328 major service/refresh new purchase

The 328 arrived. I have it up on jack stands and have started getting into it. I drained all of the motor oil, tranny oil, and coolant. I am going to buy new crush washers at Napa sometime this week. The major service kit from Ricambi is here. For 1000+ dollars, it would have been nice if they included the crush washers and fuel filter washers. That kind of thing really pi$$es me off when I have to go track down part numbers and locate things like that when they should have been included in the kit.

The car is in the shape I expected coming from Beverly Hills Car Club. Neglected and must have sat for years. It had a bright orange FRAM oil filter and the gas cap lock on the window cover is missing. Whoever had it used a twisted paper clip as a locking mechanism. 23k miles and the engine compartment is filthy. Oil grime, leaves, etc everywhere. Whoever had this car before did not take very good care of it at all. It shocks and amazes me that anyone would treat a Ferrari like that. I totally understand if you hit a rough patch and can't keep it up, but just cover it and keep it clean.

Leather is really dirty but seems to be in good shape. No rips or tears in anything. I am going to get a VX5000 steam cleaner to work on the leather and engine bay.

I have the wheel wells open in the rear and it looks like the water pump seized and the belt was missing. The tranny magnetic plug had some metal shavings on it (not too much). I suspect it is from someone grinding gears. The motor oil was pretty black but I did not find any metal. I emptied into buckets and dropped magnets in. I then used a telescoping magnet thing and just ran it through the oil for while and it didn't attract any metal so that seems like a good sign.

Coolant was still green. Only a bit of brown was left in the wide pan when I emptied it into some old coolant bottles. I removed the thermostat, it was pretty nasty. The stuff on the side away from the engine was jellied and boogerish. I cleaned all of that out.

That fuel filter.... That seems like it is going to be a massive pain in the ass. Any tips/tricks? I read the tutorial on how to do it.... I guess I am just going to have to suffer through it.

I reseated all of the fuses in the panel. The the last socket closest to the passenger door doesn't have a fuse. Are all of the fuses supposed to be populated? If so, what fuse is to be used?

I have the airbox out. Anyone care to comment on moving that massive A/C compressor out of the way? Tips/tricks would be really appreciated on that.

I fixed the front and rear grills that bent. It only took a moment. How do you own a Ferrari/sell a Ferrari and not just simply bend it back and make it look perfect? It amazes me.

I should be ready to start on the belt change this weekend. Checking the valves seems to be a dream! I was thinking it was going to be similar to the 911. The shims seem like it makes that task really easy. I like that design.

All in all I think it is an amazing car. Depending on how things go and how it drives, I am seriously thinking of buying one for myself I have taken a ton of pics and video. I will get all of those added to this thread sometime this week.

Thanks to everyone in the Ferrari community that contributes their knowledge. It is great that a guy who isn't a mechanic (me!) can experience the wonders of working on a machine like this. Life isn't easy but when I am out in the shop with my 911 and that 328, nothing else matters!

 

I apologize for the long delay. My friend and I did work on it for a few months and got all the way to the point where we could change the belts. My friend got busy with work and life and so it has sat in my garage for the last few years.

Terrible news, he passed away recently and now I am helping his older brother figure out what to do with it. It has no records and was never cranked after he bought it. I have no idea of the condition of the internals of the engine or transmission. I do not know the state of the brakes or CIS injection. AC was not charged when he bought it.

My take on this car is it is a parts car. I think it came from Florida and I suspect it is a flood damage car. I can see what looks like water damage in areas. The water pump was seized and missing the belt. The carfax seemed to indicate it had been driven about 1200 miles since 1992. The car has around 25k miles on it.

I am curious what everyone thinks the value of this car is. I have included pics here: http://ferrari328.s3-website.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/index3.html

 

I apologize for not stating that I am not trying to part the car out. I am just trying to figure out a rough idea of the value of the car for my friend’s brother who is handling his estate.

