It is a concern, my first motor bent its valves due to stretched chains, but 20,000 miles since the pad replacements on the second motor, it still has about the same deviations.

Suggest you accumulate a list of to-do issues, drop the engine+trans like New Art suggests.
Much depends on your plans for keeping the car.
For example, with the engine out, you can easily futire-proof the vacuum system,RMS/IMS etc

+ AOS = piece of cake!
+ that horrible coolant reservoir job = easy peasy! :)

I just had the transmission out a month ago for a bunch of precautionary stuff: clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, AOS, IMS, water pump, low temp thermostat. So, I wasn't real excited to take the engine out for the cam chain/tensioner pad work. I did remove the 986 airbox in order to replace it with the 987. With the airbox out there is a lot of room on the left side of the engine to do the camshaft removal/reinstall. I think I have a easy solution to the 987 airbox install. I'll post on it if it works out (it's still a work in progress but it's very promising).

I took out the engine and trans to do mine. I would do it that way again. It wasn't that hard to pull the engine and once out very easy to work on.

To update: I'm in the process of replacing the vario-cam pads. I started with the 1-3 bank as that was the one with the worst cam deviation. I'm doing it with the engine in the car. So far, not a real big deal. The most excitement was taking the header/cat off. I was sure that I was going to break off one or more bolts that attach the header to the head. 0 for 6 on breakage! Used a healthy dose of PB over the course of 24 hours and then used an impact driver. They all popped out intact. I'll replace with stainless steel and high temp anti-seize paste.
The indie that I originally talked to about the cam deviations wasn't too worried and suggested a wait and see approach. One pad was ok. The other was severely worn and crumbled when I pulled it off the vario-cam.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1520472585.jpg

Good on you mate! Good luck on your job. Keep us in the loop!

Now working on 4-6 bank. The cam deviation for this side was 5.3. Since it was within spec (6) I expected the variocam pads to be less worn than on the 1-3 side (7+ cam deviation) that I have already reported on (significant wear). Once again had to remove the header/cat. I thought there was enough room on the 4-6 side that I would not have to remove it. I was wrong. Once again, all bolts came out with a good dose of PB and an impact driver. One of the pads was very worn. Makes me glad I acquired a Durametric when I did and checked the cam deviations. I'm also now a believer in Raby's advice to replace the pads and 4th and 5th timing chains at 40k miles. My 2000 S has 66k miles.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1520652112.jpg