IMS Guardian Pre-order

[Jake Raby]

Did I get this right? You pay $400 for a warning system which when it goes off (and who knows when or why) it convinces you to pay $2,000 to repair a failure that hasn't yet happened?

Perhaps you fail to realize that when a failure occurs the collateral damage exceeds what can be repaired without a complete engine disassembly or replacement?

With the number of people who are absolutely unwilling to electively replace their IMS Bearing until it shows signs of failure this system allows them to procrastinate as long as possible while they are afforded a sense of security, both visually and audibly.

This is an IMS Bearing that is not caught soon enough in the failure process.

The failure process is made up of four stages of bearing degradtion and ultimately failure. Collateral damage created by the lack of IMS support and alignment is more damaging to the engine than thew actual IMS bearing failure.

This bearing is at Stage 3 failure. It was caught in time and was extracted from the engine and replaced with an IMSR procedure. This person was lucky because the engine had a noise and a release of oil that was noted before the bearing completely fused together, seized and then snapped. Note the wear materials inside this bearing, it did not lose any balls or other major pieces at the time it was extracted, but it only had miles of use left in it before it failed completely.

The owner of the car is still driving it today.

So the key to being able to save an engine withoput complete replacement is advanced warning. Doing so enables the bearing to be extracted and replaced easily with no collateral damage occurring.

Here are some samples of collateral damage that occurred when the IMS bearing failed, valve timing was compromised and components began to collide with one another, stemming from some form of IMS related incident.




What people do not realize is once you hear a noise, notice a symptom or actually grasp the fact that something is happenning to you, the engine is often times past the point where it can be saved without complete disassembly and complete reconstruction.

Put simply: Once the full failure occurs, you don't have enough of an engine left to repair.

[thstone]

Originally Posted by Jake Raby

Perhaps you fail to realize that when a failure occurs the collateral damage exceeds what can be repaired without a complete engine disassembly or replacement?

+1 for being a nice guy in response to my sarcasm.

Certainly, I understand the implications of a failed IMS. I still say that the IMS failure rate is 2%-3% and thus worrying about the IMS is over-hyped.

I replaced my clutch two weeks ago and didn't touch the IMS. With 94,000 miles, there are 20 other things that are just as likely to fail in the engine as the IMS. What about those? Where is the cam tensionor guide failure detector? And the cam chain failure detector? And the... well, you get the idea.

[Jake Raby]

+1 for being a nice guy in response to my sarcasm.

That was difficult to do. I have worked my ass off on this project over the past 6 months and its been in the works for 3 solid years. Making this work and making it fit the vehicle so seamlessly has been very difficult. Making the system simple while maintaining effectiveness was the biggest challenge. I take this seriously, else my ass wouldn't be here at 0140 AM still working on the supplemental items related to the system. Thats an 18 hour day for me. The sarcasm pissed me off, but so be it. Doing things outside the box breeds skepticism and sarcasm.

Certainly, I understand the implications of a failed IMS. I still say that the IMS failure rate is 2%-3% and thus worrying about the IMS is over-hyped.

The people who have experienced the failure would disagree with you. I am happy that you don't believe that you and your car will ever be in that 2-3% that you have stated. The lady that just sold her car today for 2750 bucks knew about this problem, didn't take action and ended up in your "2-3%" category. She didn't think that it could happen to her. See the attached pics of her oil sump plate.. See that little remnant? Thats all thats left of an IMS ball bearing.

I replaced my clutch two weeks ago and didn't touch the IMS. With 94,000 miles, there are 20 other things that are just as likely to fail in the engine as the IMS. What about those?

Absolutely.. In fact the actual number is 21 things and thats just what we have found as of today.

Where is the tension guide failure detector? And the cam chain failure detector? And the... well, you get the idea

Which cam chain, you have at least 3 of them and could have 5. They have a minimum of 44 links on them and could have as many as 136, which one will fail first?

The IMSG has the ability to detect 10 other modes of failure, all of which are significant and if caught in time the majority of them can be repaired before the engine experiences collateral damage.

The one thing that people call us about most, other than having an actual engine failure, is the ability to add a sense of security to their vehicle. Most of these people do not understand mechanical workings and they believe that a crystal ball exists here. We can't give them any sense of security without invasive procedures unless the IMSG is employed.

I hope you don't have any engine issues, but I will say that one of our biggest critics who believed much like you do had an experience last year that cost him an engine and his Porsche, because he could not afford to repair it. That person fought us tooth and nail for 4 solid years and then all of a sudden he disappeared and I'll be damned if the guy that bought his car didn't call us up to tell us the news- he actually found it funny because the guy admitted to him what he had been saying. He got a smoking deal on the car, I built him a new engine and lets just say that one went full circle.

I guess that Karma had a bit of a problem with him for some reason. He found out real quick that being in that "2-3%" really sucks. Thats the beautiful thing about America. I have the ability to design this system and sell it on the free market and you have the ability to doubt everything I say and express that to me. Neither one of us has to give a damn about what the other one thinks, it is truly awesome.

Okay, make that 0200 now.. I have to get some sleep, I have an engine to blow up on purpose tomorrow while under the watchful eye of the IMSG and I can't wait!

[keithl]

If this thing works like it's supposed to, it seems like a great innovative product. Not sure why some are ********************in. Pushing the button every time you start car seems a little monotonous though, I would prefer something automatic.

[jaykay]

The pushing of the button is just a system test, a test of the alarm, as far as I know. I believe the monitoring function to be engaged automatically upon ignition.

[sasha055]

First of all, Thanks Jake. I think IMSG is brilliant! you should've done it before IMSR.

I really don't understand what are ppl ********************ing about.. There is a problem in our cars.. just like AOS, water pump, and control arms.. IMS bearing is one of the weak links, Jake just providing an "Aftermarket" solution.. don't like it.. change your IMS bearing with a new OEM one, it's only 70$
Also about 3000$ investment.. IMSR is 600$, try changing your IMS bearing with OEM one.. you will be down 2K$, Jake didn't designed the engine.. Porsche did.

That said.. I'm one of those ppl who will NOT change preventively IMSR, my car is worth 9K, with a blown angine 3-4K, paying 3K to update IMSR .. I cann't justify that.
However, I, just like about anyone else, when the time will come to change the clutch, will update IMSR with Jake's bearing. I could go with OEM and save 400$ but I will probably go with "aftermarket" one.

That's where we come to IMSG, I don't want to preventively update my IMS, my clutch is still going strong at 76K miles.. I want to wait until it gives up(clutch) before changing it.. IMSG is the piece of mind (if it works) I can get while waiting for my clutch to die.

If you feel that 400$ is a worthy investment for piece of mind... go for it.. if not.. don't

Nobody is screaming about aftermarket AOS.. ppl actually love it.. so why cry about IMS?