Klienes Kabriolett - My 2001 Boxster S

Boxster Porsche tax is less than 911 Turbo Porsche tax.  The clutch kit for my car is significantly more expensive although I don't have to worry about IMS/RMS...

Big day! IMS removal day! I spent a bunch of time reading through the various procedures online, watching videos, and studying the IMS chapter in the 101 projects book, then I went to work. 

I did end up getting the LN Engineering toolkit. It's very nice, comes with a lovely case and foam packing and all. But, having seen it and felt it in my hands, it's honestly nothing special. Most of this stuff I could have probably cobbled together. But, oh well, I have it now, and the resale value is pretty good.

First step is to put the engine at TDC and lock the crankshaft. The LN kit immediately let me down. The locking pin wouldn't fit between the firewall and the crank pulley. I ended up using an allen wrench:

Fortunately, it got better from there. Next step is to lock the exhaust cams. Here's the left side tool in place:

I have (I think) a 5-chain engine, and some of the guides said you needed to lock both sides, and some said you only need to do one. Without a clear answer, I did both. The right side was a pain to reach, but I got it in there.

Next you have to remove the chain tensioners. Those are pretty easy, mark their position and take them out:

After I popped the cover off, I could finally see my bearing:

The LN tool worked like a charm and my bearing came right out:

It's perfect. No damage, no noise, turns nice and smooth. Whew! 

At that point, I was tired of laying on a concrete floor in 15-degree weather, so I quit for the day. Next is installing the new IMS and RMS, then re-assembly can begin!

OK, the IMS is in, but I'm stuck. I can't get this spiroclip in there to save my life:

I'm used to the usual bearing retainer circlips that you can insert with circlip pliers, but this thing is a different animal. I've tried starting it in one edge and then rotating it into place, but it keeps popping out. Is there some trick I'm missing?

In reply to Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) :

Pull it apart a little first?   Teh Youtubez:

Cool, that looks like it could work. Thanks.

Long overdue update. The spiroclip trick in the above videos worked great. For some reason, the Pelican IMS kit didn't come with an O-ring for the center stud, so I had to find one myself. The OEM ones don't fit because the Pelican kit uses a larger diameter stud than stock. In any case, it's on and all buttoned up:

Started putting everything back together at this point. Replaced the camshaft plugs with new ones, put the chain tensioners back with new O-rings, careful to torque them to the exact spot they were at originally. 

Did a couple of "while I'm in theres", too. New AOS:

New serpentine belt, since I had the firewall cover thingy off (no idea why the forum put this pic in upside down):

Next thing is to install the flywheel and new clutch. Here's my flywheel:

I did a bit of ghetto resurfacing with a rotary sander and a 60-grit pad:

But then I thought better of reusing it. I can turn it by hand about 10mm and it doesn't go back to it's original spot. If I turn it more than that, it does, but it's very hard to do so. Pretty inconclusive. But then I considered that it has 108k miles on it, and I was able to find a new Luk flywheel online for about $350, and SINCE I'M IN HERE(tm), I thought I should probably just go ahead and replace it. So, the new one is on it's way.

Re-assembly to follow. Hoping to have this thing on the road by the end of March.

Awesome good stuff. I can't wait to start getting some work done on mine - I've been working too many extra shifts and it's been too cold in the garage when I've been off. Before you start the season consider: brake fluid flush, 'front bumper off' radiator and condenser cleaning, PS fluid (turkey baster out the reservoir for a partial fluid swap), treat your leather with a good product, and if you still want a replacement floor mat, let me know (I have a stack in storage and may have your color).

AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:

Awesome good stuff. I can't wait to start getting some work done on mine - I've been working too many extra shifts and it's been too cold in the garage when I've been off. Before you start the season consider: brake fluid flush, 'front bumper off' radiator and condenser cleaning, PS fluid (turkey baster out the reservoir for a partial fluid swap), treat your leather with a good product, and if you still want a replacement floor mat, let me know (I have a stack in storage and may have your color).

Thanks, man. Will definitely be doing brake fluid, as I'm hoping to do a track day or two (if track days are a thing in 2021). Good points on the radiator and such.

I already hit the leather last fall, but will do it again when I do my spring detail. I think I'm going to go with Coco Mats.

