1,000 mile road trip, top down all the way!

[Banana S]

With my wife and I leaving for a week's vacation to celebrate 15 years of marriage (and with the mother-in-law watching the kids that week), I figured it would be a good time to leave my Boxster in Jake Raby's capable hands to do the IMS Retrofit (along with a new RMS, clutch, underdrive pulley, and a low-temp thermostat for good measure). So a few days before our "real" vacation, I drove the 500+ miles from Indy to Cleveland, Georgia to drop off the car.

First, let me say that besides my wife and kids, a top-down drive on a moonlit night in my Boxster ranks pretty high on my list of things I enjoy. So the drive down was just beautiful. I hit the highways at 7:00 p.m. on a Thursday night, no rain in sight, full moon, just a gorgeous drive. Kept driving until about 1 or 2 in the morning, then stopped outside Knoxville to take a break. Got up the next morning, put the top down again, and drove the rest of the way, with the last 50 miles or so on some great roads in Chattahoochee National Forest. Made it to Flat 6 Innovations around noon, met with Dean & Jake, got a tour of the shop, and Dean dropped me off at the local Enterprise to pick up my rental car for the drive home.

Fast forward a week--I'll spare you the details of my "real" vacation--and I take a plane back to Atlanta to go pick up my car for the drive home. Another rental car, and I'm back in Cleveland, Georgia. Met with Jake & Dean again, paid my bill, and I was off... But this time, the drive home would be through Deal's Gap, a/k/a the Tail of the Dragon.

Beautiful weather again, and once again I only raised the top when I went inside a restaurant to grab a bite to eat. The actual "Tail of the Dragon"--US 129--was a fun drive, but I was a little too worried about killing oncoming motorcyclists to really let it all hang out in the Boxster. Fortunately I didn't come across any bikes crossing the double yellow lines into my lane, but enough of them were crowding the divider lines to make me nervous. All in all, I'd rather be on a race track, thank you very much. (If you see someone coming at you at Putnam Park, one of you is doing something very wrong. ) The drive through Deal's Gap was worth doing just to say I've done it though. Here are a few pics:







Anyway, I made it home in a little over 9 hours, averaging 28.0 MPG over the complete drive back (including Deal's Gap), even with--as I've mentioned repeatedly now--the top down all the way. The car runs great, and I have a little more peace of mind with the IMS retrofit.

Thanks for reading!

[pothole]

Super looking car.

How the hell you managed 28mpg, I do not know!

[Banana S]

Thanks. I only drive--AT MOST--five or 6 MPH over the speed limit, and my cruise control is on 95% of the time. (I have... *ahem* ...a few speeding tickets, and I'm afraid my next ticket may put me in jeopardy of being labeled a habitual traffic violator. So I'm taking it easy for a while. I view the resulting extra gas mileage as nature's way of paying me to slow down. )

[pothole]

I read ya. Believe it or not, I bought my Box because I needed to slow down (my previous track-prepped Beemer was getting me into trouble with the fuzz). It works, kinda - mainly due to fear of mechanical failure, spend ages warming it up etc! Still struggling to get much more than 22 British MPG which must be sub-20MPG US-style.

I guess one man's taking it easy is another's pressing on. Still, would love to do a really long drive in the Box. Slight problem in the UK is gas prices - we're paying over $7 per US gallon at the moment...not terribly compatible with my pitiful freelance journo wages!

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by pothole

Super looking car.

How the hell you managed 28mpg, I do not know!

I do :-)
I think the mileage AFTER the IMSR was better than before, right Gary? If so thats what we normally see.

It was great working with this car, it is so damn clean and well cared for! I drove it close to 400 evaluation miles after the procedure and its one of the best driving Boxsters I have seen yet.

The IMS bearing was in GREAT shape, showing very little signs of issues, it hadn't even reached the point where we start to note stages of failure. Gary's car was certainly better than most and much better than the car that arrived the day after it left that came in from Louisiana that was at Stage II failure already but drove in under it own power. We'll be finished with it today.

The trip Gary took is AWESOME and made possible due in part to our location in the mountains of NE Georgia just down the road from Deal's Gap.. Most every owner that drives down for a procedure ends up hitting the Dragon on the way home!

Gary,
Thanks for the business and believing in what we have created enough to spend the time and money to outfit your Porsche.

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by billthomas

I think the mileage AFTER the IMSR was better than before, right Gary? If so thats what we normally see.

Really? What kind of "increase" in mileage do you see? Are you saying that the IMSR itself produces a noticeable improvment in gas mileage? Or the combination of new RMS, clutch, underdrive pulley, and a low-temp thermostat for good measure did the trick?

Also I'm curious why "400 evaluation miles"? Was a computer hooked up during this drive? Was the car "tuned"? It kinda/sorta sounds like "Freeis Bueller's Day off" to me. I you drove my car for 400 miles I would be pissed. Somebody would be walking with a limp.

Generally those who have us do this procedure WANT us to put miles on the procedure before they drive several hundred miles home.. We always ask anyone who is going to have the procedure done if they have objection to me driving the car for at least 200 miles, if they do, then I won't do it..

Yes, we have gear that is used in the car to evaluate it both on the dyno and in my daily commute of 83 miles round trip per day. We can't drive all the cars for this extended period because their owners are waiting for us to finish, or because the car has to make a scheduled date for a return shipment home.

