mytime1

I just replaced the motor mount on my 06 Cayman S. I found a pretty good video of a boxster replacement which is very similar here:
There are some differences on the Cayman though and I thought I would share some tips here as I found them in all different places.
The Cayman had the 4th bolt referenced in the video above (and the hidden 5th torx 30 bolt) referenced in the Pelican Parts article here:
Porsche Boxster Motor Mount Replacement - 986 / 987 (1997-08) - Pelican Parts Technical Article

I followed everything in the video to the point of having to address the 4th bolt. It is on the top drivers side and is also slotted like the passenger top side. I may have been able to get to it with a box wrench, but I used a 2 ft extension with a swivel head to the 15MM socket and it was much easier to remove. I was not able to remove the mount without removing this bolt entirely. I did leave the passenger side bolt in for removal and replacement. One other note at this point, be careful how far you lower the engine with the jack. I have an aftermarket soul exhaust and it was hitting the underside of the car near the tailpipe. Lower just enough to remove bolts as seen in the video.

Refer to the placement of the 5th torx bolt in the Pelican article above. It will tell you that you have to remove the two bolts holding the mount together to get to the torx bolt. This is a royal pain in the *** with very little space to work. You can remove the torx bolt with the mount still attached.

I used a 1/4 drive with an extension to a torx 30 bit. You have to pull down just a bit on the frame mount on the passenger side to make it work, but there is a little play that will allow you to do this. Once you completely loosen the bolt, I was not able to fully remove it from the housing. (sorry no pic) There really is no need for this bolt at all, so I had enough room that I used a sawzall and cut it in half to be able to remove it. I clamped one end of the bolt with a small pair of vice grips so it wouldn't spin while cutting it.

Had I had all this info in one spot, this job would have been maybe 2.5 hours taking my time, but it took me about 3.5 since I was searching for tips, etc. My car has 115K miles and the bushing had never been replaced. It was cracked and worn on both sides and definitely needed to be done. Also, I did my water pump at 80K miles, but if yours is due, this is a good time to do it since you have really easy access to it once this mount is removed.

Hope this helps someone save some time. Again, sorry for not taking pics.

NAMR6MT

Good info and very thoughtful for those who are going to DIY this. I'm glad you brought up the water pump replacement. Of the seemingly millions of things that can destroy our engines, a failed pump is one of them.

zuch

After watching that video, if I ever need to do that job, I'm doing a coolant change at the same time and I'm going to move those two coolant hoses out of the way!

mytime1

Moving the hoses would have made it easier, but they actually weren't that bad to work around.

velandia

Thanks for the info, I needed to remove the front motor mount to try and replace the plastic front coolant pipe due to leaks. I had to settle for just replacing the seals on the pipe because, while there was just enough room to disconnect the plastic pipe and pull out the old seals and put in the new rubber seals, there was no way to actually remove the plastic pipe with the engine still in the car. As it was, I needed to remove the oil pressure bypass spring just to get clearance on the lower coolant pipe connection to the engine block. It is very frustrating to work on the 987.1 - the "5th torx bolt" you mentioned in the original post is one of those "*&$@# WHY, Porsche, Why?!!" moments, the inability to remove this plastic pipe is another of those frustrating moments. ...And actually having to remove the oil pressure bypass spring to get clearance on the plastic pipe is another! It is almost like Porsche designed the car with no thought to difficulty of maintenance/repair.

BTW, I was able to remove the torx bolt by moving the engine down a bit relative to the chassis, then pulling down on the passenger side of the engine mount (horizontal piece that attaches to the chassis) with a ratchet strap with maybe 200lbs of weight and using a torx with extension to unscrew the torx bolt all the way - it took a long, long time, lots of patience, lots of swearing and lots of "*&$@# WHY, Porsche, Why?!!" exclamations - but it is possible. I am also not putting that bolt back - hope it does not result in any oil leaks around the oil pump area. If it does, I think I would be able to put it back in with lots of time, patience and swearing.

My plan now is to replace that front cooling pipe at a point where a new clutch is needed which would require dropping the engine.

mytime1

That sounds very frustrating. I have found actually while doing most of the work to the car, that it was pretty well thought out from a maintenance standpoint. But you do get those head scratching things like the 5th torx bolt that make you cuss them out. AOS is another tough one.

But once you get everything back together they are so much fun to drive!