I knowI will get ripped for posting this but can anyone tell me if and when there was a cut off date on the valve guide issue. I was interested in a 97 and the owner told me it was made after the date and the guide on this car do not have to be changed. Any truth to this?
The cut off date is shortly after the last 355 rolled off the production line If you don't believe me do a search
is it safe to say that every 355 will eventually need giudes, or is it a crap shoot and some get lucky and never need them? burning excessive oil and low leak down numbers are the signs of bad guides?
My 1997 had them replaced with a while back ........... its one reason my compression won't allow me to send my motor to enginefxr .........
The changeover was mid-late 1998 production; '99's are ok, late '98's should be ok...but nobody has come up with a definitive s/n for the upgrade.
Somewhere here. I've seen a magic build number (not 27350, but something like that) that supposedly is the change number. (However, some '99s have been found with old guides).
+1 ......... I have heard of a fiorano (last 100 355s) have guide issues. Just get a 355, save money as you go along and sort any issues as they arise. I cannot see a time when I will 'not' be needing a 355 ...............