Go for a ride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWKx2enwz0
Go for a ride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWKx2enwz0
icaneat50eggs wrote: someone really really needs to come up with an easy kit to swap in a subi engine for when the original engine explodes.
God, please no. I dislike that motor and all of the monkey's that drive them with big stupid exhausts with a passion. I know they are like legos, but they are also as strong as legos unless you replace the plastic bricks with stronger metal and titanium bricks.
The only think I dislike more are the bro-dozers "rolling coal" they can go suck a duck.
Aside from the build quality on the early models (they tend to squeak and rattle a bit as they age) I think the Boxsters are going to be as popular for track cars and race cars as the 914's were/are.
Woody wrote: Go for a ride. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWKx2enwz0
I've never seen that before, but I love it...
The car I'm buying has documented recent work for a clutch, flywheel, water pump, and new convertible top. At the same time as the clutch, the PO put in an LN engineering ceramic IMS bearing.
Hopefully at 105K miles, this one won't suffer from D-chunk...
What year is it? Looks like a 2002?
Woody wrote: What year is it? Looks like a 2002?
Nah, it's a 97 with an Aerokit.
quoted without quotes to get the paragraphs back so I can read it
Adrian_Thompson wrote:
Every Porsche engine over the years seems to have a ‘guaranteed will blow up and cost twice what the car is worth to fix it issue’ that soon get ironed out by the aftermarket. Mid years had thermal reactor issues, SC’s had chain tensioners that died, Carrera’s had head studs that snap, 993’s had air injection port issues etc. etc.
The M96/M97 engines have the RMS and IMSB (Rear main seal and Intermediate shaft bearing). The RMS seal has been improved on and seems to be fixed and is never more than an annoyance akin to LBC’s dropping oil.
The IMSB is potential a very significant issue, but you need to look past the hysteria. No doubt, if it fails in most (but not all cases) the engine is toast. The early cars had a single row bearing through some time in mid-01, then they switched to a duel row bearing from mid 01 onwards. The single row bearing seems to have about a 1% failure rate and the duel row a 4-8% failure rate. In some places I’ve seen a blanket 5%failure. In most cases if it fails the engine is toast as the intermediate shaft flays around and bits of bearings go thrashing through the engine and destroys all sorts of things. There are at least two cars on 986 forums that are still running post failure though. One in one of the Scandinavian countries that was caught just as it failed and another in Texas. The Texas car owner rebuilt the engine himself with a new shaft purchased off e-bay. As for preventing failure there seems to be several options. There is a device called the IMS Guardian which is basically a sensor in the oil prior to the filter looking for metal contamination indicating that the bearing is failing. Some people say that’s no good and my the time it warns you it’s too last. Most people plan on replacing the bearing when the clutch needs changing as once you’ve got the trans out and clutch off it’s very little extra effort to pull the flywheel and replace the bearing while you’re in there. As far as bearings are concerned. You can get a new Porsche one, get an upgrade kit from Pelican Parts for $165, or LN Engineering do an upgrade with a ceramic bearing for $650. Some people have reverse engineered the part number and sourced their own for less than $100. There are literally dozens of DIY How too’s out there.
Why does it fail? There are lots of theories. The best I’ve seen is this. It’s a sealed roller bearing with a seal on each side. It goes in the end of the hollow shaft. Some people speculate that as the engine heats up the air inside the shaft expands and forces itself out through the seals. Once it cools and the air contracts it sucks air/oil back past the seals. Slowly over time that oil washes out the grease in the sealed bearing and it gradually fails. I don’t know if that’s true, but it at least has the rig of plausibility around it, supported by the fact that oil is often found inside the sealed shaft. One guy (the Texan who rebuilt his engine with a used shaft) has drilled two small holes 180deg apart between the two sets of teeth that drive the timing chains on the shaft so that nothing needs to be sucked past he seals. But that’s just a theory by one guy.
General consensus seems to be Change the oil at 3-5K, use the recommended grade of oil and cut the filter open and look for debris with a magnet each time.
