[Barry]

Originally Posted by Barry

Then smoke started coming out of the glove box, both driver and junior co-pilot nearly sh** ourselves (pardon my French), pulled over, exited car, stress levels at max and I thought "What am I doing? Why didn't I just trade up for a 430 like I first thought of doing??!!"

Well first classic issue ironed out on the GT4. After my smoking glove box I drove the GT4 home with no lights on for most of the way and "the fear" keeping a firm grip of me with each mile...

Once home I noticed that a bizarre variety of lights didn't work.
1) front fog lights
2) front parking light passenger side
3) rear reg plate light driver side
4) rear parking light driver side

Check on the fuse board showed that all fuses were working correctly. Check on the bulbs in question also showed that the bulbs were all working correctly.

My brother, (thankfully) is an electrician so he set about testing cables for volt readings and such like and in a very short amount of time realised that different fuses were being fed by 1 electrical supply. For example on the 308 GT4 fuse 14 and 15 are both fed by an electrical supply to fuse 14. Because fuse 15 had overheated and melted the plastic surround, it had effectively severed it's supply (from fuse 14) in the process. A little bit of rewiring later and fuse 14 and 15's various functions now work perfectly again! In any case I am awaiting my Birdman fuse blocks which I will install anyway.

What did make me smile was the fact that at some point in the 70's an Italian engineer made a conscious decision that fuse 15 would control the 4 items above. Where was logic at that meeting..... Classic Ferrari's, electrics, Italians,... I suppose these things are to be expected.

Anyway the good news is, I'm just back from a 40 minute drive, front fogs on all the time, all other lights working perfectly and no smoke.

Oh and each drive gets better than the one before...

[brettgagnon]

Great news, and then you can do your very first ferrari maintenance project by yourself!

[Boxer]

Well done.

But I would still install the Birdman block.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by Boxer

Well done.

But I would still install the Birdman block.

Definitely. Will be installed as soon as it arrives.

[Pete04222]

Yeah, the wiring is a mess on that car. But at least it is a simple mess not involving computers or anything and you've got an electrician brother to help you out! There's nothing on that car that will be beyond his abilities, like you said just sorting out the stuff the Italians slapped together 30 years ago, and he'll be happy telling his mate's he spent the afternoon sorting out his brother's Ferrari.
Glad to hear of your progress. Once you change out the box you will find everything on the car works better.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by Pete04222

Once you change out the box you will find everything on the car works better.

That's what I'm hoping.

[Barry]

It's heading up to Belfast on Friday also for 4 new XWXs and a service/check over.

All just in time for the winter!

[Pete04222]

Does your's still have the original point type ignition? It works great until it fails and then it only makes sense to swap it to electronic ignition. Don't lose sleep over the points, drive the car and enjoy it. The multiple sets will always allow you to get home. Just don't mess around when you change them. The cost of swapping the car to electronic is about the same as a new set of points. Backfiring will let you know the low speed points set has failed.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by Pete04222

Does your's still have the original point type ignition?

Simple answer to that Q is, I don't know!

[Pete04222]

Originally Posted by Barry

Simple answer to that Q is, I don't know!

Cool. One less thing to worry about. If you've got points you'll know in about 2 years.

[Pete04222]

Actually, now that I think about it, remembering your picture, your car only has one distributer so it must have already been changed over to electronic ignition. The point-type ignition has 2 distributors.

[Brian]

Originally Posted by Pete04222

Actually, now that I think about it, remembering your picture, your car only has one distributer so it must have already been changed over to electronic ignition. The point-type ignition has 2 distributors.

All US cars had 2 distributors and all others had one. Electronic ignition was an option on single distributor cars. Only US cars had what you call "low speed points". It was all about emission compliance.

[Barry]

Originally Posted by Pete04222

Actually, now that I think about it, remembering your picture, your car only has one distributer so it must have already been changed over to electronic ignition. The point-type ignition has 2 distributors.

Pete
this make sense so...? (mine's a 1977 Series 2)

Taken from Keith Bluemel’s book, “The Original Ferrari V8”.

