logray

There is certainly a lack of data, and there is no central point to collect it. Although pro shops are ASKED to register their customers retrofits with LNE in order to honor a warranty claim, I believe most will do this. What is good is that there are probably thousands, perhaps ten thousands of cars with the LNE retrofit bearing over the past several years. Which in itself it "some" data that there are a lot of units on the road, even if we don't have the long term results or many stats behind it. The short term is that since they've been selling and installing the LNE bearings, only 3 have been known to fail (although they are still unclear whether it was their bearing or otherwise). And of course those are "reported" failures, perhaps there are some who have not reported. I think it is good there is competition coming on the market, especially for the DIY individual who perhaps doesn't mind having a stock bearing (many of which have proven to be reliable well over 200k). And since it's their own time they don't mind changing it out every 30 or 40 or 50k. Sometimes competition spawns innovation and better products. While I agree with JFP, if you are paying someone, why not go for the best option currently available? Would you really want to risk a $20,000 engine on a bearing from another provider who has not proven themselves by selling installing thousands of units thus far? Clearly this is a point of the engine that is prone to failure, it's just anyone's guess at this point what percentage of cars it affects - and the best estimate given so far was the 10% in 90,000 mile figure by the retired bearing engineer. Whether that is classified as a guess or estimate requires more data. It's too bad LNE didn't make it some sort of requirement that everyone register their purchase and document installation - DIY or shop regardless - perhaps then there could be some more solid data.

Is the wire OK, is it just the plug socket that is damaged? Sometimes the plugs are available separately and can be soldered on. If the wire is not ok, you'll need the harness, which could be #3 in this diagram: http://www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-parts/996-99-05/902-10.php

Cool.

I wonder if a square or trapezoidal rear window would work better? Maybe square rear lights? That's what kills it for me!

It probably won't be "technically" CA SMOG legal... but some of that depends on the visual inspection as likely the car would still pass the sniffer tests. Will it be cleaner than some of the other cars on the road, probably. I've passed a few rolling CA smogs with a full fabspeed kit, and played dumb. But that kit is gone... There is a gentlemen who visits here that has apparently passed a few CA? smogs with a DIY supercharger kit. Cough. LOL. :)

No, not exactly public information... but some guesses can be made if the serial is provided based on what other owners have reported.

Pelican parts will soon have their own kit ready for sale, with a more modestly priced bearing available.

Yeah everyone's got to put food on the table... Good thing you're getting it taken care of.

I bought two similar connectors for my car, one for the knock sensor and the other for a cam position sensor. They are Bosch parts and you can buy them brand new. They need to be soldered and will be difficult to do with the engine in the car, but it is possible, probably by removing the mufflers and brackets, heat shields, etc. Here's the part number for a 996 connector for a spark plug. I'm pretty certain it is the same for the 997 since they use the same coil pack.. Usually dealers have a parts bin called a "tech connector box" in their service bay or parts dept with all sorts of these types of connectors in them. I'm surprised they didn't mention that. Here are a couple places to purchase... or I'm sure a Porsche dealer has one somewhere they an transfer/sell to your local dealer. http://www.ebay.com/...t-/110458797063 http://www.ebay.com/...w-/170712781984 Bosch P/N 1 928 402 868 Porsche P/N 999 652 916 40

This outta be fun since that type of analysis normally makes for "interesting" conversations...

I usually notice a small difference with fresh plugs, but it's usually only perceptible at idle and if the old ones were in really bad shape.

Cracked coils can lead to slight misses or misfires, trouble starting, etc. Which can lead to other problems. Plugs are good to do every 30-45k IMHO. So... good thing to keep on top of it and ahead of the curve.

