[Overdrive]

Philintl, I don't think it's really specific to any model years. For all we know the quality and tolerances of the parts of the Boxster that came down the assembly line right after yours blew its engine in 6 months. But that's part of the problem, too...we will never really know how serious the problem is or was from year to year in the first two Boxster generations.

As for the slipped sleeves, porous blocks, and those other issues that happened to early cars, I believe that was only on early 1997 models. It's not an exact science by any means, but I'd say look for a car that was built in late 1997 that would still be a 97 model (around August/97), or get a very late 97 build which is most likely an early 98.

Do you happen to know what the build date was on the placard on your car's driver's side door jamb? It would be very interesting to find out that yours was a very late 96 or early 97 build and survived as well as it did.