Does MKII Model Year Make A Big Difference?

[AZPPS]

Recently lost my 98 Boxster to a bad head gasket and I'm looking to replace it with a 996. I'm most interested in the MKII engines and a 2002-2004 is in my price range.  Conventional wisdom dictates I should buy the newest car I can afford but I've been told in mid-2003 there was a change made that makes the late-2003 and all 2004s more difficult (i.e. more expensive) to work on than the 2002s and early 2003s. Any truth to this?  Do the later model 996 engines have to be "split" to facilitate an IMS change but not the earlier 996 engines?

 

How much should I expect to spend on an IMS retrofit for a 2002-2004 996?

If you were shopping for a 2002-2004 would you be concerned about model year?
 

________________________
CURRENT:
I'm shopping! Hoping to find a nice 2002-2004 996 Cab Tip back of 85K.

PAST:
1998 Boxster (R.I.P.)

[Ahsai]

2002-2204 should have almost identical engines (except a small difference in crank case venting in the '02 model). The IMS and IMSB are the same. To replace the IMSB (I assume you meant the bearing and not the shaft), there's no need to split the case. You only need to split the case if you need to replace the shaft itself or your engine has a bigger bearing, which requires splitting the case or boring the IMS engine case hole to make it bigger. The larger bearing doesn't come with the stock 02-04 engines though (maybe on a reman engine though).

 

IMS retrofit should run about $1.5k (depending on the type of bearing you choose) just for the IMSB but will add more parts depends if you need a new clutch, pressure plate, and flywheel, etc.

 

Major difference is MkII use the single row IMSB (most MkI use the double row which is more robust) but you can address that by retrofitting a single row LN ceramic bearing or the latest Single Row Pro (which actually has 2 rows of bearings to increase its load carrying capacity) http://imsretrofit.com/gen-2-single-row-ims-retrofit/

Edited September 1, 2015 by Ahsai

[AZPPS]

Great stuff, Ahsai!  Thank you for the info and the education!!

[JFP in PA]

Recently lost my 98 Boxster to a bad head gasket and I'm looking to replace it with a 996. I'm most interested in the MKII engines and a 2002-2004 is in my price range.  Conventional wisdom dictates I should buy the newest car I can afford but I've been told in mid-2003 there was a change made that makes the late-2003 and all 2004s more difficult (i.e. more expensive) to work on than the 2002s and early 2003s. Any truth to this?  Do the later model 996 engines have to be "split" to facilitate an IMS change but not the earlier 996 engines?

 

How much should I expect to spend on an IMS retrofit for a 2002-2004 996?

If you were shopping for a 2002-2004 would you be concerned about model year?

 

________________________

CURRENT:

I'm shopping! Hoping to find a nice 2002-2004 996 Cab Tip back of 85K.

PAST:

1998 Boxster (R.I.P.)

Was the engine actually disassembled to determine it had a bad head gasket?  Reasons I ask is that I have never before heard of these head gaskets failing.

[AZPPS]

I may not be saying the exact right thing.  I was told bad head but, no, I opted not to tear down the engine and go through a pricey rebuild to confirm.  Unit was a '98 with 75K on it and not worth a whole lot of dough.  I also knew if I did the rebuild it would be even more expensive because it was time for clutch, brakes, IMS, etc.  Plus, I had owned the car for 10 years and I LOVED it...but I didn't drive it enough because it just wasn't the right car.  In 10 years I only put on 10k miles which may have been a big part of it's problems.  Bought it before we had our son and my wife isn't comfortable with a manual transmission.  That's why I'm looking for a 996 TIP now...so we can actually drive it like it was meant to be driven!  Anyway, engine on the '98 Boxster overheated when the belt went and took out the water pump.  Thought I dodged a bullet, everything seemed fine for the next 700-1,000 miles or so, but eventually the car stopped holding coolant.  Had it pressure tested and assumed it was a bad coolant cap and/or reservoir and I was planning to replace them both when I went in for my next service.  During the spring when it was still cool I could drive about 15-20 miles before the low coolant warning came on.  I would drive it to work every once in awhile, let it cool off, fill it up and drive it home.  I'm in AZ and it gets really hot.  When it got hot outside I was only able to drive a mile or two before the low coolant light came on.  I went to refill the reservoir and when I opened the cap the car purged coolant from it's belly.  Dumped it all over my driveway.  Left the car at home, waited for the weekend, filled it up and took it to my mechanic.  My wife followed me to the shop and noticed that after about 2-3 miles she could see coolant coming out from underneath the car as I drove.  Especially when I accelerated.  Based on all of this the mechanic assumed he would find coolant and water mixed but didn't.  Kept testing but couldn't get the rig to hold water.  So, I was presented with tear it down or move along.  As I said, I LOVED this car but since it wasn't the perfect fit for my fam I decided to move on rather than go through the tear down.  That was in July and I've been looking for our 996 since then.  The whole family is missing our P-Car Cab!