IMS, RMS, Tranny R & R Tips

[coreseller]

Hey Guys. I'm posting this up to share what I gleaned from my recent project on the Boxster. Last year I developed a 2nd gear issue in the tranny so I decided to pull it, send it out for rebuild, replace the clutch & pressure plate, replace the RMS and install the IMS retrofit kit. For step by step instructions and torque values refer to the Bentley manual, it proved invaluable. I did a bit of research for a few months before doing the work, in doing so I found some usefull advice and some not so useful, here is what worked for me:

Getting the car up and ready:

I put the car up on front ramps and 4 jack stands, plenty high enough to be able to pull the tranny out:

Some people have said they were able to drop the tranny without removing the exhaust, it quickly became obvious to me that that shortcut was not going to work for me. I then removed the rear bumper and removed the B & B exhaust system.

Having restored muscle cars decades back I learned that keeping track of bolts / hardware made life much easier during reassembly, don't forget the safety glasses either:

Make up a board to keep the tranny to motor mounting bolts in order, there are several different sizes:

Brace the motor for support before pulling the transmission, you can use an above the motor support bar, a jack stand or my method, scrap wood:

I'm not an overly bright fellow, reminder signs help avoid disasters:

I used a Transmission Adapter for my 3.5 ton floor jack from Harbor Freight which worked wonderfully (item # 95640):

Use a strap in addition to the supplied chain to secure the tranny to the jack, you will likely have to pivot / tilt the tranny to be able to pull it out from underneath the car:

If you are going to ship the transmission somewhere for service a 120 qt. cooler from WallyWorld ($50) is alot easier than making a custom wooden crate:

Now that the transmission is off to Gbox time to deal with the RMS. Drill the old seal, screw in a self-tapping screw and remove with a pry-bar, worked for me:

For the fun part; installing the new RMS. A fellow (Kyle AKA Shark Attack) on another Porsche board was doing the IMS /RMS job and looking for a way to install the RMS without the expensive Porsche install tool, I sent him this link:

He thanked me and took the ABS coupling idea a step further, I basically copied his solution so I can't claim credit for coming up with this homemade RMS tool. Here is my version, go to Lowes Electrical Dept (not plumbing) and buy this plastic coupler:

UPC / Part #:

Then cut out a "floor" to be glued into non-threaded side and a "top" out of thin plywood. Glue the "floor" into the plastic coupler:

You then need to build up the "center" of the wooden sandwich with a piece of wood which will give you the desired depth (13mm to 14mm depending on who you listen to) to drive in the RMS. After finding the correct thickness (as you can see in the pic, I used a piece of .035 paper to shim things up to where I wanted) glue them all up:

You will then need to bore out the center flywheel flange / lip area along with drilling a hole for the pin so that the tool can seat itself flush against the rear of the crank.

Seating the new RMS, all I can say is take your time and be patient (not my best trait).

Now onto the IMS. I read everything I could; lock the motor at TDC, no you don't have to lock the motor, remove two tensioners, remove three tensioners, no you do not have to remove them but only loosen them ,etc. etc. Some guys had the IMS "jump" to the side due to remaining tension on the chains, some had to have their cars flatbedded off to the shop in order to get the motors retimed. I also read of a few nightmare scenarios where motors got smoked due to carelessness on the above. I contacted Jake Raby and asked what EXACTLY do I do, here is what he told me to do IN THIS EXACT ORDER: Lock the motor at TDC, completely REMOVE the TWO rear (flywheel side) chain tensioners (drivers side points directly out to the side of the car, passenger side points straight down), Remove and replace the IMS with supplied / purchased kit, REPLACE the chain tensioners and unlock the motor. From what I have read, the BIG problems occur when people rotate the motor after the chain tensioners are removed, DO NOT DO THAT. The other BIG problem occurs when people remove the IMS cover without removing the tensioners, DO NOT DO THAT either.

