I bought a 1998 Boxster 2.5, did I make a huge mistake???

[RandallNeighbour]

Meathead, the fears of catastrophic engine failure will diminish over time. Now I think about my motor imploding and I get giddy with excitement over the notion of shoehorning a LS1 in it and having a V8 Boxster for more fun!

It all depends on your perspective I guess, and if the boxster is a daily driver or an extra toy to play with when the weather is nice and time permits.

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Meathead, the fears of catastrophic engine failure will diminish over time..

Randall I think it's the other way around. A lot of these cars were garage queens.
The oil intervals were too long. The revs weren't pushed...
The prices are now coming down and many clutches on these cars were swapped out before the LNE IMSB was available. Now those cars are taking on daily driving duty.
They sold a lot of 2.7's... enough to save the brand from bankruptcy. And folks like the OP can find a forum like this to post about an engine failure faster than they can call a Porsche specialist to inquire about preventative actions. Between the people worrying about IMS who do nothing about it and the people who waited too long do something, you're going to see the IMS controversy become a staple of Boxster/996 discussion.

[Meat Head]

I have been doing a **************** load of reading on the IMS failures. My Boxster is a 1998 with the 2.5 engine. It is my understanding that the 1998 2.5 Porsche engine had dual row bearings and due to this design (though also flawed) there was a much lower rate of IMS failure.

Though I'm not sure this will be my cars savior, it has had its oil changed yearly no matter what the miles put on the car.

The car has 27k miles on it at this time. It has been kept in a heated garage (healthier on the seals).

Bad news is its second owner (for the past 3 years) has been an older lady. From talking to her, the car has been driven gingerly (not good from what I've gathered).

I would like to wait 3-4k miles (1 year of driving) before changing out the IMSB and clutch.