Flywheel replacement is the way to go if it noticeably isn't moving correctly. I cheaped out and put a "good" used one on mine and it was still a huge improvement. Like three issues the car had that I thought were either the result of too soft engine/trans mounts or just "the way it is" were like 90% fixed after that. Wish I had realized that before I spent like $150 on trans mounts that made no actual difference.

dps214 said:

Flywheel replacement is the way to go if it noticeably isn't moving correctly. I cheaped out and put a "good" used one on mine and it was still a huge improvement. Like three issues the car had that I thought were either the result of too soft engine/trans mounts or just "the way it is" were like 90% fixed after that. Wish I had realized that before I spent like $150 on trans mounts that made no actual difference.

Out of curiosity, what were the symptoms you that prompted you to change the mounts? Vibration?

Wow, damn good progress.

And at last, one reason why my auto is better than a manual, no flywheel!!!!  Let's not mention having to rebuild the whole effing trans though!!

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

dps214 said:

Flywheel replacement is the way to go if it noticeably isn't moving correctly. I cheaped out and put a "good" used one on mine and it was still a huge improvement. Like three issues the car had that I thought were either the result of too soft engine/trans mounts or just "the way it is" were like 90% fixed after that. Wish I had realized that before I spent like $150 on trans mounts that made no actual difference.

Out of curiosity, what were the symptoms you that prompted you to change the mounts? Vibration?

Vibrations, but also some other stuff like inconsistent clutch engagement. No matter how smooth I was sometimes it would act like I had dumped the clutch and would bang the whole drivetrain around. Similar thing sometimes when rolling into the throttle from a steady cruise.

As mentioned above, I bought a new flywheel. Here is the old and the new:

Tried the "twist test" on the new one and it moved about the same as the old one. So maybe my old one was OK. At this point, it doesn't matter, the new one is going on. Buy maybe I can sell the old one? Might throw it up on eBay just to see, though it's a heavy bastard to ship, so I dunno.

Here it is installed:

One thing that I found a bit disconcerting. 101 Projects says to torque the bolts to 50% of their torque value, then go another 90 degrees. Bentley manual says to go to 19 lb-ft, then another 120 degrees. Since Bentley actually gave me a number, I went with that. Went around in a star pattern and torqued them all to 19, then I put a regular wrench on to go the rest of the way. But I couldn't. I got about another 45 degees out of each one before I couldn't move it anymore. No way in hell I was going to get it to 120 degrees. So, that was weird, but I'm fairly satisfied that they're not going anywhere, as tight as they are, and I put red loctite on them just to be sure. And they were new bolts, FYI.

Clutch install was easy.

My last WHILE I'M IN THERE(tm) jobs were plugs and O2 sensors. The car had been throwing an occasional code for an O2 sensor out of range, and again, given the mileage, I decided to replace them. Brand spanky-new sensors:

For the plugs, I went with Denso platinums. Unlike the OEM plugs, they are single electrode. Old vs. new:

Plugs were kind of a PITA, as you'd expect with a mid-engine car with a flat six, but not the worst I've done. That honor still goes to a 95 Z28 with the LT1.

So, all the new parts are on. At this point, I'd like you all to join me in the holy prayer of the Haynes manual: "Assembly is the reverse of disassembly". 

Progress was made over the weekend, though I don't have too many pics. Transmission on it's way back home:

That went fairly painlessly. It's back in place, mounts are back on, bolts all torqued, shifter cables re-attached, and axles re-connected, as well.  Using my Motive bleeder, I was able to bleed the clutch (and the rear brakes while I was at it) fairly easily. So far, so good.

One thing I didn't put much thought into was the transmission lube. I knew it took 75w90 gear lube, and I have a fair bit of Valvoline and Mobil 1 synthetic gear oil sitting around, so I figured I'd just use that. Then I made the mistake of looking at the forums. Turns out if you don't use the Porsche brand lube, your transmission will immediately fly into a million pieces should you dare to try and drive the car. And it's priced as if every bottle has a drop of Ferdinand Porsche's blood in it. So I called the dealers in my area on Friday, and nobody had it in stock, and it was $44/liter if they ordered it. Screw that, I ordered it from Pelican for $35. Pelican has a reputation for being expensive, but every so often I run across something where they are pretty cheap. The downside is that I once again have to wait for something to arrive though the mail. Otherwise I might very well have been able to get this thing to a point where I could try to start it this weekend. I'm not putting the exhaust back on until I have the trans lube in, because it's going to be a lot harder with that in the way.

