2003 with 146,000 Miles - Sad Day

[Jake Raby]

. I read all the doom and gloom of intermediate shaft failures and always wonder if one day I will have a blown engine.

I have successfully replaced three dual row IMS bearings as of yesterday.. We have found the tools and made a few that allow the dual row bearing to be removed!

LN Engineering has also made a silicon nitride ceramic bearing to replace the unit with as a complete drop in! This means that preventive IMS measures are now a reality..

BUT we are still very much in the development stages with this and would like to get 100 beta testers out there (with us installing the bearing) for at least two years prior to offering this as a "solution" to the IMS issue. Look for a step by step procedure on my site soon as a step by step pictorial.

I did this job in 6 hours yesterday, including R&R of the tranny, start to finish! One of the bearings I installed first has been in service for 3 months already.

I'm game and only a few hours away. Will this work for an 03 S?

Yes, but your car **may** have the single row IMSbearing, which our solution has already been perfected for. The dual row is the one that we are focusing on now.

I finished the pictorial last night of the installation. You can see the procedure, tools and etc here.

http://www.flat6innovations.com/saving-an-...ne-ims-retrofit

We are doing another one Monday and have a 996 with the death rattle that hasn't failed yet coming in from 800 miles away next week.. Hopefully we can save this engine with the procedure!