Porsche technician Sean Mickle tells us the truth about the Porsche IMS bearing failures and shows us the solution to this issue from LN Engineering. Sean works at the Nort Northam Collection, located just outside Orlando, Florida.
Check out the build thread for our Boxter S here:
https://classicmotorsports.com/project-cars/2001-boxster-s/
Thanks:
CRC Industries:
https://www.crcindustries.com/
Tire Rack:
https://www.tirerack.com/content/tirerack/desktop/en/homepage.html
Simpson Racing Products:
https://www.simpsonraceproducts.com/
Koni:
http://www.koni.com/en-US/Home/
LN Engineering:
https://lnengineering.com/
Porsche Classic:
https://www.porsche.com/usa/accessoriesandservices/classic/
The Nort Northam Collection:
https://www.nortnortham.com/
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TOTAL BULLSHIT by another Porsche mechanic who makes a living today, replacing these bearings. You will "NEVER" get him to admit, that replacing the IMS must, must, must be done, as millions of these cars do not have a bearing replacement and they have 200k miles on them. He needs the money.
So much for good german cars rubbish
Just Buy a 98 to 2000 dual Row 996. I bought mine well driven and maintained 99 with 86k. Pulled the bearing out and it was mint, Replaced with Dual row ceramic. Avoid the 20 year old garage queens with 30k. These cars are Reliable. Xar has 120lk and for the price wrap it around a tree and walk away. Value.
Other than the IMS where there IS a solution, the other monster is bore scoring. Especially on the S or 3.8L engines of the same years affected by the IMS.
Good info, and there are videos that show the process of the repair as well… The Wheeler Dealers episode was actually pretty clear "How to". PCA has a video as well.
Have to agree with John Morgan. The oil bush type (bearing?) has been used by Porsche on their air cooled engines. I found the ceramic bearings (IMS) were hard on the outer race of the IMS and they would eventually wear to a point where they have to be replaced. This was apparently the situation on my Boxster S (2002) and I had to find another solution for correcting the LN Engineering Ceramic bearing which had about 50-52K miles on it. I believe the right solution is using a fresh oil supply type bearings whether another ball bearing/ceramic bearing is used OR Raby engineering solution (oil supplied bushing type oil bearing). Almost nothing on PCA except a couple of video films. Did research both within PCA members and the internet. I found via the sources that I could use an oil supply from a port near the oil filter, route a line to a modified IMS bearing external housing, and using the normal Porsche bearing would solve my problem; found sources for making the changes and adapted my IMS to these changes. Had to remove one seal from the Porsche bearing which is a single row ball bearing. Have the engine under oil sampling, etc to make sure the changes are working.
Everything he said is 100% accurate, but incomplete and not sufficient to help the decision making process for a 986/987 owner. There is much more out there. Perhaps link to the PCA videos? There are owners who have a more urgent concern than others.
Very interesting