Motor Mount Fail
 

Based on all of the advice on the forum, I replaced my front motor mount last week (1999 with 90K miles) and here is what I found:

http://i1114.photobucket.com/albums/...otorMount2.jpg

As you can see, the solid rubber portions of the mount are cracked. The cracks go all the way through. There was really nothing holding the motor in place, it was just kind of rattling around in the mount. I never heard or noticed anything, the car drove and sounded fine.

If you have an older Boxster, you might want to check your mount.

what replacement mount did you go with?

I went with the factory rubber mount but I upgraded to the four-bolt style. I was worried about excessive engine vibration from the solid and semi-solid engine mounts.

There is much on this and other forums about this troublesome mount. Usually causes a 3000 rpm shutter. You were lucky. Changing this mount should be part of PM on these cars.

That's just what mine looked like at about 80k. The only symptom was a "clunk" under hard acceleration when shifting between 2nd and 3rd gears. I too opted for the OEM for the same reasons you mentioned. After replacement, which was a PITA (I don't think I had the car high enough in the air), I had hoped the shifting would be more crisp, but I haven't noticed any difference.

+2, the front engine mount on my 02S was in the same badly cracked condition at 81k miles and I replaced with a new Porsche engine mount.