Just completed the Flat 6 Innovations IMS upgrade

[rob76turbo]

Well I knew that the old clutch / flywheel / throwout bearing was starting to go, so I bit the bullet and decided to do some major upgrades:

1. IMS Upgrade from Flat 6
2. Flywheel and clutch kit and slave cylinder
3. New RMS
4. New Wheel bearings F / R
5. New Front brake rotors
6. As it turns out a new exhaust too....

To start off the experience with Flat 6 was just fantastic. The customer service was superb. I especially want to thank Dean for going above and beyond the call of duty to answer my questions and when we discovered I needed a dual row bearing (instead of the single row my motor serial number told us), he made sure I got one on Saturday AM (after ordering it Friday). The install was as easy as the web site and Jake say it is. You should pay the extra $70 and buy the extractor tool....well worth it. The only issue I had was I snapped one of the bolts holding the flange, but an Easy Out kit cured that. Jake, maybe let everyone know the torque setting for those bolts...

Getting the flywheel and clutch back in was no problem. I sawed off the heads of two of the old Flywheel bolts, gently threaded them in and used that as a guide to align the flywheel....like butter... Clutch was easy too. We had to jiggle the transmission around a bit to get the splines lined up but after the 6th try it went right home...

Bearings are well...a bear. But the right bearing press kit and a slide hammer helped. One of the posts I read had you remove the strut assembly, but that did not make sense to do, so instead we used a tie rod seperator to break the steering rod and lower spindle bolt and pulled the spindle right off. Using a large table top vice, slide hammer and bearing press, everything went right out and right back in.

When we pulled the old exhaust out, it was very difficult (and we had three guys that know how to turn wrenches). So I decided right there to buy a new one (please do not tell my wife......). Bought one from Vertex (Charles has been just great to work with), the Schnell Elite exhaust and we installed it last night.

Had a few teething issues (you know the being really tired ones like forgetting to put in the oil, forgetting to torque only one of the rear shaft bolts....you now things like that...). Upon pressing in the clutch, it dropped straight to the floor, but a rebleed of the system cured that. But it all went back together and car started...did not blow up and it seems to drive fine.

I will post later how I like he exhaust. It is a lot deeper than the old boat anchor. I will make some runs top down to get an idea of the real sound.

Had fun, glad I did it, but it was still hard work. About now I usually appreciate the pros that can do this stuff if their sleep. But I learned a bit more about my car and can now fix more stuff on it next time something happens. All in all a good experience.

[Lobo1186]

congratulations Im sure your love for your car is much more now after all that care and hard work!

[Jake Raby]

Great news!!
I am working on an IMS extraction/ install DVD.. We'll have it done in March, that should make the procedure a cinch. It has taken this long to develop the procedure enough and find the perfect method and tools to finalize the process and DVD.

Sorry you got the wrong bearing the first time.. We are NO LONGER using the serial log to determine what IMS bearing an engine has. The flywheel will have to be removed and the bearing verified visually before we ship the bearing.. No use in feeding the shipping companies extra money for no reason.

Contact Dean with any questions. Thanks for the business and believing in the IMSR procedure.

[Brucelee]

Nice to see happy Boxster owners!

Good job.

[dallison]

So the ims update is something that i can do with the correct parts?
It's been a while since i have done a clutch but i am sure i could do this one. I used to be able to have the clutch done in my 89 hyundai excel in about 2 hours, but i would take a little longer with this......

[Oaktown 986]

Originally Posted by rob76turbo

Well I knew that the old clutch / flywheel / throwout bearing was starting to go, so I bit the bullet and decided to do some major upgrades:

1. IMS Upgrade from Flat 6
2. Flywheel and clutch kit and slave cylinder
3. New RMS
4. New Wheel bearings F / R
5. New Front brake rotors
6. As it turns out a new exhaust too....

To start off the experience with Flat 6 was just fantastic. The customer service was superb. I especially want to thank Dean for going above and beyond the call of duty to answer my questions and when we discovered I needed a dual row bearing (instead of the single row my motor serial number told us), he made sure I got one on Saturday AM (after ordering it Friday). The install was as easy as the web site and Jake say it is. You should pay the extra $70 and buy the extractor tool....well worth it. The only issue I had was I snapped one of the bolts holding the flange, but an Easy Out kit cured that. Jake, maybe let everyone know the torque setting for those bolts...

Getting the flywheel and clutch back in was no problem. I sawed off the heads of two of the old Flywheel bolts, gently threaded them in and used that as a guide to align the flywheel....like butter... Clutch was easy too. We had to jiggle the transmission around a bit to get the splines lined up but after the 6th try it went right home...

