Do the required maintenance. I recommend pinning both cam sleeves, and have BBI fittings welded on the coolant system, add the Sharkwerks kit, replace all rubber hoses, etc when the engine is out. Will run great and last super long.

 

I wouldn't describe the cam sleeves as a preventative maintenance thing. It's pretty invasive and expensive and more of a bridge to cross if you come to it.

 

If you have an earlier run 997.1 and if you are dropping the engine for other work and you are going to keep the car forever, do it then. I did it because that small piece of rubber at the end of the steel line to the passenger turbo failed. Engine had to come out, so new rubber, metal elbows, new water pump, pin the pipes and pin the cams were the major items along with the GT2 clutch slave swap, among other things.

I agree though, if you haven't had the failure and have no reason to drop the engine, wait for the failure. It seems to be about 50-50 whether it is the actuator or the cam sleeve slipping.

I had planned to drop the engine this winter for the work (the timing accelerated 6 months by the hose failure) done above since I was planning on keeping the car forever.

It actually was a lot of fun learning about the engine (I may be sick in the head though)!

Ed

 

I am in agreement that pinning the cam sleeves can wait until there is a reason to lower the engine. To r and r the cams is invasive and can be expensive in terms of labor (less $ if you can DIY) but the actual pinning of the cam sleeves isn't too costly. I am going to present some information suggesting not pinning when the engine is down, can be more costly.
Some background. A cam sensor on each side is measuring the flow of oil through the holes in the cam sleeve. When the driver accelorates, increasing the oil flow, the cam sensors send a message to the cam solenoids, to activate thus moving the cam adjusters to change the cam position to match the oil flow. The cam position varies. This is a good thing. An aggressively cammed car engine, wouldn't be good for moderate driving. And a mildly cammed car engine would not be as aggressive as one wants at times. Thus, a variable cam, a car that can drive calmly to the grocery store or run race tempo for hours....a 997 turbo is more like 3 cars in one if you think about it. Back to the cams....the OE cam sleeve is pressed onto the cam shaft. If it partially slips or moves or is moving during driving, the cam sensors use the cam solenoids and cam adjusters to work at keeping the cam at the right positions during driving relative to throttle input (oil flow measured "sensed" at the cam sleeves) etc. This causes these parts to work harder than normal as they try to compensate to adjust the cam position and make up for the slipping sleeves. Imagine holding up a marble with three chop sticks, when the marble is moving. The three sticks would need to be constantly adjusting to keep things straight. In some cases, people get the code, take it to the shop, and find out replacing the cam sensor, solenoid, or adjuster "fixes" that side. Keep in mind, this step requires lowering the engine, a new part or two, and can't be tested until it is all put back together and ran. There isn't a bench test for this. So if you get it wrong, you are dropping the engine again, etc. Even when this "fix" works, if the cam sleeve slipping is still the underlying issue, it is just a matter of time before it repeats or slips so far, the failed cam sleeve can't be pinned and you have to replace the cam. In my car, my bank 2 cam sleeve slipped, and with the engine down I said let's look at the other cam too. We did...it was slipping too. It gets better, the bank 2 cam had slipped so far, and so hard, that the motorsport experts couldn't even reposition the sleeve. It required replacing the cam, a $2,000.00 part. Thankfully, I have an extended warranty that paid for that side, and we made a deal that I would cover the cost of pinning both cams, if they helped $ with some r and r time $. They did. Here is an interesting twist....the new Porsche cam, the new part, well it isn't pinned. According to the tech., they just use a tighter press fit for the sleeves. Now maybe that is sufficient, but, I didn't want to see this movie twice...so, I had both cams pinned, even the new one. I also replaced both cam sensors, both cam solenoids, and both cam adjusters. Replacing these may have been overkill, but those parts had been doing double time making up for cam sleeves slipping on both sides...and at some point my extended warranty will expire, and I just wanted to know all the Kings horses and all the Kings men, won't have to address humpty dumpty cam related issues again! So, yeah, a person doesn't have to pin the cams proactively. One can wait to have the engine down, or maybe wait for the code, timing too advanced bank 2 or 1. But if you decide to or need to address a slipped cam sleeve, bite the $ bullet and pin them both. Attached is a pic of my pinned cams. You have to look carefully to see the pins are actually placed in the oil holes, but hollow to allow oil flow. Some drill a new hole for the pinning.