Locking the motor: remove the engine access cover, rotate the crank (CLOCKWISE) until you see the notch A in the rear of the crankshaft pulley. Match up that notch with the cast in hash mark B in the block at around the One O'clock position. Now use your Porsche locking tool or make one out of 5/16" metal rod (I used some scrap allthread) cut to 3" in length, insert it into the hole in the pulley near the 11 O'clock position C. You should be able to feel it go into a recess thus "locking" the motor. Try to turn the motor over by hand just to ensure you cannot.

R & R of IMS Bearing: This was actually the easiest part of the project, follow the supplied instructions, a few videos:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=9lm2N-HlA1k

The only tip I can give on this is to use two mallets (one rubber, one dead blow) for bearing insert due to interference from the crossmember. After getting the replacement IMS bearing partially in, place a rubber mallet on the Aluminum install tool and use the dead blow on it for more square / direct hits, you don't have to use much force.

A palm sander and abrasive discs clean up the flywheel nicely:

Filling the transmission prior to install makes things a bit easier also:

For that problematic bolt located at the top of the tranny, wrapping a universal joint in duct tape barely catching the lip of the bolt holding it in place and ganging every extension you have (mine came up to nearly two feet) makes life a bit easier:

Good Luck Guys.....Mark.

Edited April 5, 2010 by coreseller
some spacing clean up and YouTube made to show

[tnoice]

awsome post. good job!

[petee c]

Great job. How tall are your Jack stands? I have the standard 16.75" ones. Just wondering if they would be tall enough to remove the tranny and get to the IMS? Thx Peter.

[coreseller]

I used these in the rear for clearance purposes:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=38847

[Blue-S]

Thanks for the detailed write-up! This comes at a good time, as I will be doing a clutch replacement, rear main seal and IMS bearing inspection on my 2000S pretty soon. How do you like the Swepco 201 gearlube? I recently drained the (presumably) original fluid and refilled with the Mobil Delvac synthetic 75w90 that was recommended by Todd, but now my trans has slow synchro action for the first few shifts when cold. "Cold" in this case being 50 degrees F...

[coreseller]

The Swepco works fine. Erik at Gbox (the transmission rebuild company) recommended the Swepco 201, Gbox knows their stuff so I took his advice. I had drained the original transmission fluid about a year back and replaced it with someone's recommendation of Redline products (Shockproof and another Redline lube) in hopes of helping the 2nd Gear pop-out issue, it didn't (No knock on Redline, my Tranny was past the help of lubricants). Good luck.

Edited April 2, 2010 by coreseller

[catmanluge]

The Swepco works fine. Erik at Gbox (the transmission rebuild company) recommended the Swepco 201, Gbox knows their stuff so I took his advice. I had drained the original transmission fluid about a year back and replaced it with someone's recommendation of Redline products (Shockproof and another Redline lube) in hopes of helping the 2nd Gear pop-out issue, it didn't. Good luck.

This is really a Great Write up! I used 11MM for the rear main seal and had a machine shop built one out of alum. No leaks yet with 6,000 miles the machine shop was short money!

[kbrandsma]

For that problematic bolt located at the top of the tranny, wrapping a universal joint in duct tape barely catching the lip of the bolt holding it in place and ganging every extension you have (mine came up to nearly two feet) makes life a bit easier:

Good Luck Guys.....Mark.

Great write-up. I accessed the top bolt from inside the engine compartment. I had removed my air tube from the air filter box to the throttle body to give the TB a good cleaning. With this black tube removed you can access the upper bolt from above.

[coreseller]

The Swepco works fine. Erik at Gbox (the transmission rebuild company) recommended the Swepco 201, Gbox knows their stuff so I took his advice. I had drained the original transmission fluid about a year back and replaced it with someone's recommendation of Redline products (Shockproof and another Redline lube) in hopes of helping the 2nd Gear pop-out issue, it didn't. Good luck.

