I'm resetting my camshafts and valve clearances so decided I should try and fix one of my annoying oil leaks while a lot of parts are removed. My timing chain adjuster has had a fairly major oil leak for years now and having another engine apart I could see the problem is probably the sealing o-ring. I was surprised to see there are two different types of adjusters between the two engines. The top one in the pictures is from a 1982 400i and the bottom a 1980 400i. The top one (1982) is a type of fibre with a metal insert and only one o-ring. The bottom one (1980) is a metal one with two o-rings (both baked & split) and has a recess in the end with a longer adjusting screw to make the overall length the same as the top one. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Cheers, Al
I assumed the same thing but couldn't really understand why you would spend money redesigning a part for a low production run vehicle. But today trying to reinstall the adjuster unit with the engine still in the car it was all too obvious to me. This redesign made an almost impossible job fairly easy. I tried to fit the original unit in the 1980 vehicle to find that I could not compress the spring enough to get it together with the grub screw installed far enough to clear the chassis rail. So I retrofitted the newer design off the 1982 vehicle (I will get another to put back on this one as well) which allows the unit to be reinstalled without the adjusting screw & then just screw it in when it's all on there. I couldn't believe the difference it made to performing this job. Hopefully I have now fixed another oil leak. Cheers, Al Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks for the tip! By the way, as I (well, not really me...) is it a job that needs an engine out or can it be done “in situ”??
I was just fixing an oil leak on the adjuster & this can be done with the engine in. I'm also realigning the camshafts, setting valve clearances & fixing other oil leaks. The chain guide is held in still by a stud - I'm not sure you could remove this stud to change the guide. From what I've read if the guides need replacing the sprockets & bearings will need work anyway so it's an engine out job. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The material choice is a bean counter move to me. Restoring these old F cars I see running changes deep inside these cars constantly, some are improvements and others are clearly a way of cutting costs like any other mass produced vehicle.
Let's give Ferrari some credit here: the new part is obviously the one I would put in my car. As far as the cost is concerned, one can see there is an aluminium insert in the new part. A mix of bakelite (?) and aluminium is not necessarily cheaper than plain aluminium. They have probably managed to save a bit on the missing O-ring, but it seems to me that given the new shape of the part, there is less room for a second O-ring "groove" (would make the part fragile). All in all not sure the part is cheaper, but what is clear is that this made later repairs much cheaper, and this is probably where the bean counters did intervene. An early engine out is never good news be it for the owner of the car or the dealer (the later has to bear part of the repair cost). As said I'd rather have the new adjuster. Too bad my engine was shoe-horned back in the engine bay yesterday afternoon...
It could be that the older part was more prone to expansion and contraction as it heated and cooled which is why it leaked and the new material is more dimensionally stable under a wider temperature range, hence the need for only one o-ring and the redesign.
An old thread on this. https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/400i-timing-chain-length.581612/#post-146126613 I still have these if someone wants one.
so, the job was supposedly done a few years ago... was a bit, a least a part of it. Some parts had not been changed and were worn out. Well, looks like the job is doable without the engine out. Could have been worst
Wow that's impressive! I would love to know how they got the water/oil pump drive chain off without removing the sump??? Getting it back on again might be interesting. Cheers, Al Image Unavailable, Please Login
