The spark plug change was not nearly as bad as I was anticipating. I have straight exhaust pipes, so I just removed those. The rest was easy. Only problem....I busted a turbo exhaust stud. It was frozen in there and broke flush with the exhaust flange. How would you suggest removing that? I don't have a tourch, just thinking if it would be possible to back it out after a long soak in PB Blaster. What have you guys tried with success?

 

Try the PB, but you may have to drill the center of the stud and use an easy out, then replace the stud. If you have to go this route, try to make sure you drill the stud very close to dead center, as it takes a decent sized hole/easy out for adequate strength to do the job.

 

I'm thinking it will have to get a strong grip, because it seems really stuck. The exhaust shop did not use any anti-seize. I have not used the easy out b4, but seems like it would be fairly simple if I can get the drill in there straight. Do not want to have to remove the turbo.

 

Hopefully you can get it out with vice grips and PB. If not, you can do it with the turbos on the car. My tech had to do it once when he broke a stud installing an exhaust on a 997TT. I watched him do it on the car (with a lift) and it was not very difficult. Took 15 minutes or so - just be carefull.

Also, FYI - I change plugs without removing anything. You just need a lift. I did it by removing everything the first time, but never again. From under the car, you can access all the plugs/coils and change them out in under 1 hour..

 

well someone please take picture when you change your plug in place next time, i want to see where you are able to squeeze your hands.

 

I have many size extensions and u-joints that helped a lot. From under the car on jack stands, I just removed the 2 heat shields with 2 10mm bolts ea. slide that back, after exhaust is off. The PS front coil pack and the mid DS coild packs are difficult to get the allen/hex socket on, so I used the L shaped allen wrench with a small, but long 7mm wrench to help give reach and leverage on those. To get the difficult plugs, I used the plug socket, small...3" extension, then u-joint and another extension. Difficult to get the big torque wrench on those. I was able to run one arm over the turbo and the bolts I could not reach from there, I went over the intercooler pipes with one hand. I did scrape most of the skin off the back of my hand from the wheel well plastic to get the front DS coil pack out, but did not have to remove anything but the exhaust and heat shields. Porsche actually seems to have allowed just enough room. After rebuilding and wrenching on my 300ZXTT for years, this was a walk in the park, but did still take 4.5 hours. First time tho. I have big hands, so I was fairly pleased with the room that was available. The shop wanted $550 for labor alone. My 996TT has 50K on her, and looked like the plugs were stock/original. They were worn down, I went with EPL's suggestion on the Bosch FR6 LDC's for my tune. Feels like I just modded it. I was getting a misfire with the old, worn plugs, but runs great now. Having the factory exhaust out of the way made it much more easy.