[BrakeExpert]

I wanted to say this to the engineers and to the consumers, us. The Boxster is a fun car to drive, and as of right now, one of the best bang per buck cars you can buy for the fun. One with a ripped rear window will sell as low as 5k, and if the IMS bearing doesnt go, awesome.

The IMS bearing if you ask me never should have been designed from conception. My thoughts on the new ferrari transmissions were the same, a bad idea from the get go. Ferrari didn't wanna raise the engine to alter the cneter of mass so they have an engine with a transmission on the rear AND FRONT of it, the front one only working with 4 gears. Sounds crazy, right? And as the 3 crazy guys on top gear proved on less-than-asphalt, had major problems with its design.

So thus is the IMS bearing. At its core, its a shaft located under the crankshaft, and thus from designing the engine, shoving the crankshaft UP, ie higher center of gravity. from 'racecar' perspective, this is thus bad. What gets me is that, annoying as it is, Ford's 4.0L v6 is considered a pain because its got both a front and rear timing chain. but it works. I see no reason why Porsche didn't put a gear on the end of the crankshaft and use that to run the chain. The IMS is a part inside the engine that didn't need to be there. Its not like say a Honda f-series/k-series balance shaft, and those are used on SOME models, not all, and are removed by any track racer at the beginning of the engine-modification process. In my opinion, a shaft below the crankshaft was a bad idea conceptually. I'm sure this was discussed but I wanted to state my opinion as a Boxster lover, a guy who loves to tinker, a master mechanic, a speeder and a cruiser.

I would also attack Porsche's idea behind the integration of the valve cover and cam caps into one piece as a dumb idea, questioning how much money they saved in a gasket and additional several bolts. Granted we let this one go because Porsche's loose oil, they just always have, whether its on the floor or out the tailpipe, tis a way of life. but an oil leak can be forgiven, theres not a moment where its one drop too low and immediatly can blow your engine up (okay yes there is but there's a dipstick.)

Upon learning about this bearing, I did what others do. Freaked out and started driving while keeping the RPM above 2500 whenever possible. If I was cruising at 45mph in 5th, my mind would say "oh, a 986 engine" and id downshift to 4th. Gotta keep the oil spitting onto the bearing seal so it doesn't dry out. And this becomes commonplace. And the other side of my mind says...would it have been so hard to run a single chain, or two overlapping ones, or a rear chain off a crank cog, or a big fat roller bearing lubed by engine oil, or a timing belt, gears, freakin pushrods, there are a million other ways and so many more cars NOT doing this and they're so much more reliable. It woulda been more conventional, cheaper, lighter, the list goes on and I wanna talk to the engineer who said this was a smarter idea than any other technology because...we can sell more aftermarket engines? Whatever the reason, mister engineer, stop making engines.

Also for a 2.5L this engine is really heavy. Rant over and out.