Flat 6 Innovations

First off I'd like to begin this article by stating that this development was made possible by several different people and their input. Special thanks goes out to Scott Slauson (at Softronic) who first identified the bearing puller that allowed us to successfully extract a dual row bearing (Scott has also successfully carried out this procedure in the past). We'd also like to thank Wayne Dempsey of Pelican Parts as well as Tony Callas from Callas Rennsport as they passed the word onto us about the bearing puller and even gave us the part number and first hand experience using it, as we would have not proceeded with development of this kit otherwise! We took the information they provided to us and coupled that to our own innovativeness to come up with the tools that you see pictured here and Charles from LN Engineering worked very quickly to have a specially designed double row bearing made specifically for this application.

For the majority of three years, Charles from LN Engineering and I attempted to come up with a solution for the dual row IMS bearing and had dismissed the possiblity of making a retrofit after several failed attempts at bearing extraction. What prohibited us from applying an "overkill engineered" solution, including ceramic hybrid bearings like those used in LN Engineering's IMS Upgrade or single-row bearing IMS Retrofit kit, was our inability to safely remove a dual row bearing with the intermediate shaft still installed in the engine. The bearing was pressed in and retained with an internal wire lock and every puller that was used to pull the bearing ended up broken in the process, so we had honestly given up on being able to create a preventive or repair for the dual row bearing and then the aforementioned puller came into play and we capitalized on it.

We want to be very clear that we were not the first people to do this; but rather that we are trying to maximize the effectiveness of the process by applying a specifically designed bearing for the application based off extensive 3rd party analysis and recommendations, thus making for a well rounded development that can be applied by the DIY M96 Owner in their home garage in the future, with confidence. Key word is with confidence and also with an emphasis on safety. This will be done through our extensive interface with these engines and ability to provide support as well as directives like one of our DIY DVDs, YouTube videos, as well as tech articles like this one. As it was brought to our attention, a similar procedure was used to replace the dual row IMS bearing with a single row bearing, as the dual row bearing is not an off-the-self or readily available part. While this may be a short term solution maybe requiring the bearing to be replaced at given service intervals, the single row bearings also fail and are among the highest percentage of failure from what we see, and we decided we wanted a solution closer to what the factory had provided, with the aforementioned improvements like ceramic hybrid bearings.

I'll go over the processes of the bearing removal and replacement below and then I'll give a summary of some risks at the end of the pictorial. We'll start with the M96 engine in our customer's Boxster (that agreed to be one of our beta testers) opened up and ready for the IMS retrofit. To keep the article to the point we have begun with the transaxle removed, chain tensioners extracted, flywheel removed and the IMS bearing retainer also removed, exposing the dual row IMS bearing.

Using a soft faced mallet, the center stud (bearing support) of the IMS bearing is tapped into the IMS tube to allow for the puller to be inserted. The intermediate shaft is comprised of a hollow tube which is captive, so there is no fear that the stud will fall into the engine's crankcase at any point. The center stud is removed after the IMS bearing is pulled using a magnet. As the center stud is not used in the LN retrofit kit, it does not need to be retained.

Here the center stud has been dislodged and is now held in the IMS tube awaiting retrieval. In this picture, the dual-row bearing is exposed, and does not feature an external circlip as found on single-row bearing intermediate shafts. Note that the IMS bearing is a sealed bearing, compared to the open bearing later featured in this installation.