This is really a Great Write up! I used 11MM for the rear main seal and had a machine shop built one out of alum. No leaks yet with 6,000 miles the machine shop was short money!

To be blunt catman......if I were to do it again......I would of bought the part from Pelican that installed the RMS...you have to factor in your time. I did not know it was available at the time I put together my homemade RMS tool.....JMO:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=PEL-TOL-P250&catalog_description=Oil%20Seal%20Installation%20Tool%20%28for%20original%2Dstyle%20seal%29%20%2D%20Flywheel%20Side%2C%20Boxster%2FBoxster%20S%20%28%31%39%39%37%2D%30%34%29%2C%20Each%20

[Eharrison]

Did you replace the rear engine case bolts when putting in the RMS? Or at least loosen them?

I'm trying to find the TSB (TSB 1359 "Engine Oil Leak By Crankshaft Seal") and seem to be coming up empty handed.

Edited May 29, 2010 by Eharrison

[Loren]

Did you replace the rear engine case bolts when putting in the RMS? Or at least loosen them?

I'm trying to find the TSB (TSB 1359 "Engine Oil Leak By Crankshaft Seal") and seem to be coming up empty handed.

TSBs are available to view here by our Contributing Members.

[Eharrison]

I know, unfortunately everything I've learned so far is through you guys and I have nothing useful to add right now. I do have a GT3 console delete that's coming with all the other parts and I might put that up as a DIY.

I guess I'll contact Sunset and have them pull up the TSB. I appreciate all the information that I've gotten here it's made working on this car fun and not frustrating (most of the time!).

[Eharrison]

Ha! Just realized contributing member is not what I thought it was! I'm an idiot.

[juniinc]

Great write up

[Wayne R. Dempsey]

Great writeup, I especially love the cardboard cut out with the bolt locations. Don't overlook this, it took me about 2 hrs to figure out what went where - this information is *not* displayed in PET on the diagrams.

-Wayne

[Yippee38]

I'm in the process of removing my engine to replace it. I'll be doing the RMS and IMS on the replacement engine.

What kind of glue did you use to hold the plywood "floor" and "top" in the ABS coupler?

[coreseller]

I used Gorilla Glue. Be careful, that stuff expands as it dries so recheck the depth if you choose to use it. Clamping it should help.

[coreseller]

I had not seen this thread in awhile and since writing it I wanted an addendum; I did not use the cam locking tools in this project, since completing it I have learned that it would be prudent to do so to avoid your motor "jumping time". I have an '02 S which means I have the 5 chain motor which was used in cars up to 2003, 3 chain motors were used in later cars and were more prone to jump time if not locked down during the procedure. Per my write up, I simply followed Jake Raby's instruction which worked beauitifully for me on my car.

[Yippee38]

I stopped by Lowes tonight. I couldn't find any plastic stuff in the electrical department that was larger than 1". I finally asked. They looked up the barcode number and it didn't come up in the system. That means that no Lowes carries the part. We talked to the electrical expert. He said they stopped carrying that larger stuff a little while ago. I found a substitute in the plumbing department. It's a 3"-3" adapter. One side is threaded, and one side it smooth. Both have a fairly wide wall. The threaded side is thicker, so I plan to use that side if possible. I'll use the other side if the threaded doesn't work. There is also a small ring in the middle that can be used to brace the wood insert. I don't have the RMS or the engine yet, so I don't know for sure if it will work. I'll update when I know.

Barcode number is 6 11942 03200 6.

Edited December 8, 2010 by Yippee38

[coreseller]

I found my homemade tool, will send it up your way if you want it. PM me your address.

[Yippee38]

Got lucky and had a new style RMS in the "new" engine. No trace of leak, though my old engine definitely had a minor leak at the RMS. Installed the IMS Retrofit today. Went without a hitch. I followed your instructions (from Jake), the LN Engineering instruction sheet, and I DID use the cam lock just to be safe. I also removed all three tensioners since I had the engine out and the A/C compressor was out of the way.