide who lives and who 
dies based on what they feel like paying-for regarding medical services.

Remember, the private medical insurance community is a for-profit entity 
first and foremost. Their primary business goal is to make a profit for 
their shareholders - above all else. Such is the law of 
Capitalism/Free-Enterprise. If they provide us with the services and 
coverage we need to survive while they make a profit, great. If they can cut 
corners with our coverage/services to continue to make a profit, fine by 
them. If they can find a loophole somewhere that allows them to 'skip' on 
covering a $500,000 critical-care medical bill and protect THEIR 
bottom-line, they will. It's just business. Never mind the financial or 
medical impact on YOU. If this situation wasn't happening, everywhere, then 
Tort lawyers would be greatly under-employed - but they're not, are they?

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why NeoCons insist that "there is 
no problem".....the status quo is somehow 'perfect', because the Rich get to 
afford the greatest healthcare in the world on-demand with no limitations. 
Good for them - the rest of us get rationed healthcare today based on our 
income and job status.

Does anyone want to hear about my 308 engine rebuild?

M

--- On Fri, 11/13/09, LarryT <l02turner [at] comcast.net> wrote:


From: LarryT <l02turner [at] comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Politics - Not List Material
To: "Michael" <Cavallino_Rapante [at] yahoo.com>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Date: Friday, November 13, 2009, 5:25 PM


Sorry Lee, my memory failed me (again - but I forgot) - it's actually
between 80% [and 89% cited below] as in <<the Washington Post/ABC Poll, 81%
of those sampled were satisfied with their present health care insurance
policy. >>

and <<CNN poll finds that more than 80% of Americans are satisfied with the
quality of their health care.>>

and <<the Kaiser Family Foundation, ABC News and USA Today, released in
October 2006, found that 89 percent of Americans were satisfied with their
own personal medical care, [and] Those with recent serious health problems,
possibly the people with the best knowledge of how health care is working,
were generally the most satisfied. Ninety-three percent of insured Americans
who had recently suffered a serious illness were satisfied with their health
care. So were 95 percent of those who suffered from chronic illness.>>

and on and on.

LarryT


OilAnalysis Time?
Looking for Weber Parts or Porsche Posters?
www.youroil.net



--------------------------------------------------
From: "Lee S. Lingo" <leescars [at] comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 1:55 PM
To: "LarryT" <l02turner [at] comcast.net>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Subject: RE: [Ferrari] Politics - Not List Material

> Larry,
>
> Not even getting into the healthcare reform discussion, but where do you
> cite your 90% number from & how can you back up your statement as fact
> that we have the best healthcare system in the world. While I believe
> that without a doubt we do, I cannot difinitively prove that as fact.
>
> I was just wondering how you can flame someone else for posting facts they
> think are true & citing a source to prove it while you can put forth only
> opinions but post them as truth. Seems a little arrogant to me.
>
> Oh, and I do not know for sure, but perhaps Mauricio, like me has tired of
> the elitist rhetoric & hijacking of the list for political topics and only
> checks his list email every few days. If that is the case, one might
> surmise that his email was a response to your last political posting to
> the list two or three days ago. I don't know.
>
> I love talking cars with you guys & have found this list an invaluable
> source of information on many topics over the years, many of which were
> not car related. But when it comes to talking politics & religion, most
> people turn into know-it-all ass holes and we are all no exception to
> that.
>
> Lee
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: LarryT <l02turner [at] comcast.net>
> Sent: Friday, November 13, 2009 1:28 PM
> To: Lee Lingo <leescars [at] comcast.net>
> Cc: The FerrariList <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
> Subject: Re: [Ferrari] Politics - Not List Material
>
> Thanks For that comment Steve! I love this list because of the depth of
> knowledge - I ask a lot of OT questions about TVs, DVD's Financing and
> other
> high tech stuff and I always KNOW I'll get a answer - usually it's correct
> to boot! ;-)
>
> BTW, what was Mauricio talking about? I must have missed something. His
> comment about Obams spending didn't ring true but Jim fired back before I
> could check facts (thx Jim!). I know I've heard Obama has spent more in
> his
> 1st 8 months that all other presidents have before him - combined! I'll
> find the backup shortly.
>
> As far as the heath car system - we have the best system in the world, it
> costs a lot but that's because we have methods for healing never dreamed
> of
> before. Also, IIRC, 90% of the population is happy with their situation.
> If the illegal aliens & young people who don't want or need insurance are
> taken out of the question we have a problem os maybe 10 million - instead
> of
> turning the medical system over to the USGov, to the tune of $1 tril (most
> likely $3 Tril) we could *buy* them insurance for much less money! Of
> course, don't advocate that - the govt doesn't need to be any more
> involved
> in health insurance and retirement than they already are - it should be
> less
> but that won't happen - it's like having a car with a flat tire - you fix
> the tire, not buy a whole new car! Unless you're Mauricio I guess.
>
> Later -
> LarryT
>
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