First, a note to anyone who reads this and gets the idea that if you find a cheap Porsche with a bad engine, you can just bolt on a few cheap parts and drive it away: No. No. No. With this one I got lucky so far, and it ain't done. Another Boxster that I bought, thinking that it would be easy and cheap to repair ended up needing an engine, a few months of work, and thousands more dollars in parts. I am not skilled, but I am persistent and enjoy learning.
Today I replaced the AOS and drove the car out of the garage. The AOS on the 97-02 models has a clamp on the bottom rubber boot that can be difficult to put back in place. For me, the rest of the job is a simple matter of laying on the floor with my head under the right catalytic converter, working by feel to get everything in place. Easy, and once that clamp magically tightens down with the boot in place, there's no sense in reliving memory of all the times it didn't quite go on right.
First run after I replaced the AOS was smokey at first, but it quickly cleared up. I ran the car until it got up to temperature and the check engine light came on. It needed a little throttle to hold idle. This time it was just two codes p0341 and p1397 – Camshft position sensors. I checked the wires, then sprayed the connectors with contact cleaner. Restarting the engine, everything looked much better.
The video:
https://youtu.be/WknBv2WUHVM
The next important issue with the car is the leak in the coolant tank. I am not going to worry much about that other than my curiosity of exactly where it is coming from. Rick is planning to put a new tank in. Since the soft-top has been removed and the car is going to be out of the garage more often, I set a hardtop on to keep it covered. Looking pretty good.
