In case someone in this forum is bidding on the following car: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260667710047 The listing looks pretty good. I drove 3 hours each way to look at it. It's not perfect but decent enough to be a driver. I have detailed pictures if you are still interested in it after reading my entire post. The deal breaker for me was the compression test results. Here is what the seller sent me: We did the compression test here at the dealership and this is what they are Dry wet Cyl 1 150 180 Cyl 2 145 160 Cyl 3 150 165 Cyl 4 145 160 Cyl 5 145 190 Cyl 6 145 200 Cyl 7 132 165 Cyl 8 130 165 He was willing to drop his asking price by $2000 to compensate for the poor results. Need I mention that a 355 engine rebuild will be at least 10x more? The seller seems honest and straightforward if you ask the right questions although I probably wouldn't describe the car as excellent...
Yeah, those numbers look rotten. Thanks for posting. The seats look like Mike Tyson's tiger was driving and the console has the "stickies" beyond belief. Not to mention the tell-tale dash "pull" - especially around the passenger airbag. Current owner just spent $16k to get it to this condition? The future owner will probably need to dump at least another $10k to get it where it should be.
The only good thing about this car is that its a 95 2.7. Everything else is a minus. Car is worth around $43,000 at best.
Just from memory...I'm sure that someone smarter than me will chime in (or you could just do a search) - want to see less than 10% variance between high and low #s on compression - ideally, they'd average above 200 - on leak down (which wasn't reported here) you want 3% or less...5% start to get nervous...anything over 5%, run away - oh yeah, and one of the cylinders is notorious for always being 'low' on compression #s for the 355s... I think it's either #3 or #7
I would think you could do a quick test on the low cylinders with a bit of oil to see if it is the rings or something else causing the low compression. Would low compression on one cylinder automatically mean a full rebuild? Or just an inspection of each bore with replacement of components (rings, piston, or cylinders as needed)? Obviously this means pulling the engine and then dismantling a good portion of the top end...
That's a cold hard fact! I'm in that same boat. If the car has been driven like it was intended the engine will only last 40k.
Nonsense - there are many many 355 that have not self-destructed at 40000 genuine miles - there are threads here about cars with around 100 000 miles which have had no significant rebuilds - normally because they have been properly used
I've done total rebuilds on as low as 12,000 miles and 42,000 miles was the highest mileage one I've done so far. It all depends on how it's been maintained...... One common thing I've found is if it has been driven very far with bad headers.
I would say that would depend on someones definition of "proper". Every time I drive my Ferrari it's going to 8500 rpm at least 5 times & probably closer to 50 times. 15 years & 40k miles later the engine is going to need a rebuild.
If you take the engine to redline on every shift (like the car was meant to be driven) I'd say 40,000 is about right. Baby it and just cruise around and 100,000+ should be doable. RPM is the killer of moving parts, more heat, more friction etc. Think about an engine turning 2000 rpm between each gear change. It is not working very hard and friction/heat are kept low. Now shift each gear at 8000. Your are wearing the engine at 4x the rate and traveling the same mileage. I know my comparison is not that linear but you get the idea. My 2000 Civic Si daily driver is due for a rebuild and only has 98,000 miles. The first owner drove the car like he stole it (track days etc) and even though he used good fluids and changed them regularly the 8000 rpm redline/100hp per liter engine can only maintain those numbers for so long. There is a reason Ferrari only warrantied for 24 months. Rob
Can we use that one for a dyno test mule? I have to send some of my dyno parts to Uncle Jessie and get this ball rolling first though.
You'd probably get better results dynoing jetfxr's weasle..... Uncle Jessie is still trying to fix a "hard" problem he encountered on his last fishing trip......as for the ball rolling that may fix his code blue condition.
Im not getting into the whole Porsche is better than Ferrari and visa-versa cause i love them both.... but my 964 turbo has over 141,000 miles on it and pulls like a freight train..........I am considering buying a 348 or testarossa, should i consider any car with over 40,000 miles to be all used up???
No way, at 36k my 355 was over 200-210 on each with little variation (don't recall actuals now, buried in my records somewhere).
Thats the trouble with posts as earlier it scares people off unnecessarily The genuine mileage on most 348 is above 40 000 and a short search here will show testarossas doing over 100 000 miles eg Jim/Napolis
Looking over the car's records, I did see the car had leaking headers replaced (with factory parts). I don't know how long it was driven with bad headers though.
