Hi all, just wanted to report in on the water pump replacement on my '96 965 (101k). I decided to pay the price for an OEM water pump, and got a great deal from fcp groton. As I had service records on this car (bought it at 90k), and the serpentine belt tensioner, timing belt tensioner and both belts were replaced in the past 20k, I knew I would just put the working parts back on.

Per the writeup in the FAQ, everything went great. This was my first time to dive into a 960 (pretty much a pro at the 940 series water pumps/timing belts), and I loved the fact that I didn't have to remove the crankshaft dampner on the 960.

For all of you who may not know this, the water pump is driven by the timing belt. It's a small water pump, but from what I understand, they last a long, long time (100k) as there isn't the traditional drive belt/serpentine belt pressure on the pulley. Seven bolts held in the water pump, and as soon as I removed the timing belt off the cam gears and removed the timing belt tensioner, the water pump was quite accessible.

------------------ I won't go through the steps as they're written up quite well in the FAQ --- and just wanted to state my success with the task. So far, no leaks!

Special tools you'll need that I had to borrow/or techniques:
1) 3/4" adaptor for your 1/2" wratchet to loosen the serpentine belt tensioner
2) 1 1/4" socket (of course, the balancer bolt is metric -- but my neighbor only had SAE!) for the crank bolt, as you'll need to turn the engine over by hand
3) remove the top transmission cooler line from the radiator, so you can slide the cooling fan out of the way

Thanks, guys. Chris W in Texas