I'm really interested on the thoughts of driving habits. Its been mentioned numerous times on drive it like you stole it but what particular driving habit causes the most load on the bearing?

As my attempts to provide a better seal for the IMS bearing seem to be harder than I was hoping at this point, I have been thinking of ways to improve the flow of engine oil to the bearing. At times I have considered that if the pressure inside the IM shaft, or just behind the bearing, was lower than outside the shaft, oil mist and vapor might flow through the bearing at a higher rate than normal. Then I realized that if holes were drilled into the shaft, those holes may produce a low pressure inside the shaft when the shaft was turning.
I drilled a 1/16" hole in 2" pipe with a manometer connected to the pipe end and spun it on a lathe.
At 1K rpm, I got peaks of -.15 inches of water, and at 2.5K rpm I got peaks of -.3 inches of water pressure differential.
Drilling the hole bigger produced less pressure differential.
Drilling additional 1/16" holes had no affect on the initial pressure differential of the original 1/16" hole. But I would think that additional holes would provide high volumes of flow.
Not a lot of pressure differential. I wonder if it would even help any in increasing oil flow through the bearing.

This issue is driving me crazy. Today I started the car and stayed trying to listed for any noises. I couldnt hear anything from inside the car. then I went near the rear wheels and also couldnt hear anything. then I crawled under the car, and could hear some light ticking sounds, (tick tick tick tick.....) but I have no idea where its coming from exactly, or if it has anything to do with the IMS bearing. the noise is hardly noticeable. but if you crawl under the car and try to block out the exhaust sound, you can hear it. Any ideas what it could be? does it have to be the bearing? or is it normal for a boxer engine perhaps?

My motor has a bit of a tick, which I think is probably an injector, they can be fairly loud, or possibly something in the valve train, but it goes away, or at least I can't hear it, as soon as I accelerate past idle. I'm not worried.

If you want trace the sound, you need a stethoscope. Put the probe right against the IMSB housing and on both tensioners and listen for anything abnormal.

You thought any of this would be easy?

I have the ticking too. I am not too worried about it. I think it could be injectors, lifters, maybe exhaust leaks or loose spark plugs. Comes and goes. Sometimes left side, sometimes right. Sometime when cold, sometimes when hot.

I hit the "Submit" button before I could post pictures.

Dag nabbit! I did it again. If there is a way to delete these post please let me know.

Third try is a charm.
An idea for venting IM shaft.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1388125756.jpg


An idea to get grease into bearing
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1388125804.jpg

You can't see it too well but I have an O-ring between the flange and bolt to connect the conduit.

San rensho. Thanks for the tip. You think ill be able to identify where the noise is coming from with a stethoscope? Ive never used one, so i have no idea what to hear with it. I will buy one from a drug store. I will take it with me to my mechanic and try to find where the noise is coming from whilst on the lift. As i said, i can hear nothing from inside the car or from near the wheels,the noise is that faint. When i crawled under the car i heard a slight ticking noise which seemed to be constant but couldn't tell if it quickens with the revs, there was nobody with me to press the accelerator whilst i was under the car.

You don't need a medical scope. Auto Parts stores sell them for about $10. Your mechanic should probably have one. Of he is experienced with it, he will find the culprit fairly quickly and can also listen to the IMSB to determine if anything is wrong.

Just remember, according to the Heisenberg principle, just the act of observing the IMSB will cause it to change!

Why not just edit the post to include the pictures?

"Why not just edit the post to include the pictures??"
If you know how please let me know. I can't find any way to either delete or add photos to a post once it has been posted.

"Just remember, according to the Heisenberg principle, just the act of observing the IMSB will cause it to change!?"
Was that Heisenberg? I thought it was some ancient Greek philosopher.
There's a Breaking Bad marathon coming up on AMC soon. But I live for Gold Rush now. Change.

"You think ill be able to identify where the noise is coming from with a stethoscope?"
You can use a length of garden hose. That works pretty good too.

On the vented picture, the vent should go up, and maybe a short section of tubing pressed into the vent hole, going up then bent down like an upside down J to help keep oil from building up in the vent.
Also, realized that the improved bolt has an O-ring that may interfere with my idea. Hopefully it is not too big to interfere.

Would it be common sense to implant the bearing located inside your lathe's headstock into your boxster then?!

I have a few 5,000~25,000RPM spindles that runs nsk's. We've machined over 10,000 hours on each of them. Same bloody bearing and still looking good (of course)

What are you doing exactly there?

I would assume your bearings are properly lubricated. I am testing with no lubrication. So far I have found that the J type cage appears susceptible to vibration, causing metal fatigue resulting in the cage breaking apart. But I also theorize that a good grease or gear oil will suppress the vibration and the J cage will be fine under those conditions.
I have also found that the W type cage appears impervious to vibration. Is it the best all-around choice? Maybe, maybe not. But so far I am putting my money on the W type cage for my next bearing.

Click "Edit;" click "Go Advanced;" edit post and add pictures as needed.

Carry out these experiments within an engine and you'll see that your observations change.

Over time we have found that not just the strength of the cage matters, but also the weight of the balls and the cage. This is because the inner race is parked and the outer race is rotating, among other things.

Of course, the only real solution to the issue is removing the balls and the cage completely from the equation.

