How many miles are on your IMS Retrofit?

[Jake Raby]

qualify, train and support people in shops that would then be equipped to do IMS kits for owners.

Thats tough to do. The fact is not every shop has a technician that can think outside the box well enough to be tasked with this job. The other challenge is having to deal with customer complaints when a shop we "recommend" or "certify" doesn't meet the customer's expectations. We become too responsible for everything and if I am going to be responsible then I am going to do the work under MY roof.

By the time they are doing their 3rd or 4th replacement, the questions should be down to almost zero.

Usually after the first successful IMSR there are no questions, unless the situation involves a failed bearing where intervention is required that takes a bigger pair of balls to employ.

Maybe the business model of selling to all comers is not the best approach for your business as it takes up too much of your personal time

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That part doesn't take any of my time, my staff can handle that without an issue, but their time can be more productively spent, for sure.

I'm not familiar with your staff and their training, how many simultaneous IMSRs can your shop handle at once?

We can handle two procedures simultaneously, but I never do that because nothing here is about quantity anyway. I have the space to do 10 procedures at once if I wanted, but have no desire for that.

How much do you personally have to touch each car?

I carry out QA inspections at 6 critical points of a normal procedure. I also personally carry out the before and after chassis dyno evaluations for each IMSR equipped Porsche. I then drive each car at least one round trip to and from my facility (83 miles) and inspect for noises and leaks before the vehicle is shipped back home or released to the owner.

How much delegation are you able to do by now?

I could easily delegate 100% of the procedure and QA to my staff, but I refuse to since MY NAME is going in the door jamb of that car after the procedure. My staff is great, they learned this procedure along with me and they co-developed the changes to the procedure as well. The person who does your IMSR under my roof is the same person that assembles M96 engines.

Just some thoughts, you don't have to answer them here.

Very good thoughts, for sure.

I have been planning some one day IMSR training courses at various parts of the country in 2011. After attending the procedure would be very easy to carry out. It all takes time. Lots of time.

[BerneseMtnDog]

I don't have a lot of miles on my LN IMS bearing (less than 1k) but I can attest to its very high quality of construction. Comparing to the original bearing the LN part is significantly beefier and turns smoother. At 83k my original bearing showed no outward signs of trouble. When I removed it and popped off one of the seals a lot of cooked smelling oil gushed out which I believe is a bad sign. Because I could do all the clutch and RMS seal work myself the added cost was about $600 to put in the better IMS bearing. That isn't an extravagant amount of money when you consider a set of tires will cost much more than that typically. FWIW this was the first time I've ever replaced a clutch on any car and overall the whole things was pretty easy. I like DIY though and enjoy working on cars.

Steve

[aeshultz]

I've only got ~1K miles on the bearing upgrade, having just bought it, so I don't have much to add except this - knowing that the car had the L&N bearing was a _major_ selling point for me. Great to have it.

[Dragonwind]

I've got 10k on mine and it was done in Sept of 2009.
Chris

[986FortyEight]

just passed the 1K mark. Mostly Track. Nothing to report. It still runs and that's just what I hope it keeps on doing.

[clickman]

I wonder how long before the first faked LN bearing replacement shows up in a used Boxster

[Jake Raby]

Thats why we've serialized every vehicle that we have supplied a bearing for as well as every unit we have installed. I have a log book of VIN/ IMS door decal serial number/ IMS flange serial number since day one.

If someone is going to pull a fast one, they'll have to work pretty hard to do it with my name on it..