7000$ later.. Boxster is back tearing the roads! i guess that's a realistic figure not the 4000$ i was hoping for initially. a guy can dream right?
for that price i got an almost brand new engine with only 20,000 miles on it and it looked brand spanking new inside and out. fells a lot quicker too and smooth as butter. guess the old one lost a few ponies along the way, no surprise there.
all of the above mentioned parts were put on it with the addition of a new flywheel at the tune of another 700$ (mine was toast) and some transmission mounts (mine were leaking) and a few other knick knacks. My mechanic had to do a lot more work that he was hoping for but he went over everything and drive train wise it should not need anything major for a good while so i feel it was a good investment and the best part.. i have my Boxster back! it took half of mile of driving when i picked it up to forget all about the money and it right away put a smile on my face
at the end of the day i made the right decision to fix it up and most importantly to replace not rebuild and that decision i owe to the excellent advice on here. you guys are awesome and in hard times like these the forum proves to be the best resource.
when my mechanic pulled the filter again there was A LOT more metal and plastic so we were both very happy we didnt go the rebuild path, it would have cost a lot more.
the DOF IMS bearing was intact so it was something else that failed. he didnt crack the case yet but he will. so far i'm going with hydraulic cam adjuster failure which sent it out of timing but when we'll know for sure i'll update.
at this point i am just happy to have it back and enjoy all the power the new engine is making. with everything revised and drive train more tight it feels REALLY good.
next step is to patch up my struts with used ones from Woody which hopefully will hold me a year or so until i can recover financially and finally put a sport suspension or coilovers.
yes i still have a 130,000 miles Boxster that is not worth too much on the market but since i am planning on keeping it it's worth more to me and my personal enjoyment and you can't put a price on that!