That's a lot of heavy duty parts and will be good for the engine. It does increase the labor because the actuators and camshafts must be removed, and engine re-timed. Maybe another 2-3 hours on top of just replacing the solenoids. I recommend replacing the 4th and 5th timing chains at the same time since the actuators are coming out, it's not in the parts list, they are cheap and they have to come out/go in any time you remove and reinstall an actuator. Also have him replace the spark tubes and o-rings, they are cheap. You can source a genuine OE clutch kit on ebay for about $450. And an actuator/solenoid combo can be sourced from a Porsche discounter for about $700 ish. Also recommend a new AOS, $100 part. If you want to save this money you might ask your indy if you can carry in the parts. Some are not open to this. 90037813100 1 liter, qty 24. These are exhaust manifold bolts. Your car only has 12. Why 24 and why does he call them "1 liter". Also, your bolts should be re-usable if they are not too badly rusted assuming they can be cleaned up.. 99908405202 locking nut. These are not applicable to your model year. They should not be included. mobil one oil. You can find discounted mobil 1 or castrol syntec on sale for $5 per quart most of the time. Brake fluid. You can buy 2x the amount of fluid you need for about $10 at most auto parts stores. Exhaust manifold gaskets, you only need 2, not 4. 99760210700 coil pack, you can get these at parts discounters for $50. It looks to me like they are charging you more for parts, closer to what a dealer would. But the labor is very reasonable. edit, since you are only getting a variocam code in one bank (one side of the enigne), technically you only need to replace one variocam actuator and solenoid. That being said, if you are paying someone, it prob makes sense to do both while they have the engine out... even though it is a 700-900 part.

No problem. The reason why there are probably not more responses is because the issue is discussed ad-nauseum on the forums and elsewhere. If you haven't already seen the link head over to LN Engineering's website for more info about the bearing "issue" than you probably would care to know about: http://www.lnengineering.com/ims.html It is a real issue, but some (perhaps most) of what you read and hear are the horror stories and what you don't hear are the success stories. Head over to the 100k plus mile club or threads to see some of that evidence. Some even over 200k. Personally, I wouldn't let the issue prevent me from making a purchase or driving the car, especially considering there several options for preventative measures you can take.... regular oil changes of correct type, pre-purchase inspection, aftermarket warranties, retrofit bearing, per-emptive warning system (used on helicopters and airplanes).

If you want to replace the bearing, plate, and clutch... generally speaking cheapest prices are on ebay.

Yep, that's the best policy.... just enjoy it!

Wire wheel?

And you can add me to the list of "removed my original dual row bearing after 65k miles and 11 years" an bearing was in near perfect shape...

I believe some of it is hype as well. But I also think they've also produced some compelling information to show that it is a real design issue in this engine. If you spend enough time on rennlist you'll read that Raby regularly sees multiple cars per week come in due to IMS failure, and others who have had their engies replaced by Porsche. In addition (as a response), Porsche has a.) increased the bearing size in later engines and b.) eliminated the design from their newest engine. B alone by itself is nothing out of the ordinary as car makers do often redesign engines. Look at the Porsche turbo and GT platforms and the engines that they are based off of. Even the above though, as you point out - you read about the "crap" on the internet and not as much about the success stories. About the only statistic I've seen (from that same website above) is that as many as 10% of cars will experience a bearing failure in 90,000 miles. The problem is, that's only an "estimate". Coming from a retired bearing engineer, I'm not sure whether that could be classified as an estimate or a guess. Does he have enough experience with automotive bearings and failure analysis to warrant being an estimate? At the end of the day though there are cars who have suffered IMS bearing failures, but no one has any "solid statistics".