That is why I haven't tried PEEK or PTFE cages with steel balls. On the other hand, the J and W type cages both have a track record with the OEM steel ball IMS bearing.

Don't limit your possibilities by what you **think** will work. All too often I find the things that prove themselves are either the opposite of what I thought would work or they were never intended to work as explained by others.

Spinning that bearing unloaded really isn't proving much, because the dynamics change with vibrations imposed by the engine and the timing chains as well as the rapid acceleration and deceleration of the engine. There's a reason why lots of IMSBs fail on the track just after someone zings an engine from a missed shift.

Really figuring this out requires sacrificing engines.

Didn't Elton John sing a ballad about Sacrifice?

I've sacrificed an engine in less than one minute proving IMS related components and theories. That was a 4,400.00 prototype part inside of an engine that cost 12K to build.

That year we spent over 100K on development, so don't anyone think that you can solve these issues by spinning up an IMS shaft with a dremel tool, or a lathe head.

We are very thrifty doing every single part of the work ourselves from building the engines built with used parts and etc and we still spend a minimum of 50K per year on this stuff, even buying things at wholesale or manufacturing them from scratch. If you want to play you must pay.

Or you just steal someone else's idea, call it your own and advertise the hell out of it until you make a few people believe that it actually works. You'll sell a few but you'll never get the components into circulation, because the distributors won't believe the BS and you won't pass their stringent QC inspections.

True development is part of the game at this level. It takes years and will consume your life.

As Carroll Shelby said: "Ok now break the $hit out of it!"

The Heisenberg uncertainty principle. It's kinda like quantum rocket surgery and stuff.

Uncertainty principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Revised drawings
Vent and slosh tubes to help keep vent passage clear of oil
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1388244182.jpg


Modified bolt to allow new grease injection directly on to bearing, and provide shoulder to keep push-on cages from popping off.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1388244293.jpg

That's good. I think I will put that on my You Face Twitter Tube Book.

I had a ticking noise at one point also. Had my bearing done not too long ago and my bearing was fine. That of course is without cracking it open. Turned good though. Usually thats a lifter if I'm not mistaken. Take with a grain of salt.

I was just figuring out the minimum and maximum pressure the IM shaft would see if it were sealed with a freeze plug. Using P1/T1 = P2/T2, volume is not a variable. So that would mean that if the bearing is sealed with its own seals, it would see the same changes in pressure over temperature? Venting the shaft would not help? The grease in the sealed bearing will still see the same pressure changes I think.

That is one of many other calculators that we often use for some applications we engineer.

http://www.skf.com/group/knowledge-centre/engineering-tools/skfbearingcalculator.html

Of course Porsche's R&D have designed better formulas, but it could give you a head start selecting a, perhaps?, better bearing than what Porsche initially came us with.

Bearing life, frictional moment, frequencies, viscosity, dynamic bearing load, etc etc...

Lathes are for cutting ;) and don't forget to change your oil often. And your bearing will be just fine!

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1388611806.jpg
Even more bad ideas

And just how are you going to machine or EDM that pathway through the flange?

It's easy, you vise the part 45degree and you pour 2 drops of 98% H2SO4 in the cavity (sulfuric acid) and wait overnight

Joking aside, that flange will be need to become a quite advanced assembly on it's own if you go this path. I see a 3 pcs (min) flange assembly

From a machining perspective, eliminate the 45 leg and drill 2 holes, or if you're heart is set on the 45, drill it from the surface and plug the surface hole. In any event, it appears the path of this hole could be simplified.

I haven't had time to cut a flange in half to see where I can drill and where I can't, but I hope it will be a simple matter of drill and plug. Like carburetors are made (now I'm dating myself). I hope to simplify the path after I see the profile.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1388680990.jpg

With the path shown above, I think only one plug would be needed. But since there is so little space between the end of the IM shaft and the flange surface, It may be required to recess the snorkel into the flange surface a little. It is very thick in that area and a trough could be cut for the tube without weakening the flange I hope. I think the snorkel will also have to be a high grade rubber tube in order to get the flange installed.

Edit: Oops, correct, make that 2 plugs (good-eye James)

So why don't we just remove the ball bearing completely and not worry about all this?

Yeah, forgot, I already did that.

It'll be interesting to see whatever you come up with.

Single row IMSB flange
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1388709668.jpg

So is the thought to run a pump inside the IMS shaft using the rotation motion of the shaft and the stationary bearing retaining stud? The oil then exits through an open bearing into the crankcase? I'm not sure what type of pump would lift the oil, but this concept is intriguing. Maybe some type of modified stator vane pump? First pumps air to create a vacuum and lift the oil, and then can handle oil as well? That would eliminate any new moving parts, make the stator and vanes part of a new stud and IMS tube closeout? Neat idea. Lots of technical challenges come to mind. Keep going and have fun!

I'm looking at pumping the oil. It would be nice if it could be done. As I see it, the oil only has to be lifted about an inch. There are several types of pumps that may be viable. But yes I have considered the stator type too. Plan B is to be able to pump grease into the bearing. The biggest question now is can a tube fit down into the sump from the flange. Always looking for help. That's why I post the pics.

Always consider the windage that your "fix" may create. Foamy oil has no film strength.
Nothing like solving one problem only to create another thats 10X more critical for the rest of the engine.