Hello, I recently bought a 997.1 Carrera and today I finally got it up and could see the undersides. I knew that it would require some work so this is not news to me.

From what I see in the picture, apart from the rusty and spot welded exhaust and cooked headers (the car lived in an island for some years), I see two leaks. Can you help me identify where those might come from? Is there anything else that requires my attention ASAP? It looks like the chassis itself is in pretty good condition and not rusty at all, just dirty. Same with the engine.

 

Those leaks aren't significant enough to touch.
I don't see anything significant enough to touch in an immediate sense.
I'd either drive or do a full update of common failure stuff.
-RMS
-Remove seal from IMSB
-AOS
-Water pump
-spin on oil filter and magnetic drain plug
-clutch
-coils and plugs

 

Thanks for your answer.

That's exactly what it's being done at the moment, along with a new clutch and fluids.

I've been told that the tandem pump cover is prone to rust and leak, I may take it off and give it a good clean.

 

Bell housing seepage is most likely from Rear Main Seal which is very common.
Your undersides look like winter salt region roads.
**Check your coil heat shields They protect Coils from heat and deteriorate from the salt and oxidation and can F up coils badly.

I would spray penetrationg oil carefully on brake caliper nuts/screws'bolts and anything else underneath that is badly oxidized.
Caliper bolts notorious for siezing from oxidation and then need replacing to do brakes.

 

Also I recommend if (no service history on these below) checking/replacing:
-Water Pump
-Thermostat
-Idler Pulleys & Belt
-Check coolant tank for leaks/cracks
-If manual transmission change out the Rear Main Seal when you have transmission dropped for new clutch.
-At that time of replacing clutch, make sure you use OEM Clutch and also replace Flywheel.

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Been buying my parts from them for years and years.

 

I would power wash the bottom and call it good.

 

Yeah agree with the rest here, common failure points and the underside doesn't really look bad, just its age.

 

delete

 

Sounds like OP was asking for answers for car he just purchased? ---->Maybe I'm wrong.

 

looks like a great candidate for dry ice cleaning.... it sure would be satisfying to see the before and after

 

Yes, I just purchased it and I'm in the middle of a refresh, my mechanic just sent me that picture yesterday and it kind of matched what I expected from a car that had been living in Germany for some years and driven on salty winter roads. So a new exhaust is definitely in the list because apparently there's a leak on that one, and I just wanted to assess if there were any clear issues that I hadn't spotted from that picture. Dropping the transmission next week for a new clutch so I'll change the RMS and remove the cover from the IMS bearing as the one this car has is the dual row one and I'm just gonna risk it and run the OEM one.

 

You might also want to check the condition of the crossover coolant pipes, besides the thinks that were already mentioned.

 

That car doesn't have a dual row IMS bearing - those were only used in early 996s. If it's an early 997 it has a small single row bearing and should absolutely be replaced. If a latwr 997 has large single row bearing and can't be replaced but also doesn't fail - remove the outer grease seal when you do the clutch and RMS.

If the water pump is getting close to 50k miles, change that and the sweep belt and check all the pulleys.

That underside actually looks fine other than the salt exposure. It's also either an X51 power kit car or someone has already changed the headers.

 

I believe those are stock headers for the non-S Carrera.

 

Doing a little research, I think you're right. It's interesting that the base engine header is much more similar in design to the X51 header and the normal S header is quite different.

None of them are a particularly good design IMO for properly sequencing exhaust pulses and reducing turbulence in the collectors.