jam996

Hi,
Taking the car to do the IMS bearing retrofit soon, have the part and tools. Anything else need to be done other than locking engine in tdc1 before removing old bearing? Trying to give as much information as possible to my mechanic. Any help would be appreciated.

Mike in CA

I don't mean for this to come across the wrong way, but I think I would personally be a little concerned about having someone work on my Porsche engine who needed to have information from me on how to do it properly. Maybe I'm misreading the situation.

jam996

He is a qualified mechanic, but has never done this retrofit. Although it looks simple enough with the tools provided, Just want to make sure and gather some infos.

cbzzoom

Do you have a 996? Try the 996 forum, there are tons of threads on this over there.

jam996

Doing it on my 05 997

997_rich

Is he pulling the engine or doing it in place? I assume that you're getting this done at the same time as the clutch? if not- might want to do the clutch as well as long as you're pulling the trans.

sorry, not much to offer in the way of advice... take lots of pics and advise us!

gpjli2

Not what you asked but: Are you planning to fix something that is not broken or is there an issue with the motor. If there is not a presenting problem I would wait for the clutch to go and check the bearing when the tranny is down.

Lugs H

Have you gone into the LN engineering web site? Does your '05 997 have a M97 engine? If it does I suggest you go to their web site and read their write up on the IMS bearing. Pretty sure to do the bearing on the M97 engine it has to be pulled apart.

jam996

Had a ims failure on my 996, which ended up costing my new engine and lots of $$, nothing is broken, but you wont know till its too late. I have a 05 997, still M96 engine, there have been issues with these engines and I can take the risk again. Im also doing some other work on it as well as same time, clutch and flywheel, serpentine belt, brake pads, and my new fabspeed xpipes. Btw I found good instruction for the install, will post it here for those who are interested.

Flat6 Innovations

The key is to ensure the engine is NOT disassembled before the kit and tools arrive. The instructions change as we develop tools and refine the procedures. The main problems we see come from shops that are in a HURRY to get the work done, this work can't be rushed.

The first IMSR is always a challenge for any technician. The more experience someone has with other engines, the more difficult it is going to be for them to understand the M96. We prefer to instruct fresh minds on the procedure, its always more effective.

TAI2

Look forward to seeing the Instructions. Good luck.

WTFitsCarter

Jam996 PM sent

Palmbeacher

I had mine (MY05, January '05 build date, small single-race bearing) done recently. If you go to the LN website there is a list of shops that have performed the retrofit. I found 4 within a 50 mile radius. I called each one and they all claimed to have done the procedure lots of times. I called LN and made it clear I was NOT asking them to recommend one customer over another or to vouch for anyone's work, just to tell me which of the shops I mentioned have bought the most bearing kits. Turned out one shop had ordered many more than the others, so that's the shop I went with. Was a very good experience. They turned the car around in 2 days, including putting in a new clutch kit (pedal had always been very stiff, now it's amazingly light by comparison...clutch was >50% gone @ just over 30K miles...previous owner must have been a real clutch-abuser).

As an aside (and not meaning to dissuade you from doing the retrofit) the mechanic showed me the original bearing, which was in absolutely pristine condition, seals and all. BTW I also have a 6-yr bumper-to-bumper warranty, but given the clutch was so in need of replacement I felt the additional money for the bearing part was well worth it.

cbzzoom

jam, if you don't mind, I'm always sort of amazed by people who had an engine failure and turned around and bought another Porsche. It seems like you didn't get turned off the brand. Maybe you could explain why you were willing to buy another M96/97 after one blew up on you?

WTFitsCarter

I just had mine done.. 63K and the bearing was mint.. my car was never a garage queen so i think that helped it out alot. I needed a clutch as well so i added the bearing replacement to the work scope so i could sleep at night.. plus my baby is going to have 500hp so i figure it was worth the extra expense.