Since we don’t have superconducting, helium cooled, maglev bearings, we are left with the same old roller or ball bearings with moving bits that can fail, or diamond like coated, high pressure synthetic oil floated, plain bearings. Seems simple to me.


EVERYTHING can fail. No kidding.

It was an exaggeration to make a point.

What kind of bearing is in all of your crank journals and piston big and small ends?

What kind of IMS bearing is in a Metzger engine?

Physics is physics. How anybody can look at all of the designs available and not choose the Solution is beyond me.

Alright, I will shut up about it and quit posting and go back to actually driving the snot outta my Boxster and see if I can grenade the damn thing and give you a failure data point to share.

Freaking paralysis by analysis.

Just install the “Solution” and get busy driving. We all only get so many sunsets.

Holy crap :D

Not the full article but an interesting portion in reference to Mark Jennings Article
Good Vibrations

Here is the full article
http://inwr.pca.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=KksL3MCtE9s%3d&tabid=40
Starts on page 15.

Here is where it gets interesting...

Page 19 - The Boxsters;
We had 3 Boxsters, two with fairly
high mileage and one with low
mileage. All 3 of these cars are 5
chain engines. The low mileage
car had a suspected timing chain or
IMS bearing issue. The vibration
data from the 2 higher mileage cars
looked very similar, high amplitude
combustion peaks where predicted,
fairly high amplitude Cam Chain
noise, very low Primary Chain noise
with no discernible sidebands. The
higher Cam Chain noise from these
engines is most likely normal; chain
stretch and chain guide wear, etc…
The low mileage Boxster with the
suspect timing chain or IMS bearing
issue had both a high amplitude Cam
Chain gear-mesh frequency and an
EXTREMELY high Primary Chain
gear-mesh frequency. Definitely a
chain or bearing issue; no doubts,
shut her down, get her fixed.

Conclusion page 20
Since our January 7th Saturday tech
session, the IMS bearing has been
pulled from the Boxster with the
suspected issue and sent to me. Sure
enough, a deformed bearing cage
allowing the bearing balls to fall out
of position. Just enough additional
clearance was introduced to the
intermediate shaft that an increase
in backlash between the chain and
sprockets generated substantially
higher vibration amplitudes (makes
a lot of noise). We caught this guy
before any huge amount of metal
could be sucked into the oil and
damaged other components.

Now to contact Mark and find out where this is currently at... Stay Tuned - Rick

There have been so many false starts at problem detection and isolation. Mark was to come to a meeting of Boxster owners held in the NC mountains back in '12. He was going to use the meeting to gather data so he had many more samples. I had linked him up with the sponsors of the BRBS and stepped back from the arrangements. For some reason, it didn't happen. I didn't hear from him again.

For some reason this made me smile... :)

Ok....
 

...I stand by my statement.

The "IMS Solution" will NOT grenade.

There. I said it.

How many of the plain bearings on the OTHER end of the IMS shafts have failed?

I had to stop to refuel, so I figured I reply. :)

:cheers:

I think Jake spent a long time and a
Lot of research in Determining the exact metals to use in the solution. If you have held it in your hands It
Definitely gives you a very good feeling that it will not fail.


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The plain bearings on the other end of the shaft are not on the bulk of the load. ;)

Like I said, it looks promising. But, since I'll never change my original dual row bearing anyway, it really doesn't apply to me.
My point was that an opinion is just an opinion.
Looking at it from an engineering standpoint, they will fail. It's just a matter of when and whether or not they will outlast the engine/car.

The added friction could also cause wear on the shaft which isn't built (hardened) for that type of bearing/friction.

And so goes another fine technical discussion of the IMS.
Cats anyone?
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1529021174.jpg

Particle wave....
 

...I'm just kidding about it NEVER failing. Of course, any part can fail. My point is that the a forced lubricated, plain bearing, with a diamond like coated surface, is the most reliable type of bearing for that application.

And over the last 100 years or so of internal combustion engines, that seems pretty well proven out in the real world.

There's no tone in text, so I probably came across a bit strident.

:cheers:

No worries...I definitely come across thick-headed. :cheers:

Like I said, I don't have a dog in this fight, anyway.
I honestly haven't researched the solution, other than brief descriptions and pictures. Is it just solid aluminum, or does it have some other surface material?

It has what is known as a “Diamond Like Coating”, often referred to as “DLC” in engineering circles. I’m on the road, so I’m not in a position to post a link, but if you go to the Flat 6 web site, there is a detailed description.

You are always a welcome source of humor..... :)

In response to your question, thanks, but no. I have a few of them already. One of which put a nice scratch on my plastic window...through a car cover no less. Perhaps it was from under the cover....who knows. If they can cause damage, they will. If my LN bearing fails, I'm sure that my cat was somehow behind it. :)

I was wondering for the people that go with the Retrofit how they handle the service intervals? I'm looking at a couple cars with the IMS Classic which has the 4yr/50k mile recommended service interval. Both cars are approaching the year time frame (doesn't bother me) and have about 30k miles on the bearing. Both cars have had their oil changed at least yearly and appear to be in good care.

I called LN Engineering today and they said the bearings should last longer than the interval but they like to see them changed. Many factors go into the life span of the bearing and that is the number they came up with.

The Classic has such a shorter service interval than the Classic Pro and Duel Row bearing, I guess I'm concerned and buy into the IMS fears. Just trying to wrap my head around the topic.

I must be alone, I am not changing my ims bearing,I am driving it like I stole it. If something happens then I will deal with it then. These cars are not worth anything regardless so why spend 3000 or more to fix something that hasn’t failed. Either way you won’t get your money back. There are a lot of other things that can grenade your engine. Keep the oil changed and just drive the heck out of it. There is a guy on this forum who had 300000 miles on his car and he never heard of ims bearing.go figure,just my opinion

+1 You are not alone. I have zero problems with being pro-active with maintenance issues. Where you stop, is an individual choice/gamble.

I am most bothered with the idea that you need to spend that +/- $3 grand every four years or 50k miles. But first you are required to pre qualify your motor and prove that it is sound, prior to spending the money?

Nope.... not alone.
I did mine because I had clutch failure. I wish I hadn't done it. The bearing in there had 147k miles on it, and looked perfect. I'd have been better off leaving it.
I just put the cheap pelican kit in it.

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Why spend 3-8 k on a car that is worth 10. The failer rate is estimated at 8%. Maybe more with age but who knows. I figured mine is dispensable. If she goes she goes. It's still worth what 3-4 to someone as a roller. If I felt I enjoyed it enough I can get another one. Just make sure you have towing on your insurance. I

Nope, haven’t done mine either... I will when it’s clutch time... I suppose if my motor explodes before then, well I guess it does, and if that is the case then it was on its way out anyway and would not have qualified. BTW, no metal in my oil as of yet. 02 S 60ish K.