Hah! I knew you couldn't let that comment go... well just "parroting" what I've read elsewhere ... certainly not saying that yours won't hold up well and I do not disagree that there are "reliable" supercharged M96 engines on the road. However there are several sources who seem to say contrary to adding SC to "stock" platform. I guess if you are considering doing this you should be considering how much the M96 engine costs to toy with if you make a big mistake. "There are currently no plans for a Flat6Innovations SuperCharged engine, or supercharger kit. The intake temperatures of supercharged engines radically decrease the effectiveness of the enhancement, and they have a lot of other issues that we don't intend to explore- Please don't be fooled into thinking that a supercharger is the best means of modifying your Boxster engine." Jake Raby @ F6I from http://flat6innovations.com/engines/performance-parts-a-services/5-performance-engine-modifications "As I wrote in my Engine Rebuild book, in order to really build a great forced induction engine, you need to design it from the ground up. If you bolt a turbo or supercharger onto a regular production engine, you will always be dealing with compromise issues and problems associated with the fact that the engine was never designed to be forced induction. That said, you can strap a turbo or SC onto an engine and get some great power out of it, but reliability typically goes out the window." Wayne Dempsey @ Pelican from http://forums.pelicanparts.com/boxster-cayman-forum/585224-boxster-supercharger.html Also from Jake... (assuming you've performed those internal upgrades...) "Unlike other companies that will apply boost to a "box stock" engine, we discourage this. That's simply due to our experience with these engines and the fact that in stock form, they don't hold up very well and under boost trouble is to be expected. The stock compression ratio is too high, the stock cylinders too weak and the stock cast pistons are paper thin, why would anyone ever apply forced induction to an engine with these issues?? We will not! Every boosted engine we produce is upgraded and designed for the elevated cylinder pressures that are produced from forced induction. If you'd like to "Boost" your Boxster engine we can provide the necessary components as a ready to bolt on kit, but we'll tell you now that you should plan on imminent engine failure and know that the repairs that boost stimulates can be so catastrophic that nothing can be salvaged. Now consider that you have an updated Boxster engine, designed with a Boost friendly compression ratio, and......... At this point, since the engine is being turboed, thickwall Nickies cylinders significantly thicker than stock cylinders are installed to increase durability and resiliency to increased cylinder pressures and the engine is fitted with dished pistons. Depending on intended boost levels, larger bore sizes can also be done to improve off-boost performance. Engine is then fitted with a non-intercooled single turbo setup intended in allowing 0.5 to 0.75 bar boost. R&R billet connecting rods are optional, but highly recommended. At this level expect 300 HP from a 2.5L Boxster engine."

Stay with the stock fluid... just my 2 cents. I've read plenty of threads of people who have used something that is not compatible and causes undesirable affects, primarily odd shifting behavior.

The original dual row bearings in the 1999, 2000, and some 2001 cars don't seem to have as many failures from what we're being told. It's too bad there's not some mandatory database where these failures have to be entered so we could see some real statistics. "However, of all three revisions of the intermediate shaft used by Porsche, the single row bearing found on some 2000-2001 and all 2002-2005 models is the most flawed" from http://www.lnengineering.com/ims.html Also I've seen Jake and Charles mirror this in the forums, that they tend to see the most failures in the 2002 ish models with single row bearings. No doubt there are plenty of single row cars on the road with over 100k as well... And I would disagree that at least most people seem to do their due diligence on failure analysis and not just blame it on the IMS. "and even with our ceramic bearing, we have had three engine failures where the single row ceramic bearing was found to have failed" from http://www.lnengineering.com/ims.html

The AOS would need to crack between the coolant and oil passages, and on top of that I think it would need to have also failed (causing excessive vacuum in order for enough oil to be drawn in) because normally it contains oil mist and drained by gravity. At $100 it's cheap insurance to just replace it. Personally, I would focus on the repaired heads, and have them re-pressure tested.

A correction to my post above, your replacement engine 03AT66566755 was built in 2005 but it is impossible to say when after that it was remanned, without having access to Porsche's internal database.

I believe what LNE is saying you need more than just the extra half quart and what the X51 kit provides. For example the scavenge pump return in the x51 is only good for turns in one direction (there is only a return on one bank, so if pressure and g-forces cause diminished oil flow in one direction that can cause increased wear or overheating/starvation). The better baffle does help of course. If you don't go for the 2 quart kit plus the dual tandem oil scavenge pumps, then I think they are saying install an accusump. Some of "what you need" is going to depend on your driving abilities. I'm going to make a guess to say that if you bought all of their mods, you would need to be a very serious race car driver who can push this car to and beyond it's limits regularly on a track. As for whether LNE is just trying to "sell something". I doubt that they are going to sell a significant enough quantity of these upgrades to be out there to push products. Their comments and research certainly seem to make sense and there are no other companies out there developing for Porsche in this manner aside from Porsche themselves. Have you read through and understood their write up on this subject located here? http://www.lnengineering.com/accusump.html