With the engine out and waiting for parts, I've turned my attention to other things. 

I've checked the rotors, wheel bearings and seals. The front rotors were thin (worn out) and one of the rears is warped. So, new rotors and pads are in order. The wheel bearings appear to be new. Late note: after the first few road tests, I came back to the wheel bearings. They have to be pretty tight if you want a quiet front suspension. 

Above is an example (from one of my other cars) of a a bad spindle, at some point the bearing failed and it , in turn, damaged the spindle. 

Well, except for the control arms being laid out backwards and up-side-down for this photo (duh!), this is a good view of the lower suspension stuff.

Wow, the rack looks good huh? And no leaks - what a concept. One lesson learned here,  the tie-rods should be mounted and the locking tangs crimped (peened) before the rack gets re-attached to the cross member. 

And here is a peek at another classic Porsche problem. One of the swaybar bushings (above, left) is mounted near the oil filter and is sometimes subject to oil spills. This leads to swelling and deterioration of the bushing. Cost is a very reasonable $5.00 each. Just had to spray the bar down with silicon lubricant to get the bushing into position.

One last item on the front suspension - I replaced the strut inserts (not shown). I used some inexpensive ones that are not at all special. I also replaced the upper strut bumpers. Altogether that was about $110. While I was in the area, I cleaned and re-greased the bearing (above right, hidden in this photo). 

I could not locate a source for the seals that go between this strut-head and the shock-tower. So instead, I used a 1/4 " strip of high quality rubber  (normally used for exterior door seal). It is self sticking (important for keeping the seal in place while the strut is being installed) and firm enough to take the abuse.

Take a close peek at this camber block, this sort of thing will give a nice mushy feeling and make your tires go away in a hurry. About a $110 to replace these with the new type specified for the 968.