Thought it was time for another update. Following on from the cutting / snapping of the oil tank to oil filter, I began to get paranoid about the state of the pipes elsewhere. My paranoia was further extended when I could not undo the joint at the oil filter housing for the pipe which runs from the sump. The only way I could sort it was to remove the oil filter housing. The pipe, like many of the others was functional but less than pretty. So, taking the approach while you are in there you might as well sort it, I decided to replace the pipe. Whilst that sounds easy, at the sump end it does require removal of one of the heat exchangers. Hey ho.
Thankfully, I had taken the time to read Igaffz "when one thing leads to another" so knew roughly what to expect. With the car jacked up I sprayed the studs with plus gas, and after I worked out that none of my sockets fitted the manifold bolts, I went home, found that the only company that who seem to have the appropriate flexible jointed socket is Snap On, so opened an account and ordered this 13 mm socket
After a mis-understanding where the delivery driver popped my package through the wrong letterbox, it finally arrived. The week of soaking in plus gas did the trick will all of the nuts coming free without snapping the manifold studs. Where I was less lucky was with the nuts that require an allen key. I snapped my 8 mm allen key socket. So I ordered myself a more substantial tool.
This made short work of the two nuts, and again, the studs remained intact. It took a nut splitter to deal with the nuts / bolts which join the two heat exchangers, but I now had the nearside heat exchanger off. Buoyed by the success, and with the oil pipe now off, I thought as I was under the car I would get the offside heat exchanger off. So, a spray of Plus Gas and I started to tackle the nuts. I grabbed the socket, but then found that the offside nuts were 1/2 inch. So, another socket ordered......
So another week passed, but finally the heat exchangers were off, albeit with two snapped studs. I ordered some new ones from Porsche, but they list them as 6 mm rather than 8 mm, so I have got some stainless steel ones on order.
Photos below are of the heat exchangers and the oil pipe removed from the car