[Kirk]

I gave a tech session on the IMS bearing this last weekend at the PCA Palooza event in Eureka Springs, AR. I’ll share some photos from the tech session later. Here are a few observations that I thought I’d share for now:

There was a lot of interest in the IMSB issue. Lots of folks talked to me about it outside of the tech session at dinner, the car show, drive events, etc.

Three people I talked to said they didn’t have to worry about an engine failure because they had LNE ceramic bearings installed. When I informed them it was a maintenance item and would need to be replaced every 50,000 miles or every clutch change they were pissed (especially one guy with a tiptronic trans). I was even challenged as to where I got this idea from. I told them it’s right on LNE’s website… A lot of these folks though aren’t looking at the LNE website, they’re going off of what their installer or local mechanic tells them. Then I told them that LNE won’t sell you just the bearing, but you have to pay $650 again for the full kit. You can anticipate the reaction since they “thought” they were done with this issue and done paying for it.

I had parts with me to pass around and to demonstrate certain points during the tech session – all of the bearings, covers, shafts, DOF system, IMS shaft, air cooled IMS shaft, etc. I think this was very helpful for people to see and touch all of the components involved.

People with the late 05-08 6305 large single row bearing were still very interested in doing something to help prolong the life of their bearings. I think this had to do with the newness of their cars and thus high cost invested. So they were very open (which kind of surprised me) to taking proactive measures to ensure they don’t have IMSB issues, despite have the larger bearing.

The reaction to the TuneRS Direct Oil Feed system was extremely positive. Some of the folks at the tech session had seen Pedro’s presentation on the DOF and shared about that. There’s been a lot of debate about the DOF in this thread, but those folks who actually saw one, held it, and saw how it worked “got it” and appreciated the simple solution to lubrication of the IMSB.

Only one person at the tech session had experienced an IMSB failure. It was unexpected, with no warning signs. They had Porsche replace the engine for about $19K and since they were the second owner they are anticipating 25% back from the lawsuit.

None of the single row 6204 IMSB owners who had not had a failure had bothered to write the lawyers of the class action lawsuit to exclude themselves. None of them seemed to know that this was an option.

Overall it was very interesting. I covered the basics – what the IMS is, what kinds of IMS bearings there are, why they fail, etc. Then we discussed prevention options (I did not discuss prediction) – oil changes, removing the seal, replacing the bearing with OEM, Eternal Fix, IMS Retrofit, IMS Solution, and TuneRS DOF. We covered risk vs cost and I broke my recommendations down into either using a “belt” or “belt and suspenders” solutions.

Next I will be giving this presentation to my local PCA chapter, so if you’re near Shreveport, Louisiana let me know and I’ll fill you in on the time/place.

Bringing this back to the DOF discussion though – we can debate the merits of direct oil lubrication up and down, back and forth, but when it comes down to it it’s a pretty darn simple solution to the lubrication problem with the IMSB. When regular Porsche owners see the system and have it explained to them they get it and like it. But I also had other engineers present at the tech session and dinner who liked the DOF system solution as well. The appeal of the DOF system is pretty strong.

Kirk Bristol