Hmm, this thread seems to have run its course. I'll add my comments though, before I close this thread.
As many of you know, there are more IMS replacement solutions on the market now than I have fingers on my hands (and I have not lost any fingers yet). We resell the LN Engineering IMS kit on the website and I also recommend it in my book (101 Projects for Your Porsche Boxster). Pelican has also developed our own kit to replace the IMS bearing for the cost conscious customer as well. Between these two solutions, I feel that the Boxster customer-base is pretty well covered. We've sold hundreds of our kit, and it's basically based on simply replacing the Porsche factory bearing with a new one of nearly identical type. The LN Engineering kit is similar, except that their kit uses a custom-manufactured end-plate and a custom-manufactured ceramic bearing which in theory should last longer than the original steel ball bearing used by Porsche.
No one knows exactly and definitively why these bearings fail. There are lots of clues that have resulted in lots of theories, but the fact of the matter is that the exact failure mechanism remains unknown. The bottomline is that it is my opinion that the design of the original engine from Porsche has a weakness (some would say design defect depending upon who you speak with) that will cause these bearings to fail. The best one can do to help prevent this is to replace the bearing every 30,000 miles when you perform a clutch replacement.
I have more information available on the IMS replacement here:
Pelican Technical Article: Boxster Intermediate Shaft Bearing Replacement and Upgrade (IMS) - 986 Boxster (1997-04) - 987 Boxster (2005-06)
Also, more information on some of the weak points of these engines here:
Pelican Technical Article: Common Boxster Engine Problems and Failures - 986 / 987
With that said, I think this thread can only go down the tubes from here. If people want to continue discussion from here, then they should just probably just start a new thread.
Thanks,
Wayne