IMS Question

[Jake Raby]

Originally Posted by 818BoxsterS

Sorry if this has been covered before but I haven't been able to find a clear answer. I have as 2001 boxster S with over 100k miles. A top priority for me was to replace my IMS bearing to the LM Engineering version but recently I have read horror stories where the IMS Bearing failed after it was replaced and I also read that if your bearing lasted past a certain mileage it probably won't fail. Should I or should I not replace the bearing. Any advice would be appreciated.

There have been a few classic single row failures, but keep in mind that over ten thousand engines have been retrofitted using that bearing (20,000 total using the various technologies that we've developed with LN) so a few failures are to be expected.

There have been zero failures of the Classic dual row, Single Row Pro, or IMS Solution retrofit products.

That said, what creates failures i the installer more times than not. Too many shops now treat an IMSB Retrofit like a brake job after doing dozens of the jobs. They fight the clock to do a job faster and faster, to make more and more money. They do not follow protocol and fail to qualify engines for a retrofit procedure. Qualification means to ensure the current bearing is not failing, and anything else in the engine, for that matter. Wear debris suspended in oil can kill an IMSB in 300 miles, and the finer the particles the easy they suspend in oil and the more damage they do.

Here we will break the 400 mark for IMS Retrofits. This is more than double the number that any other shop in the world has done. 399 installs ago we carried out the very first IMS Retrofit using commercially available parts, and that was the very first LN IMSB ever installed. We developed the process and developed the pre qualification procedures, and we do not make the IMSB Retrofit a quick process, and we pre- qualify every engine to be retrofitted and well as cary out an extensive post- process evaluations.

Having installed 400 units isn't what matters most, having 400 installs with ZERO failures is what counts. Done right an IMSB retrofit isn't a quick, simple process.