These engines can be rebuilt to higher standards than the factory produced...refer to board sponsor
www.flat6innovations.com for answers.
Years ago, Porsche did not want to rebuild the engines and would replace defective ones with remanufactured. The engines still had the inherit problems of the original, so all you were doing is swapping for another period of time. Jake Raby's rebuilds address all these weaknesses and provide a solid engine from day one. Of course, Porsche produced thousands of the M96 for both the 986, 996 and newer cars; the failure rate is quite low, though not without disregard.
The key to these engines is frequent oil changes; do not follow the extended schedules as originally published. If oil is changed every 5-6k miles, many of the failures associated with oil breakdown/contamination should be reduced.