One thing I did do was take advantage of the promo that Discount Tire Direct had last week and ordered some new rubber:

Conti ECS in the OEM size. Should provide good stiction.

Meh.  I read the same thing before I did the transmission and front diff fluid swaps on my 996 Turbo.  Then the guy that owns Guard Transmissions chimed in and said all the oils are fine, just change them periodically.  Well ok then!  In went a whole bunch of Motul.  And I'm happy to say that not only has my transmission not exploded but it shifts significantly better than it did with the 17 year old, 34k mile Porsche fluid.

Thanks to FedEx and their slow-ass shipping, I lost a weekend where I could have gotten a lot done. My unicorn blood (trans lube), which was supposed to arrive on Friday, didn't come until late Sunday. I half expected to hear heavenly choirs when I opened the box:

That done, I got the exhaust ready to put back on. I had to cut the studs to get it off the car, and the ends were still there:

Using a combination of heat, cold, and a hammer, I was able to get them out.

Fitting the whole thing back on the car was not easy. Sucker is heavy, and has to be maneuvered carefully to get it to fit between the trans mounts and suspension arms. My trans jack helped, and eventually I got it into place. New fasteners on the flanges:

Another "while I'm in there" was de-snorkeling:

What the hell, it's free and it's reversible. And if it means more intake noise, I'm all for it!

Damn, I never thought about de-snorkeling!

And I don't want to hear about your heavy trans, your pissy little manual is way smaller and lighter than my auto was to get in and out!  Also you could do it all from below and not have to remove everything on top of the engine to get the starter out and reach the flex plate bolts!

Good work.

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Damn, I never thought about de-snorkeling!

And I don't want to hear about your heavy trans, your pissy little manual is way smaller and lighter than my auto was to get in and out!  Also you could do it all from below and not have to remove everything on top of the engine to get the starter out and reach the flex plate bolts!

Good work.

I was talking about the exhaust being heavy. Which probably has something to do with the fact that I took the muffler and cats off as one big assembly, because one look at the fasteners made it clear that they aren't coming apart without a fight.

Ah, got it.  Strange, our cars are similar ages, miles and location.  Other than snapping one stud like you did, all other joints came apart as if they'd just been done up yesterday.  The stainless clamps they use from the factory are beautiful quality parts.  

Looking good! All of this work will be worth it. You're going to have a sweet and sorted car

Today I finished securing the exhaust, installed the LN spin-on oil filter adapter, and installed the air intake tube (much harder than I expected!). 

And it runs! But... it has one hell of a while. Take a listen:

I've only let it run for a few seconds because I'm afraid of hurting something, but this is what it sounds like. Something on the FEAD? I did replace the serpentine belt, but with everything else I took apart and put back together, I'm paranoid that something internal is wrong.

I suppose my next step is to remove the belt and see if it still makes the noise.

tremm said:

WAG is pcv/intake system is installed incorrectly. 

The only part of the intake system I removed was the tube that connects the throttle body to the MAF. Granted, it was a pain getting it to fit back on the throttle body, but it's on there, and there were no other connections.

My hearing is terrible, so the whine isn't clear to me. I hear a sound like the Secondary Air Injection blower winding down just after you turn it off. Unplug the SAI blower and see if the noise is still there.

AAZCD (Forum Supporter) said:

My hearing is terrible, so the whine isn't clear to me. I hear a sound like the Secondary Air Injection blower winding down just after you turn it off. Unplug the SAI blower and see if the noise is still there.

Does the SAI run off the FEAD? Because I took the belt off and it sounds exactly the same. 

One other thing is that I seem to have a loose vacuum line coming off the power steering reservoir:

Is that just a vent, or is it supposed to be attached to something? I looked and I don't see any obvious ports on the intake manifold.

Also, my fluid is low, though it's important to keep in mind that the car's ass is way up in the air, so it's nowhere near level. Still:

I don't think it's the PS pump, because the noise is there with the belt off. Manual says to use Pentosin. Is this another area where I have to use the special fluid, or will any old ATF work?

Oh, yeah and one other thing. When I press the clutch, it goes to the floor and stays there. I have to pull it up with my hand. I'm assuming I didn't bleed the clutch properly?