How certain is valve guide failure in 3.2s?

[charleskieffner]

hey heres a little german racing elf tip..........if you run the snot out of your engine in a dusty environment(ARIZONA!)............put a new K & N on...........and change the oil/filter after each dusty track session................and that engine will LOVE YOU!

if we can make a pissant 1600 motor last ALL SEASON for a year, running in silt beds for miles and miles and miles with just changing oil/filters and air filters, i'll do it on my 3.2. its a lot cheaper than a rebuild anyday.

[livi]

I am with you, Charles. With racing other regimes apply. I am not even sure about the truth in my previous post. But I remember it was discussed in previous threads. Does not even seem very logical, but who knows.

[charleskieffner]

livi............oil is cheap. filters are cheap. air filters paper or K & N are cheap. not many here unless running on track are ever running these engines to redline. even on open highways here anything over 85 MPH and you are going to jail! no ifs ands or buts!

if anything p-cars are not run enough. they sit on the worship vestibule in a garage for months. that is the real culprit to most problems. the same as planes and boats that are not used alot.

i feel everyone here should bite off a few auto-x's, de's, track time a year just to run these engines. we are not some hot shoe race team. my bimmer buddy and i have made it very clear that we will be very happy taking both our cars 1-3 times a year(weekends) to the track.

i hate driving my car in the city, highways are great when you get out of town for a nice little romp.my P.O ran my car an average of ONLY 5000 miles a year!!!! before i bought it. not alot for here in arizona which has no mass transit, and maricopa county being biggest county in the U.S. now. everything is a drive especially if you live in rural area like myself.

the mileage seen at the last PCA concours on some of these cars was unreal! they were literally trailered there and back. they were museum pieces!

i didnt buy a museum piece!.......................there is NOTHING BETTER THAN REDLINING ALL 5 GEARS!...........if you can! LOL!

porsche ownership aint cheap, but worrying about something like valve guides on a 87-89 is not something i loose any sleep over. and as mentioned before............i cant wait to rebuild my engine!

if i owned another boat..........and hit a rock with my drive, theres $5000 bucks for a new drive, right there! POO HAPPENS!

[450knotOffice]

Meanwhile my guy with the recent
top-end rebuild on the 160k mile car he is selling called me
to lower his price some more because he wants to really
sell soon.

umfan866, have you seen the car you mention with the rebuilt top end? If I were you, I'd give that car a serious look-over. If the engine has a new top end and the bottom end has been left alone (most likely), then that engine is more than likely going to last at least another 100K miles, which will take you maybe a decade to amass.

Seriously. That car's valve guide issues are behind it now. So the question becomes, how is the rest of the car? How's the transmission? Interior? Suspension? Alignment? Wheels/tires? These are the things you need to look at now. If they are fine and the car drives well, arrange for a PPI and buy it.

I think the $25K, low mileage Carerra is overblown. Are you trying to buy a show car or an almost equally beautiful car that has been used as intended and exercised all it's life?

I can point you to so many people on this board who have truly beautiful, daily driven, very high mileage Carreras that were purchased for $15K or less (sometimes a lot less).

[umfan866]

450knotOffice,

Yes I have seen this car with the rebuild, and driven it.
The seller (silverm5) is also a Pelicanite but hadn't posted
it here. I told him to, so here it is:

1987 911 carrera Coupe, white, rebuilt engine + more $13800 FIRM

Yes everything is fine, this is the most free-revving
911 that I have test-driven, and the G-50 even got some sort
of reinforcement update when it was serviced, carfax came
out clean, only issues are a crack in the dash, a palm-sized
dent high in the right passenger door, A/C needs to be
charged, a couple speakers in the door panels need speaker
grills, an intermittent dash buzzing noise (which I didnt hear
during my test run) and the engine sound-pad is missing so the back wall when looking in from the engine-compartment looks
like spidery wallpaper (a used engine pad would cover it
back up).

I need to pass on this car ONLY because I haven't
completed the list of things that my wife requires me to do
before buying a 911. That's sad, but a deal (with my wife)
is a deal. If this car is still around in a few weeks when I
have done what I have done, I will most likely buy it.
Otherwise, the other cars I have on the menu to look at
all do NOT have a top-end done (one at 55k miles, one
at 94k miles, both Red/black 3.2/G50s). Given this thread,
it will probably be wisest to pass on those and wait for
the next 3.2/G50 with top-end to come along...

Marvin

[ianc]

Wow, someone is going to get a screaming deal on that...

ianc

[umfan866]

Yep if anyone wants to do a PPI I just called my mechanic Ralph
Kirberg (www.kirbergmotors.com) and he'll do a leakdown/ compression test and full PPI for $300.00 ... I trust him he sure knows his 911s...

his take on the valve guide issue is that yes some of the 3.2 G-50s had it, and since it causes people to burn oil, many people would always carry some oil with them and keep adding oil, but they were able to get away with adding (and burning) a LOT OF OIL before being forced to do the top-end rebuild, since the repair cost for a top-end is so high..