Questions for 308 powered Strats

[Jeff Davison]

planning the install and a couple of things came to mind...

Can the 308 use the stock headers? any other stock pieces from the exhaust?

When instaling the Shifter assembly, at least in the pictures I've seen, it appears that the shift rod locates in the central tunnel. Is this so? If yes, is there enough room for coolant pipes in that location or will alternative routing need to be found?

Thanks!


Jeff Davison

[colin artus]

I didnt use any of the original exhaust system in my installation. If you have got the parts it would be worthwhile trying them otherwise I wouldnt buy original parts. The rear of the engine has quite a lot of space but the front will be tight.
Yes, the gear shift goes down the centre tunnel. I cant remember
if it was possible to get the coolant pipes in as well, but if it was, it entailed some sort of compromise I wasnt willing to make (like reducing pipe diameter). I am using the 308 gearlever assembly which protrudes into the tunnel.It works really well and is much easier to use than trying to get a Beta type gearlever to work. I put the pipes inside the car running along the edge of the passenger footwell and down the sill with a heat resistant cloth covering and a carbon fibre cover. All the control cables run in the centre tunnel.

Colin

[mogul_x]

Jeff,

Doesn't Gerry offer a gear linkage kit for HF2400 and HF3000QV models? I thought he said that the two were essentially identical, since the transmission used in the Ferrari Dino was the same as the 308. I think even the motor mounts are the same.

At least, that's what it looks like in the old copy of the sales literature I have. Ironically, the HF2400 and 3000QV were listed at the same price as the Beta kit, whereas the Alfa engined kit carried a premium. The cost for the gear linkage on the Ferrari engined cars was P.O.A., of course.

Just a thought, anyway....

[Jeff Davison]

Scott,

The Ferrari uses a dedicated quadrant shift box that is directly mounted to the transmission. There is no "linkage" as such as in the Alfa / Beta setups.

Gerry is already putting together a "craddle" for the 308 for me that will weld up into the frame. (probably after the removal of the Alfa/Beta mounts.

for Colin:

The question on the headers came from the observation of installs that I've only seen (not talked with the owners) It looks like the stock Ferrari header were used but with the "metal sheath wrap" removed.

Jeff

[Jeff Davison]

Just came to mind....

What did you all do for drive shafts when the 308 lump went in? Stock Ferrari drive shafts? How well do the splines match up wit hte hubs? etc...etc...

THANKS

Jeff

[colin artus]

I had shafts made to suit. However I am using Ford inner CVs (Escort Cosworth ), they fit the Ferrari output flanges. I dont know if they have the same spline type as the 308.
Parts like CVs tend to be common throughout the Ford empire so you should be able to find a match in the US if you want to try this route.

Colin

[Chris Jarvis]

Colin

Have you managed to get the gear shift stick unit under the height of the centre tunnel?

I noticed on a QV engined car in Gerry Hawkridge's workshop, that the gear stick unit was installed with the gate still showing at the top.

[colin artus]

No, the gearlever assembly sits proud of the centre tunnel. There is a picture of my cars interior in the photo section that shows this. If the gate was mounted much lower then the gearlever would have to be correspondingly longer. This would make the gearchange seem very slow and ponderous. The gearknob falls to hand very nicely as it is now.

Colin

[Chris Jarvis]

Colin

I've had a look at the photos. Your car's fantastic, well done.

Does the gearstick unit have the conical spring above the ball or below it? The spring on mine is broken in two.

[colin artus]

Its below. Its there to return the lever to the centre of the gate.
Get yourself a copy of the 308 parts manual - all this stuff is in there. Try Superperformance.

Colin

[Chris Jarvis]

Colin

I have got all the exploded drawings for a series 2 308 GT4 with Italian text and a service book for a series 1 with English text.

The series 1 has the spring above the ball, you see.

Your right though, I could do with more literature.

The engine in this looks a similar vintage to yours, but I suppose you can get a two valve from anything up to a GTBi or Mondial 8.

[chris.richard]

Is a dictionary the best way to translate manuals, or is there some clever web facility? Or nightclasses?:cool:

[colin artus]

Chris

I wouldnt have thought there was much difference, if any, in these parts between a GT4 and the GTb.

I will try to be a bit clearer;
The spring sits on the gearlever shaft between the upper ball (housed in the upper casting,forming the pivot) and the lower ball which sits in a cup on the sliding/rotating shaft (housed in the lower casting ). The large end of the cone (spring) is down.
I will see if I can scan my parts manual, however the page is a bit scuzzy (oil stains!)

Colin

[rutthenut]

Originally posted by chris.richard
is there some clever web facility?

As used by many schoolkids and students, there is a translation service on the web.

It's called babelfish (HHGTTG - if you know of it) and is part of the Alta Vista search engine/portal site.

http://babelfish.altavista.com/

No doubt there are others too, but this is one that I know of. I did once create an SMS gateway facility that would accept a phrase from an SMS message and return the translation from this site back to your mobile phone, but that's some time ago now.

No idea if it will know of any 'technical' terms that may come from your manuals though

[mogul_x]

All,

I've used Babelfish fairly extensively when dealing with European customers at work. German and Italian, mostly. It does a pretty good job of translating conversational language, but is somewhat inconsistant on technical language. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've gotten some hysterically funny translations of chassis component names.

Translating from Italian to English, it should be OK. Just be aware that the terminology might be a little off.

[rutthenut]

Originally posted by mogul_x
I've used Babelfish fairly extensively when dealing with European customers at work.

Does it offer an American-to-English translation service then?

:p :eek: ;)

Sorry Kitties!

[mogul_x]

Originally posted by rutthenut
Does it offer an American-to-English translation service then?


Babelfish doesn't, but here's a site that might help....

http://esl.about.com/library/vocabulary/blbritam.htm

And for a couple of the more obscure American Dialects:

http://rinkworks.com/dialect/

I'd better stop... I think we may be on the verge of a kitty megadeath.:D

[rutthenut]

Originally posted by mogul_x
And for a couple of the more obscure American Dialects:
http://rinkworks.com/dialect/

I like that one. How about the Redneck Stratos Supersite, at:

http://rinkworks.com/dialect/dialectp.cgi?dialect=redneck&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.stratossupersite.com

:D

[chris.richard]

Originally posted by mogul_x

Translating from Italian to English, it should be OK. Just be aware that the terminology might be a little off.

What, worse than the Alfa Romeo manuals?:D

[Jeff Davison]

please :rolleyes:

[Chris Jarvis]

I wouldnt have thought there was much difference, if any, in these parts between a GT4 and the GTb.

Colin

My gearstick is how you described it, exept the spring's in two parts now!

I think the series 2 GT4 is like a GTB and the the series 1 GT4 is like a 246 (I'm guessing). The spring is definitely above on the earlier type though, I know, I have a diagram.

The gate on mine was on the wrong way round for some reason too. I wondered how I managed to nearly get reverse while rolling forwards?

I only took it apart to clean the muck out of it. I think there's 20 years worth of it in there, and there's nothing to stop it falling into the upper ball.

By the way, this info on translation is valid. The Italian for spring is 'Molla'. I worked that out myself. Just another few thousand to go!

[colin artus]

Have you tried getting a new spring from Ferrari (Marenello Consessionaires)? They keep a lot of parts for older cars.
Once youve got a spring you can try it to see where it should go.

Colin