7th November 2014 heads stripped of all the bits . 2 of the sodium filled exhaust valves decided to shear at the stem head junction.
They seemed perfectly ok until I gave the spring compressor a bit of a tap to loosen the collets.   Didnt take a lot to fall apart.   Good thing I decided to change them for more modern metalurgy.

29th September 2014
Got one of the heads off today . Still dont know if the valves are sodium filled or not.  Might have to take one out , apparently thete is a part number near the top of the stem.  Everything else seems to be ok.
The bores have no ridges or scoring.

27th Sept 2014
Carbs and rocker covers off.

 25Sept 2014
Finally  rigged up the crane and pulled the engine out. Tight as'!!
Had to remove front heat shield and front manifold mid lift. The two long studs from the rear rocker cover got stuck under the deck lid latch. I was going to remove them but could not find a stud remover the right size.
Did not remove the engine mounts or the clutch housing . Used an old carpet to protect the paint and rear window.

18 Sept 2014  removed alternator to get access to alternator and starter wiring. Alternator pivot bolt stuck 'had to use impact gun to get it out. Once out it has a cover plate on the back that needs removal before conectung wire can be removed. Once out alows access to starter motor connection. The starter is under the front exhaust manifold . Managed to unscrew starter wire with a 3 foot extension.  Removed carbon canister, oil cooler, and some water hoses on the right hand side.
6 hours of work and still more bits before engine can come out.

9 September 2014  having made the decision to pull the engine and replace the exhaust valves, I launched into ripping everithing appart. Today I removed the muffler assembly and the rear exhaust manifold.

To remove the rear manifold i had to first remove its heat shield then the handbrake linkage bracket then the torque bar from the rocker cover. By dropping the manifold and then twisting it left 90 deg I  was able to extract it through the top. This thing is like one of those chinese puzzles.

I have noticed a couple of strange things that would indicate that the engine has been removed before. A few loose and missing bolts, original rusty rear nanifold and a newish looking stainless front one.

I just wish I new more of the cars history 

Ferrari 308 GT4  1976  F106AL   *12438*

The car adopted me in August 2014 as its new custodian. It has 48294 Miles or Km on the clock.  The speedo is in Km but the odometer has an M next to the readout. I suspect that the car may have originally been sold in England and subsequently made its way to Japan and then to Australia . It has sat in a garage in Queensland for the last 17 years without being  started or driven. The previous owner purchased the car in 1996 at a Shannons auction in Melbourne.  Shannons sold the car for a person that lived in Frankston and apparently spent a fair bit of time in Japan. Little else is known about the car. There is no owners manual, no service books and no receipts of any kind.

 This 76 GT4 has Ferrari badging with the prancing horse on the bonnet steering wheel and next to the rear number plate. The badging changed in 1975 from Dino  to Ferrari. One of my neighbours has a 1975 Dino. We have compared the cars, his has the dino badging and a different front spoiler.



The 308 Gt 4 has a 3L V8 engine with 4 belt driven overhead cams and 2 valves per cylinder head.
In standard European tune it  produces 255HP at
7700 RPM . The US spec has air pumps and other pollution goodies that bring that HP figure down to just over 200.

All the cars however have a quartet of dual throat 40mm down-draft Webbers. That produce an amazing roar at high RPM. This along with the flat crank design of the engine is what makes that famous Ferrari music.

 7th September 2014
There are a couple of features of the Ferrari engine that can be a bit frustrating.
Firstly the cam belts:
The cam belts are a service item that need to be replaced every 30000 ks  along with the belts it is recomended that the tensiner pulley bearings and waterpump be done at the same time.  This in it self is a fairly standard job with a couple of really strange anomalies.  The tensioners have springs to set the initial tension. Once this is set by turning the engine over a couple of times, the tensioner is tightened and set. The other issue is access.
This is achived by removing the back wheel, inner guard, alternator waterpump belt, aircon brackets and setting the compressor to the side. Also removing the right hand fuel tank. This provides access to the alloy belt covers, the front one is easy to remove, just undo the dipstick nut and the 3 bolts and slide it over the studs and its off.  However when you undo the nuts onvthe rear one and try to slide it off the chassis tubing interferes so its impossible to remove.  Enzo! what were you thinking ? This is a normal service item!
There are 3 ways around this: 1 Pull the engine 2 undo the engine mounts and jack up the right side of the engine to get clearance and try not to damage the gear shift linkage or anything else. 3 get the studs out with a stud puller. I pulled the studs and will replace with same length bolts.

Secondly the sodium filled exhaust valves.

These engines have sodium filled exhaust valves with an 8mm stem. They are brittle and as the guides wear a bit and a bit of carbon builds on the back of the valve they can close unevenly  causing the heads to shear off.
When this happens at 7700rpm it will put a hole in the piston. And maybe break a whole lot of other stuff.

I have searched all the ferrari forums to gain a better understanding of the likelyhood of this actually happening. Oppinions are divided but the fact is that it does happen and while other cars use sodium filled valves they generally have larger diameter stems. It is commonly said that the failure only happens at high RPM.

I didn't get a ferrari to drive around like an old woman. I want to hear those horses sing!
I guess ill just have to pull the engine rip of the heads and replace the valves with some modern metallurgy.