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So I will be upgrading my IMSB this month along with my clutch. I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were on the single to dual row conversion that LN has come out with? Anyone running it? Any failures?

5CHN3LL

I don't know anyone running it, and I do not believe it has been in circulation long enough for any failures to crop up (not that we'd hear about them anyway). If I had a single-row IMS, I would absolutely have selected this bearing. Increasing the load-bearing surface by adding the second row makes great sense mechanically.

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My thoughts exactly. I was just nervous because of it being reletively new. I am planning on keeping my car for a long time and the solution is simply out of my price range at this time

MiamiC70

Plus, "The Solution" is fairly new as well so not a lot of data there as to whether or not it really is the SOLUTION

Dstutler

I have "The Solution" in my '02 C4.....hoping it turns out that way.

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I heard from a local indy that has done a few "direct oil feeds" that have failed due oil starvation. No word as to whether it was LN's or not. I would assume the feed line diameter would be the culprit?

CMDude

I have "The IMS Retrofit" with only a few hundred miles on it in my 2001 C2. Had it done a month ago. Only time will tell on stats. It replaced my old bearing at 115K - which was alsolutely fine ... so if this last as long I will be happy.

dgjks6

The original is the only one with a significant amount of data. The rest is speculation. LN does have a good track record though. I would check what the service interval time is. Briefly looked at the website and could not find this. I know the double row for the early 996's has a longer service interval than the single. If it has a longer service interval then it may be worth the extra $150, unless it costs more to install.

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The only added cost is the $750 tool. But if I end up buying the tool I will rent it out to anyone else who does it so I may make it back up over time.

heligear

The Tool for this is the clincher, an extra $750.00, I already have the tool for the other style of bearing Kit from when I did my Sons Boxster so I think I will try to find the best solution I can to work with the Tool I have. I do agree though that the dual row bearing would be the best bet here for replacing the single row set up on the 996's

Dharn55

I am interested in the comment on the Direct Oil Feed failures as I am in the process of installing the Tuners Motor Sports/Pedro's Garage unit now. If there have been failures of. An oil feed IMSB systems it would seem that they must have been the. LN Solution system. This is a plain bearing that depends on a pressure feed of oil to work like any plain bearing. The Tuners DOF uses a ball bearing, either the OEM steel type or a replacement ceramic hybrid with the outer seal removed. In this configuration the bearing gets both the splash lubrication and the DOF so a failure of the oil feed would not necessarily mean a bearing failure.

Also I would think if there had been failures of the LN Solution, or for that matter the Tuners version we would see it on one of the Porsche blogs.

Flat6 Innovations

There have been zero IMS Solution failures. Plenty of units are in circulation and though many of you may believe the IMS Solution is a new product, it certainly isn't. Please do not confuse the IMS Solution with another technology that employs an oil line to spray uncontrolled volumes of oil onto a ball bearing. The IMS Solution utilizes a plain bearing.

There have also not been any failures with the Single Row Pro IMS Retrofit that fits a dual row bearing into an unaltered single row shaft.

I am at the top of the food chain for both these products and if any had failed I'd know about it. NONE have failed.

Both the Single Row Pro and the IMS Solution are not easy to attain for the DIY crowd and this has been done purposely. These are the reasons why fewer reports have existed on forums that are grossly populated by those who are the DIY type.

We can't make enough of either technology to fill the demands of our distributors and Certified Installers. A typical order to any distributor is 100 units and that sometimes doesn't last them a month.

Plenty are in circulation all over the world. These are truly developed components that are generally installed by professionals with specific training. Development and training has proven to be the key to avoiding failures. The biggest key is for the technology not to be applied to an engine that has another mode of failure underway, or hasn't been "patched up" from an in process IMSB failure.

I originally invented and developed the IMS Solution only to be fitted to my engines. Today it's being installed globally and we just shipped one 996 back home to Seattle that was shipped over 3k miles to have the technology fitted under the same roof where it was invented and developed. We have another inbound from Anchorage Alaska, if the weather would cooperate.

That said, in many ways I wish that I would have kept it for my own engines and not allowed it to be circulated... Then we'd not have to engage in these conversations.

Dharn55

It did seem strange that there might have been a failure of the LN Solution that. Was not publicized. Word of such a failure would travel pretty fast.

But Jake, is it not true that if the oil feed to any plain bearing fails the bearing itself would fail quickly?

Flat6 Innovations

Anything that would cause a loss of oil pressure to the plain bearing would either destroy the underside of the engine at the same time, or would create damage that would take out every other plain bearing within the engine simultaneously.

That's just another statement that's leveraged by the opposition. When I review those statements on their forums, I laugh.

There's an IMS solution installed into a Rally 996 C4S in Ireland, the car has launched 10' off the ground with the system employed- no issues.

With hundreds in service already that are seeing road hazards everyday, if there was a concern you'd already know it.

In testing I purposely shut off variable amounts of oil volume and limited pressure to the point of failure. I know exactly how much pressure is required to operate safely, as well as fail and at different rpm ranges, too along with different loads. I spent 4,400.00 in less than one minute when proving this and gathering the data. There's a reason why it took so many years to bring the IMS Solution to market.

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Thank you for clearing all of that up. As I said I was not sure who's setup it was that had failed. I didn't get into too much conversation about direct oil feed or The Solution as I am more interested in doing a retrofit.
I am stoked to hear there have been no problems with the IMS pro dual row converaion, that is probably going to be the direction I go.