 

So an update... I violated a few car buying commandments. I bought my friends project from the bank. It was time to start the process of having them come and pick the car up so I made them an offer. Everyone thinks I am insane which I probably am. I bought a project Ferrari in the worst economic time the country has seen (I am in the US). I had been spending more time in the garage inspecting it. There doesn't appear to be any major rust on the car. The rust that I see is either surface stuff or parts that can be replaced. The drive pulleys have got to be replaced for sure. I am going to start putting my plan together. I think I am going to take the engine out of the car so I can properly inspect, clean, and renew everything that needs it. I am too fat to drive the car so I am now on the Ferrari diet which means I have some time to get all of this done. I just couldn't let the car go yet, I want to at least finish what my friend started. I grew up with him and knew him before I started kindergarten. I am sure I will have many questions! Thanks to everyone that helped me try to value the car and gave tips at the very beginning. I feel like the journey has just started. Is it true that there is nothing more expensive than a cheap Ferrari?

 

I did get a crazy deal from the bank and I am going to attempt to do as much as I can on my own. Things like rebuilding the CIS will have to go out. Not sure if I will try to replate everything. I think I might setup a media blast station and plating area in the garage. I need to renew every bolt/screw. This is going to be a very long term project. Right now, I want to see if it cranks so I need to finish the belt job that my friend started. The lower drive pulleys are rusted pretty bad. They look like they need to both be completely replaced. While I am doing that, I might as well do the seals and bearings down there for them. I need to try and source those. What fuel hose is everyone using? I am going to need to replace those as well. The price on the SR fuel hoses are tough to swallow but don't mind paying for top quality for an item as critical as fuel line/hoses. Also, I think I read somewhere that Hill sold the socket tool to remove the nut on the lower drive pulleys. Does anyone know the part number for that socket?

 

I got the tool, thanks for the info! I have parts on order from the UK and USA. I am hoping to finish the belt change by the end of June (hopefully before) and try and crank it.

 

I need to setup a plating station in the garage. How are people doing their crank pulleys? I was thinking to acid bath, zinc plate, then black chromate. The drive pulleys will be replaced because they are just too rusted out. I am thinking of trying to protect the new pulleys before installing them. The current drive pulleys are so rusted that I don't feel confident in even turning the engine over. I will need some advice on how to change the pulleys and deal with timing.

 

The time just flies doesn't it. I finally tracked down all the parts I needed and a few extras. I got the cam locks from Verell and some other bleed screw doodads. The weather here near Atlanta is finally cooling down and I want to get back in the shop and start getting this 328 back on the road.

I need to replace the lower drive pulleys, they are in pretty bad shape and don't feel comfortable even turning the engine by hand on them. I got the crankshaft pulley bolt off and am curious if there is anything special that needs to be done to remove the pulleys. I was going to put the cam locks in, make temp markings on everything for alignment, remove the tensioners and belts, and use the special nut tool on the dewalt impact driver (the big one that I used to make light work of removing the crankshaft pulley bolt), and just remove the pulleys (being careful of the keys) and just replace them and use new nuts. Is that the procedure? Any tips and/or tricks?

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

I did buy a bunch of seals and bearings in case it was easy to replace things once I have the pulleys off. It looks like I would have to remove the cam sprockets too to get those plastic covers off the engine to get behind the pulleys to replace bearings. I have noticed, most people remove those on their engines. Should I remove them and keep them off? Is there a reason people remove them?

I also wanted to ask about replating/powder coating. I have a lot of crusty parts in those pics. I want to setup a replate station so I can do the zinc and chromate on nuts and bolts. How do people usually recondition pulleys? Once I have this done, I will finish the belt service.

Also, is there a preferred place to send off the alternator for a rebuild? I would love to get new internals and have it come back looking new.

I love the Blue. It is a beautiful car!

Image Unavailable, Please Login

Thanks for reading!

 

I am bad with time. I have been so busy with work but I have started working on the car again. derekw, I am working towards exactly what you suggested. I would love to try and get the car started by the end of next weekend. I have made some great progress in the last couple of weeks in my spare time. I have been working on the drive pulleys in this thread: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/torque-value-lower-drive-pulley.638672/

I did buy a higher quality boroscope so I can get a look down into the plug holes. I did look at the front bank with my brother's low quality scope and things looks normal. I will post as soon as I have the new belts on and I can turn the engine over.

I can say, the last couple of weeks making progress with the car has been thrilling. I really wonder if it will start. I will take video of my attempt when it is time. Slowing bringing this 328 out of it's long slumber.