Distributor drive was taken off the left-hand end of both inlet camshafts on twin-distributor models, but only the forward inlet camshaft on single-distributor models, European Series 1 cars and all US and Australian cars had two Magneti Marelli S159A distributors (one for each bank of cylinders), while European Series 2 cars had a single Magneti Marelli S127G distributor until January 1978. After this date European cars were fitted with a Magneti Marelli AEI 200A inductive discharge electronic ignition system, utilising distributor type SM805A.

[Pete04222]

Good info Brian. I know because of the high revving engine it had to have the low speed points to get the thing to idle at less that 800 rpms and still have the thing scream to 7,800 rpms without the points floating. That's why Ferrari went with the two 4-cyl ignitions rather than a single 8-cyl ignition. Not sure how they got a 500 rpm idle and 7,800 rpm redline on a single distributor with points?

[Brian]

Originally Posted by Pete04222

Good info Brian. I know because of the high revving engine it had to have the low speed points to get the thing to idle at less that 800 rpms and still have the thing scream to 7,800 rpms without the points floating. That's why Ferrari went with the two 4-cyl ignitions rather than a single 8-cyl ignition. Not sure how they got a 500 rpm idle and 7,800 rpm redline on a single distributor with points?

That had nothing to do with it. The second set retarded the ignition. That was required because so much air was drawn in by the crankcase venting system and charcoal cannister system that the carbs could not be turned down far enough. Also a retarded setting will clean up the exhaust all by itself.


None of those are suppose to idle below 1000 rpm. The carbs just dont meter well at that low an airflow rate.

[Pete04222]

Originally Posted by Barry

Pete
this make sense so...? (mine's a 1977 Series 2)

Taken from Keith Bluemel’s book, “The Original Ferrari V8”.

Distributor drive was taken off the left-hand end of both inlet camshafts on twin-distributor models, but only the forward inlet camshaft on single-distributor models, European Series 1 cars and all US and Australian cars had two Magneti Marelli S159A distributors (one for each bank of cylinders), while European Series 2 cars had a single Magneti Marelli S127G distributor until January 1978. After this date European cars were fitted with a Magneti Marelli AEI 200A inductive discharge electronic ignition system, utilising distributor type SM805A.

Yes, that answers everything. For some reason Ferrari put the electronic ignition on the Euro cars and retained point type ignition on the US cars. I bet the idle speed is higher on the Euro cars. That would explain what Brian was saying about emmision compliance. For the USA destined cars they couldn't get the idle down low enough and still retain high speed performance. Hence the 2 dual point distributers. With the original points I could idle my car around 500 rpms. When I switched it to electronic I had to increase the idle to about 750-800 rpms.

[Pete04222]

Originally Posted by Brian

That had nothing to do with it. The second set retarded the ignition. That was required because so much air was drawn in by the crankcase venting system and charcoal cannister system that the carbs could not be turned down far enough. Also a retarded setting will clean up the exhaust all by itself.


None of those are suppose to idle below 1000 rpm. The carbs just dont meter well at that low an airflow rate.

Well I sure do know that this is a tricky balancing procedure. You adjust idle speed on the carbs and the timing changes, you adjust the timing and the idle changes. Mine's now electronic with a 800 rpm smooth idle. It will go to redline smoothly without pings so I'm happy.

[Barry]

You learn something (or half learn in my case) everyday.
Thanks guys...

[Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS]

I must say the conversation is an intersting one for a screwdriver only guy like myself. (Not that I understand the content). w/ smiles Jimmy

[Pete04222]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Chen Shiba DDS

I must say the conversation is an intersting one for a screwdriver only guy like myself. (Not that I understand the content). w/ smiles Jimmy

Yeah Jimmy, we know you are a "pedals and steering wheel" kind of guy.
"So Jimmy, how does the Ferrari work?"
"Well, the pedal on the right makes it go faster and the pedal in the middle makes it go slower. The pedal on the left you push if you want to move the shifter thingy."