vntperformance

Great information, thanks for sharing. I'm thinking about relocating from Maryland to the Denton County Area - so this helps a lot!

sayeben

I have a coolant leak on my 09 Turbo and it's looking like the engine has to come out. I'm going to have all the "while you're in there" stuff done as well as pinning the cams. I'm considering having my coolant lines welded instead of pinned. I just spoke with Charlie and he seems very knowledgeable and thorough. He said that he had another 09 Turbo currently taken apart for this exact job; sounds like it may be yours. Please let me know your experience with them. I'm scheduled to drop mine off at the end of August.

mfm3

Yes, Charlie is referring to my car. I should ask for a referral discount. Initially spent about 30 min on the phone with Charlie asking for clutch recommendations and other questions about coolant pipes, cam pinning and other stuff that should be done when the engine is out. That discussion was super helpful. A few days later I received a quote which matched up with all the work we discussed over the phone. I approved the quote via email and they started ordering parts. I guess it took about 4 weeks to receive all the parts and they started working on it last week. Talked to them Monday this week and they had just sent out the cams for pinning.

I approved the quote on 6/07. Hoping to get my car back next week ~ 7/29. So it's taking time, but no surprises so far, and based on other’s comments, the price seems to be reasonable.

midcont

You may want to do ignition coils while engine out, maybe plugs too.
And ask about welding coolant pipes instead of pinning (and do some Rennlist research).

mfm3

I had previously purchased new plugs, coils and a Kline exhaust. I gave the parts to Charlie when I dropped the car. He is charging $100 to install everything.

RedRaider1

Check out Charlie with Innovative Motorsports - https://innovativeautosports.com/ . He's serviced several of our Porsches and does great work.

mfm3

Update:
One of the cam sleeves had started to spin the other was fine. The car has 65K miles.
Very happy with the Kline exhaust.
Posted the invoice to help others contemplating what work to have done in an engine out situation.
Highly recommend Innovative Autosports in Carrolton TX.

sayeben

Thanks for the update. That's great everything went smoothly. I just dropped my car off with Charlie on Friday to have pretty much everything done you did except for the clutch. That's crazy that the cam had partially spun and you didn't have a CEL. Makes me wonder how many cars are out there with partially spun cams.

moxie (SF)

My guess: A LOT. If I owned a 997 Turbo, I would be planning on addressing this if I was going to hold onto the car for any length of time.

signde

thank you again @mfm3 for providing your final invoice and pics of your cams. so basically $13k parts and labor including clutch minus the steering wheel work you had done and without replacing the flywheel. this is really going to help me ballpark when i start getting local quotes for this job.

regarding the partially spun cam, was your car stock? i am reading more and more reports of cars throwing no codes yet having spun cams. i'm of the opinion it's a lot more common than people think at this point.

mfm3

Car is stock
$3,100 for stock clutch and components with higher force pressure plate
$5,400 for coolant pipes including new water pump, reservoir, belt and a bunch of other stuff on top of the motor
$3,100 for cam sleeve pinning
$11,600 total including 8.25% sales tax

Colbysm0913

@mfm3 per your last, it wound up being less than the $13k ish?

mfm3

Final cost:

mgmarsh39

Just got the dreaded P0021 CEL, so looks like I'll be having my cams pinned. Appreciate the transparency of your quote, helps with the decision of which shop to use. Will also call Mayo and Zims to see what their pricing looks like.

saabin

^its not always the worst case scenario when you get the 0021 code.. a few years ago I had one and it ended up being the VVT solenoid on the affected bank.
$250 part was all it cost me.