Bearings are well...a bear. But the right bearing press kit and a slide hammer helped. One of the posts I read had you remove the strut assembly, but that did not make sense to do, so instead we used a tie rod seperator to break the steering rod and lower spindle bolt and pulled the spindle right off. Using a large table top vice, slide hammer and bearing press, everything went right out and right back in.

When we pulled the old exhaust out, it was very difficult (and we had three guys that know how to turn wrenches). So I decided right there to buy a new one (please do not tell my wife......). Bought one from Vertex (Charles has been just great to work with), the Schnell Elite exhaust and we installed it last night.

Had a few teething issues (you know the being really tired ones like forgetting to put in the oil, forgetting to torque only one of the rear shaft bolts....you now things like that...). Upon pressing in the clutch, it dropped straight to the floor, but a rebleed of the system cured that. But it all went back together and car started...did not blow up and it seems to drive fine.

I will post later how I like he exhaust. It is a lot deeper than the old boat anchor. I will make some runs top down to get an idea of the real sound.

Had fun, glad I did it, but it was still hard work. About now I usually appreciate the pros that can do this stuff if their sleep. But I learned a bit more about my car and can now fix more stuff on it next time something happens. All in all a good experience.

It was really that easy??? I'm currently doing my Toyota Camry's clutch, and... it's not easy; at all.

How many man hours with 3 guys?

[Gilles]

Originally Posted by Oaktown 986

It was really that easy??? I'm currently doing my Toyota Camry's clutch, and... it's not easy; at all.
How many man hours with 3 guys?

Oaktown;

IMHO the Camry should be more difficult because it's a transverse FWD and you don't have much room to begin with.

I have never removed the tranny from the Cayman but it seems a fairly straight forward procedure, as long as you are supporting the engine from the top to give you room to maneuver.

[landrovered]

Congrats, in my opinion a DIY job is always preferable to paying someone else to work on your car. The more you get to know your car the better off you are. Well I should qualify this, there are heater cores on some of my cars that I would sell the vehicle rather than do that job again. But at least I did it once.

Did you get pictures?

[rob76turbo]

Some of the areas are two guy jobs, like the removal of the trans. One guy can do it with the right tools and trans jack (which we had), but getting the trans off the trans jack is a two guy job. We used normal hand tools and tools run off a compressor for most of the work. I also have a couple of suspension service tool kits that I sourced from Northern Tools and Harbor Freight. Besided the suspension service kits, the only speciality tool that is required is the IMS puller (which Jake has fabricated and sells). We also used an engine support bar that attaches to the back of the engine, without the trans for support, the engine is loose!! This bar we also sourced from Northern Tools.

The only other area we really needed two set of hands was getting the front spindle off and installing the new exhaust. But man....is the stock muffler a boat anchor and difficult to remove. There is a bracket that fits to the back of the trans and is shaped like a "T". The top of the muffler is bolted to that and the bolts are very difficult to reach unless you have very small hands. Also once loose (we took off the whole exhaust from the cat's back involves a lot of pushing and shoving.

Here are some pix, although not of the procedure itself....

[MN 986]

Congrats on the upgrades!
Any feedback on the exhaust yet? Does it have any of the resonance that people mention as being associated with most aftermarket exhausts for the Boxster?
Any pics of it on the car? The tips look great on the Vertex website!

[dallison]

that is a lot of work, but great job on it. That lift kicks ass. :dance:

[Steve Tinker]

Rob,
How did the old bearing look?
How many miles had the engine done & what was the maintenance regime (if known) before it was replaced?
Steve

[Jake Raby]

Rob,
If you send me the bearing I'd be happy to dissect it and provide a report on it's condition. The more we experience the more we learn.

[jmatta]

send me the bearing I'd be happy to dissect it

Jake, perhaps you should make that a requisite; kind of like a core fee? That way you'll continue to add to your database, though I would think most owners would be happy to supply you with the old one.

[rob76turbo]

Jake, I sent back the single row bearing and the old one to Dean. He should have them by tomorrow. I included a piece of paper with the old one with the motor number, VIN number and the miles.

At exactly 50K miles I thought the bearing looked to be in good condition....but for that rainy day. .. If it goes south, I did not want to pay that bill, ergo the new IMS.

Very glad I did it too!

I wish I could tell you what the maintenance schedule was before I got the car. I picked it up with 46K on it and have been fanatical about it since. Hopefully long term that will pay off.

BTW, liking the new exhaust. Will report what I think once the weather improves and I can run with the top down.

[Jake Raby]

Got it today!
Thanks!
Charles will be here for our M96 engine class in February and we'll be cutting a lot of bearings up for analysis..