355 valve guides & headers

They were supposed to be upgraded after a certain # in 98 I believe though bronze guides have been found in later cars.

Basically they all have the potential to have an issue, or not. I have one of the earliest 95's and it is probably one of the hardest running 355's out there (stock guides and headers). Maybe 13k miles contributes to that.

Headers also were better on later cars from what I have read, but all of them can fail.

Best to look at it as a case by case basis rather than 355's as a whole.

 

All 355s can have header issue- they need to be checked.
All 355s can have valve guide issue- they need to be checked.
Good news is many that needed these items addressed have been corrected by now, although the OEM headers are almost a normal wearing part (life/mileage varies). There isn't an easy way around this- any individual car needs to have a PPI to determine if everything is good to go. If valve guides were updated, nice to have the records/paperwork to go with the car.

 

Watson has posted this about a million times.
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All years have header issues. On my 99 the headers were replaced at 20K miles by Ferrari with new factory ones. I already have in my radar at 28K miles to r/r the factory ones either by ricambi retube or fabspeed. Its a high risk failure that can cost way more than the headers if left unresolved.

95-97 cars have the bronze guides which are the ones that are known for the issues. Not all of course. As James stated, later cars got different material for guides which improved the known issue. I think a leak down and compression test especially on the early cars would be warranted for due diligence.

 

The first thing you should do is called a SEARCH. Truth is each car is different...I dont believe that Ferrari ever upgraded the headers...my 97 had a cracked header at 47k some 99's had it at 13k when you buy a 355 and plan on driving it you need to budget in for headers gotta pay to play with these cars.....My 97 has 46k on it no smoke no oil consumption runs like a raped ape and in the maint history no sign of valve guides replaced...so if its true they started in 98 mine should be shot....nobody knows no matter what they say as to when or if the corrected the valve guides during production...people even say after they starting addressing the issue at the factory some cars still got the old guides...get a good ppi and if everything checks out buy it and drive it......if your going to drive it having a panic attack at every squeak go buy a dodge charger hellcat....its faster and has room for groceries

 

Thought about a Challenger for daily driving, then realized it has the same footprint and weight as a nimitz class aircraft carrier. Not sure why they build those things so huge!

 

Haha yep! What do they weigh, like 4200lbs? Then again, in my opinion, almost all cars are too heavy, including 355's and most other Ferraris. I can't see it being too difficult to build a car weighing 2500 lbs that seats 2 and has V8 power, AC and even power windows and a radio. Or how about a 900 pound Lotus 7 or 1300 pound Caterham 7? I just don't think car companies try too hard because consumers don't care.

The GTR is iconic and it's a pig. What does it weigh, 3800? Then all those AWD Lambos are heavy too. McClaren and Lotus seem to get the light weight thing. Aren't Corvettes just under the 3000 lb mark right now? Not that that's light, but it's lighter than a lot of exotics. And, I must admit I'm already in over my head on this discussion because I don' know a lot of specs about the latest cars.

 

I believe headers continued to be problematic on the 360. Supposedly headers were updated sometime during the F355 production run but no one has ever mentioned when the update occurred, if the type of s/s was changed, or what the thickness of the updated header was.

 

I might add, the headers really are not the problem, but the extremes that they were subjected too as a result of a number of design decisions/issues. I recently disassembled a header that was destroyed and I promise you that the header itself was not the issue.

I suspect that even if the header were made of Inconel, it probably would have failed. The temperatures were so extreme that the header melted like plastic. When I grinded away the failed portion, the tubes were of the appropriate thickness for ANY race ready stainless steel header. The primary tubes were of a reasonable size and the transitions were reasonably decent (not amazing work at the collectors, but acceptable).

The problem was two-fold - First Ferrari enclosed and insulated the headers, allowing now means for the heat to escape except through the catalytic converters, which were prone to overheating and failing. Once the catalytic converters failed, exhaust flow was reduced, the heat trapped, and the EGT's skyrocketed. This is what caused the headers to fail.

 

Yes

I wouldn't put too much stock in that. We all know of several late model cars which have had guide issues.

 

If you want to survive a crash then the cars need the additional structure.

Don't want rattles or squeaks? Stiffness = more material.

Don't want to pay 200k for your vehicle? Then you get steel instead of Carbon Fiber = heavy.


Simple balancing act between cost, safety, and performance.

 

I agree that encapsulating the headers can definitely contribute to the header problem, however I disagree that it is the proper thickness along with the type of s/s used.
Tubi's which are the gold standard, use 304 s/s versus the 409 s/s and also increased wall thickness by around 7mm. The companies that rebuild OEM headers also increase wall thickness.

 

Mine were not magnetic, so I don't think that they were 409ss. Mine appear to be 0.65 wall 304ss or 321ss.

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Good points but I think perhaps the most significant factor is that consumers don't care that cars are heavy.