This is a major service, lots of things are taken apart and we must ensure they are correctly put back together without any oil leaks, weird issues, noises or even something as simple as clutch chatter. I'd much rather have ANY issues show up while the car is in my hands than the owners hands so they can be noted and addressed before the car leaves.

Because of this we attained and have maintained a 100% effectiveness rating with the IMSR procedure, if I did not drive the cars for this many miles I know of at least three that would have had an issue on their way home after the procedure.. two were slight oil leaks that showed up after the dyno evaluation, but within the first 150 road test miles. The third was a bad pressure plate that was bad out of the box. Not everything works perfectly every time, thats why we have to test what we do.

I have a firm policy, if someone doesn't trust me to drive their car for evaluation, they should seek out someone else to carry out their work. I have over a dozen cars, three of which are Porsches, I don't need someone else's car to go have fun in.

We only do things once.

As for the MPG increase, typically the IMSR will show a tad more MPG after it has been carried out and after the new bearing's break in procedure.. It always doesn't do this, but there are some good instances of it.

[tonycarreon]

I know I wouldn't want it taken just a few miles and given an "all clear" before diving 1k miles away from home. Of all the miles on my car, 200-400 is but a small drop.

[Banana S]

Amen to that. After seeing one of Jake's other cars, I wasn't too worried about him ragging on my Boxster. And I was much more relaxed on the drive home knowing that the "shake down runs" had already occurred. (I look relaxed in that second picture, don't I? )

Thanks for the compliments on my car, Jake!

[Jake Raby]

Yep, you look relaxed!
Like I said, if someone doesn't want me to put the extended miles on the car, then I will not.. But at minimum the car is being driven 100 miles, if not it leaves my facility as a possible liability.

[Burg Boxster]

Originally Posted by pothole

Super looking car.

How the hell you managed 28mpg, I do not know!

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

I do :-)
I think the mileage AFTER the IMSR was better than before, right Gary? If so thats what we normally see....

Hmmmmmm............

[gwoodburn]

"As for the MPG increase, typically the IMSR will show a tad more MPG after it has been carried out and after the new bearing's break in procedure.. It always doesn't do this, but there are some good instances of it."


Not to hijack the thread, but what is the new bearings' break in procedure? I had the procedure done and my mechanic didn't mention anything about a need to "break in" the new bearing.

FWIW, after picking up the car, I took it easy going home and the next day I went on a road trip to Western Maryland (about a 3 hour drive from Baltimore). I took it easy most of the way, but i did get up into the 90s the further i got into the mountains. Top down all the way, beautiful. (Maybe that's part of the procedure? hehe)

[gwoodburn]

Originally Posted by billthomas

Not to hijack the thread, but what is the new bearings' break in procedure? I had the procedure done and my mechanic didn't mention anything about a need to "break in" the new bearing.

What was your improvement in gas mileage - 3, 4 MPG?

I haven't noticed anything dramatic, but i haven't really been monitoring it either. I am due for a fillup so i will get back to you after a few tanks.

[gwoodburn]

Originally Posted by billthomas

" I haven't noticed anything dramatic, but i haven't really been monitoring it either. I am due for a fillup so i will get back to you after a few tanks."

It was a rhetorical question.

AARRGGH, I hate rhetorical questions. I get enough of that crap from my boss. I don't need to get it here too.

[JTP]

Originally Posted by billthomas

It was a rhetorical question.

Could billthomas be the infamous Mr. Woodcock?

[Banana S]

I figured he was SPPMO.

[Jake Raby]

Looks like SPPMO has departed :-)

The bearing doesn't really have any break in procedure, but we typically do see the engine lose 1-2HP on the dyno in the "after" test with the bearing retrofit when compared to the before runs. When I have re-tested cars after a week of driving the power was back and usually was 1-2 HP higher.

When we do these tests we are looking for huge drops in power AFTEr the work is done, if we don't see more than 1-2 HP then we know that the timing is correct and the procedure was effective. We have NEVER carried out an immediate "after" test that showed more power than before the bearing was retrofitted. This is how we came to understand the break in period for the bearing was from these tests immediately after and then over weeks after the procedure.

Nothing needs to be done specially after the bearing is retrofitted, just drive it normally and use normal oils.

The MPG increases are generally so small they can't be measured, but I have seen one engine pick up 3 MPG after the procedure was done. It was driven to us from Ontario Canada and on the return trip it attained 3 MPG more than it did on the trip down according to the Owner, but I think thats a tad extreme.

The ceramic bearing offers a reduction in friction, that reduction in friction adds longer life and frees up power..

[Banana S]

Originally Posted by billthomas

... scientific "pear reviewed" research ...

I have yet to meet a scientific pear. I find kiwi fruit to be much more analytical.

[Jake Raby]

Are you saying a side benefits to an IMSR bearing is it will/maybe/a tad improve mileage?

It can.

The reason being the reduced friction which directly impacts the engine's efficiency.

Not all cars are the same, actually none are the same and the same applies to drivers of the cars. We've seen some cars pick up 3MPG, others haven't picked up any and some people never even noticed a difference because MPG doesn't matter to them.

Lots more can impact MPG other than a bearing retrofit, especially the engine's state of tune, condition of the MAF sensor, etc, etc.

I do not formally advertise better MPG with the retrofit because it doesn't happen in enough instances, nor does it happen in a great enough scale to be noted.