Our 997 Turbo Customer accumulated a fair amount of aggressively driven miles since 2008 and he was on the fence about keeping his Mk.1 Turbo! He was becoming increasingly concerned about a possible or eventual Mezger GT1 Coolant Pipe Failure. Simply put, coolant dumping on the rear tires at the track or on the street = a very bad day!

He, like so many others had done enough research on documented cases to make him rather uneasy (Thanks Internet)! It seemed that the coolant pipe replacement process was becoming the norm for Turbo Cars and NA Cars with Mezger Engines. This issue is arguably the only ***** in the armor of the legendary Mezger GT1 Engine.

With these thoughts looming in the back of his mind, he was convinced he would not be able to truly enjoy the Turbo until he addressed the GT1 Coolant Pipe Issue once and for all!

Safety first, right?

He decided to bring the car to GSR Autosport to proactively address the issue and finally have piece of mind.

 

you guys are pretty close by me, can you PM a quote for this job please??

 

i'de roll the dice.
100+k miles from both my metzger turbos and this was never an issue.

 

My 3 kids love riding in this car, quite a sight to be seen with all the kid seats installed and rolling down PCH and that's why its at GSR....peace of mind. Its a well documented problem and odds are probably against me but the cost is not bad and probably one of the cheaper 'mods' if you look at it that way.


Think about doing it next time your plugs / belt are due and the added cost is not that bad.

 

I was planning on doing it since the engine was down for other reasons. But at a cost of 2gs I figure I'd get them to examine the connections. If the pipes end up leaking later I'm only out the $600 additional cost of dropping and reinstalling the engine. 2k may not be a life changer but I'd rather keep it, lol. The other reason was scheduling issue with the guy that does the pinning.

 

If you track your car and have ever had the "experience" of going through a coolant or oil spill at 130+ mph you can understand the importance of remediating this well known problem. Because the coolant pipes are glued in, high temperatures associated with track driving will eventually cause them to fail.

If you strictly drive on the street, just keep a close eye on it and if you see signs of any leakage, get it fixed pronto.

If you ever have your motor out for other reasons, just do it!

And, btw, the Metzger engine may be legendary somewhere, someplace but Porsche makes/made the Mezger motor!

 

Well put Steamboat...

 

Exactly on point guys... why take the risk. Any tracked gt1 based engine _needs_ to have this done And while you're there these too:
http://www.sharkwerks.com/products.php?pid=394

 

Any info on the guy that does the pining on the cam shafts ? Thank you

 

Todd Knighton @ Protomotive does the pinning

 

If the engine ever needs to come out of a car, this is a MUST do in my opinion.

 

Wasn't there a thread on rennlist about PCA requiring this to pass inspection during DEs?

 

Turbo owners must have the "t" key highlighted on their keyboards - I'm sure Hans would like us all to spell his name correctly.

 

Exactly! One of those pipe just cracked on my car, it's being replaced with those stainless pipes as we speak.

While the engine is out, we found one of the glued coolant pipes is already coming out, getting that one re-glued back in, and all of them pinned..

My is a 997.1 with 30K miles, so it's a matter of time.

It makes me feel a little better that I'm using this opportunity to replace the clutch with Sachs 2.5 kit, as well as upgrading to 1100 FIC injectors..

 

I just had the my pipes done at 35k miles. I was driving back form a PCA event and white smoke and coolant warning signs galore. Once I got the car back few days later one of the glued pipes came out and had to do the process all over again. Thank fully the shop that did work hooked me up second time around. Finally got the car back after weeks of BS with the coolant system.

So bottom line if the engine is coming out do the pipes.

Also, had a Sachs 2.5 put in not sure if I like it b/c of the noise. The drive is def better.