Trace2Race I have just carried out that same job. Not too difficult but being a Boxster access is often a challenge and the correct procedure MUST be followed. My car is a 2004 Boxster S which is my first Porsche and was purchased three months ago. I knew about the IMS issue but I underestimated how much it would detract from my enjoyment of the car. It was constantly on my mind.
I realise this is a personal thing and some people can just ignore it and I envy them. But not me, knowing what the IMS bearing is, how it works and it potential for destroying the engine without warning was just not something I could live with. Being located in Australia these cars hold their price better than in the US or UK so the thought of a $30k car turning into a $10k car in a blink would not be a good day.
For various reasons I decided to change the bearing myself and after further research uncovered the LN Engineering IMS Solution I was off. All parts ordered ex Pelican Parts including the new bearing, fitting tool kit and supplementary tool kit.
Working with the car as high as possible on axle stands I set about removing the tiptronic transaxle (a pain working through the starter aperture) but doable with a hired transmission jack and the rear bumper and exhaust removed. See pic. The bricks are insurance!
Some tips I discovered:
1. Don’t bother trying to get the transmission cooler hoses off, cut them and replace
2. Make sure you record which bellhousing bolts came from where, they are different lengths and long one in a short hole will do damage. The bottom left bolt is annoying, a splined cap screw.
3. The transmission is both heavy and top heavy, use a good transmission jack with pitch and roll adjustment on the head. I hired one and it made all the difference. See pic.
4. You will need to support the back of the engine, I made an engine support bar from a timber beam.
I then followed the IMS Solution detailed instructions step by step and to the letter. Being terrified of losing the cam timing, I locked both cam banks just to be safe.
In the IMS Solution installation video the engine is out of the car and the 4 – 6 cam tensioner is whipped out in seconds. In my Boxster that took me half a day while I worked out how to remove the left bank inlet manifold and the power steering reservoir and pipe so I could lift the A/C compressor out of the way. Yikes, lucky I had plenty of time and was not doing this commercially!
The installation went smoothly however and after installing the new filter and adaptor, the oil line and a new RMS using a homemade installer, I reinstalled the tiptronic. The big trap when bolting the flex plate to the torque converter is to drop one of the 6 bolts down in the bellhousing, requiring the tip to be removed again. Not good. To prevent this I retained each bolt onto the driver using a kitchen towel packer and taped the paper to the driver so it would pull out with it.
So, all doable if you take your time and think things through.
And my IMS bearing? When cleaned it was loose and ran rough. Examining the race surfaces after cutting the outer race showed a generally smooth surface but with noticeable “lateral stutter” marks across the bearing track. See pic. Car now awesome.
