At $125/hr in labor, I'm sure they were more than happy 2 do it, but won't get 2-yr OEM waranty *NM*

It is a good one! Took my car in to the dealer for a headlight adjustment and asked that they look it over to see if anything needed fixing before my extended warranty ran out. They found an oil leak which turned out to be the IMS shaft seal. I decided to do the LN Engineering retrofit while we had it apart. The dealer said that as long as it was opened up they recommended replacing the RMS as well. They let me watch the repair process and it went smoothly with the LN/Flat6 tool set. When we pulled the IMS bearing I popped the seals and there was no remaining "permanent" lube, only a small amount of dirty oil. There appeared to be some barely noticeable wobble in the shaft although there was no observable damage to the balls or races that I could see without further disassembly of the bearing. I'm reasonably sure that the bearing was starting to fail. Clutch was nearly gone so I put in a clutch kit while I was there.

It's was all back together just as the board went off the air. New style rigid RMS seal, LN engineering IMS retrofit kit, and new clutch. I made a run to Tampa a week later to check it out. When I first bought the car one of the things that amazed me was how smooth the engine was from idle to redline. After a couple of years I started to develop the 3000 rpm vibration which steadily got worse the longer I drove the car. A new engine mount helped some, but it never went away. It's gone now. I don't know whether it was the bearing or clutch wear making the clutch out of balance but I have my smooth engine back!

Anyone contemplating the LN retrofit, I have the tools and will be happy to loan them out for single row bearing replacement.

The usual disclaimers apply - no relationship to LN or Flat6, just a satisfied customer.

Al

Congrats Al. Hope you get many thousands of smiles and miles from the engine now!!!

Sounds like you dodged a bullet, Al. Three questions...
1. How many miles were on the engine?
2. Did they have any idea of how many more miles before the IMS would have experience a catastrophic failure?
3. I am surprised a dealer would install non-OEM parts. Did you have to twist any arms to get them to use the LN parts/tools?

... at least here in Florida are willing to and have installed the LNE IMS bearing retrofit.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla

1998 Boxster 986 - 200,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

MarkinMD, Porsche of Omaha is doing the LN Engineering IMS bearing upgrade, they purchased the tool, etc. to be able to provide this service to their customers. Sounds like they have done several of them already.

I just had mine done a few weeks ago. My '02 2.7 was in for the 60k service and to have the RMS replaced under my Warranty Direct extended warranty. I decided that while they had it apart, I would have the IMS upgrade done. Porsche of Omaha did it for the cost of the LN Engineering bearing plus one hour of labor, since the rest of the labor was already covered under the RMS warranty repair. At that price I figured it was a no-brainer.

They said the old bearing looked fine and didn't show any signs of problems, but I feel more secure knowing it is done. My car has 60k miles on it.

- Eric in Lincoln

The car had 58k on it. I asked the sm and he referred me to the tech. He was willing but held the its not a problem, don' fix it party line. I just said i wanted to do it and he was fine with it. I did have to sign a warranty waiver indicating that any problems during installation or in the future were not covered by dealer's parts/labor warranty.

No one made a guess as to the future of my old bearing. Charles at ln may have a guess, but i haven't asked.

Another note. I counted something like 20 dealers in LN's authorized installer list.

It is encouraging that some dealers are open minded. I spoke with one dealer in the Baltimore area (I forget which one) who would not even install genuine Porsche parts that came from any source other than their own parts counter. They only offered the 10% PCA discount on parts, which is nowhere near competitive with Suncoast's pricing. You would think they would be happy to have the labor revenue, but apparently they preferred no revenue at all.

My car (04, 2.7 37k, many track days) has been growing increasingly more coarse around 3k too. I worry that it might be MY IMS. I have the kit,and plan to put it in over the holidays when things get quiet.

For the record, i also put new spark plugs in ( the first in nearly 6 years and 37k) and they made a substantial improvement in smoothness, as well as perceived power and general willingness to rev and pull.

Grant

Hi Guys, what does this "kit" cost? Parts and labor. I have a 2002 base 2.7 with only 52K on it, no problems at all, love it, would just like to have total peace of mind..

Thanks for any information..

and upgrading a car is a slippery slope...once you start where do you stop.

The parts cost for whatever IMS bearing may be in your car can be determined at www.lnengineering.com...figure roughly $600. Then add labor and is it yours where you charge yourself nothing or the local hot wrench who charges $175 and hour or somewhere in between. It involves removing the transmission and is often done with a RMS and clutch job so the R&R the trans is spread over the 3 jobs to make the pain a little less. Best done by someone who has done dozens and who has invested in the right tools.

The next step up is ~$7k in parts and involves removing the engine and replacing it with one with about a half dozen of the most common problems addressed with "improved" parts. Plus labor.

And you can keep going until you are well over $30k.

cam locking tools
crank locking tool (ok, a pin)
special puller
insertion tool
tools for removing flywheel
tranny jack/stand

Grant

... and generally runs between $1,400 and $1,900 for parts and labor.
The problem is that once you remove the transmission, the clutch and the flywheel you might as well replace the clutch disc and or the throw out bearing and the rear main seal which adds the cost of those parts to the aforementioned prices.
But, IMNSHO, if you plan to keep the car for a while it is a must.
Happy Boxstering,
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla

1998 Boxster 986 - 200,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

That range is reasonable ( note that one shop publishes MUCH higher prices).

It also appears that the M96 motor, while maligned, is actually a very logn-lasting motor with a couple serious faults

The worst is the IMS.
For track junkies, the fact that it can suck air on hard turns is an issue - for most its a non-issue

Not much else really - they tend to run 200k aside from those things. even driven hard. Some say especially if driven hard.

Grant