[Jdub]

Hop:

This is tough. Do you assume that you can bring the cylinders back up to spec. via driving or are you looking at another valve job on the car?

I don't mean to question your mechanic, but I would at the very least find someone else who can again confirm that you have wiggle between your valve stem and guide. If this is the case, then you have problems as the guide will not wick the heat from the stem, which is bad.

OTOH, I paid 5.5K for a '78sc Targa with all the upgrades you mention, but had a bad 1st/2nd and had a comp in the #1 equal to what you are seeing. It was brought back to life by Techron runs and daily use. The 915 was rebuilt, and I performed the rest of the bits and pieces on the car (including rebuilding my own Targa top at a cost of about $175.00) so you can see that it can be done cheaply.

I think that you must really concentrate on that valve "problem" so that you can rest assured when you purchase this car. If it turns out that a valve job is needed, then use this fact to bring the price down around $8-9K IF the owner will swallow that figure. That would be a sweet deal.

Jw