Now that's fierce! *NM*

metal shavings the size of a dime. Looks as though someone with a wood plane has been inside the engine?!? This was stuck to the handy magnetic drain plug that I got from LN. Any guesses as to the cause/source of the filings and shavings?

of course there's the crank, rods and camshafts, zero-lash valve lifters and assorted IMS and camshaft sprockets, the IMS, any one of which could have some material shaved from one of its surfaces.

If non-ferrous it could be crank main or rod bearing insert material, or possibly metal from a cylinder wall liner or piston scraped off from a failed ring or worse. If a cam chain guide rail failed these can get carried up to and jammed between the sprocket and some engine casting and the sprocket can shave metal off the guide rail.

If the crankshaft thrust pads fail the crank can move axially in its bearings and the crank can shave aluminum from the crank cradle.

If the IMS bearing failed the IMS can lose its positional integrity and the oil pump gears can run up against the oil pump gear housing and aluminum will be shaved by the oil pump gear teeth.

In a 'blown' engine where various close running hardware gets out of position anything can happen so the list of possibilities is almost endless.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

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How was the clutch working before the motor died. We saw a 3.2 recently that had the crank thrust bearing in the pan. The flywheel would move every time the guy would depress the clutch I wouldld guess the Ims bearing let go on your car and the chain or sprocket shaved the engine case. I am starting to see a few motor builders who are rebuilding M96 motors. Are you planning on rebuilding this motor? i have a purpose built m96 engine stand bracket if you would like to borrow it. We also have three 3.6 cores which share many parts with the boxster. I have also seen a m96 reassembly kit on ebay for around 400$. good luck

Look like pieces of an IMS bearing ball separator. Any small black rubber like pieces, too?

Ed B