There was also the cylinder wall ‘D’ chucking issue with the early 2.5L Boxster and 3.4 Carrera engines only, it doesn’t seem to have been an issue with the 2.7, 3.2 and 3.6L engines. IT was a casting flaw caused by the insert mold casting of the Local cylinder liners into the case. It seems to have been an early issue which caused infant mortality. I think at this point any 2.5 or 3.4L engine will have passed the danger zone, but I wouldn’t want a 5k mile garage queen. Incidentally my next door neighbor had a new 98 Boxster that suffered from this and get a new engine under warranty.
There are literally hundreds of threads out there on IMSB’s on Rennlist, Pelican parts, 6speed, 986 forums etc. etc.
Maroon92 wrote:Woody wrote: Go for a ride. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWKx2enwz0I've never seen that before, but I love it...
I was waiting for a painful James Dean reference with the copycat blind curve pass on the logging truck, followed by the protracted staring at the old Porsche while sitting in the oncoming lane...
I owned a 2000 S with the 6 speed. The motor had been rebuilt due to an overheat issue, and was very strong. It dynoed 285hp at the rear wheels. I had a tune and cheap Ebay stainless headers and exhaust and it sounded fantastic. You could beat it all day on the track and the only issue you would have was chunking the skinny front tires and melting the brake pad sensors. It had 215s on 17' rims, stock.
Another option that hasn't been mentioned is the kit which feeds oil directly to the IMS bearing. To me, this solution is so obvious that I can't believe that Porsche neglected it in the first place. None of the bearing replacement solutions mentioned, address the fact that the IMS bearing fails due to lack of lubrication. They are all temporary fixes. Unless the lubrication side of the problem is addressed, you are wasting your money IMHO.
We have had our 2002 Boxster S since the beginning of 2004. Best gift I ever bought my wife! We are into our eleventh season of autocrossing it, and driving it all over the country. We LOVE it! If you enjoy driving, you will love driving a Boxster S!
We did replace the IMS bearing and clutch when a leaking RMS needed repair, about two years ago. We have replaced some switches, a window regulator, and CV joint boots from time to time. True, we know people who have suffered catastrophic engine failures (some of which were replaced by Porsche), but overall that is a small percentage of Boxster owners.
I've owned 2 Boxsters... a '98 base 2.5L and a '03 3.2L S.
They are great cars. You can't really go wrong with one. The S was more livable for commutes thanks to the extra power, but I think I enjoyed the 98 more. I had a few mods and a pretty aggressive alignment, I would drive that car at 11/10s and it was a ball! At local autocross it was always battling with s2000s and I would either top the class orspin out trying. It was a ball.
The damage? Well I sold the 98 with no syncros in the transmission. 2 sets of brake pads, 3-4 sets of tires, (expensive) oil changes every 3500 miles. Blew a clutch in the S, and pads and rotors. All in all not too bad for 6 years of daily driving and frequent autocrossing.
Buy it, drive it, change the bearing when it needs a clutch.
I owned an '01 S (in my avatar) for a year. It was fast and composed, but I was gritting my teeth everytime I drove it, waiting for something to break. Nothing ever did.
I got ALL kinds of positive attention in that thing, though it was ridiculously clean for a 10 yr old car. It must have been the blood red interior.
My favorite two Porsche commercials are
I've worked on one before. I will own one soon enough.
AaronBalto wrote: One other word of caution: this car brings on the class hatred like nothing I have ever driven. People HATE you when you drive one of these, even though it costs less that their used Kia. I suppose that's the state of the US right now, but still...
I just realized, this is probably because Porsche's marketing department runs on concentrated snobbery these days.
Derick Freese wrote: I will own one soon enough.
I've been saying that for ten years! Funny how having kids derails all kinds of plans.
I appreciate all the comments. I'm going to go test drive it this weekend. The potential repair costs can be a bit high, but they don't seem a lot worse than my Cooper S. It's been a while since I've driven one, and I'm really looking forward to it.
Well, the deal is done. Seventy-five hundred bones later and it's in my garage.
I won't have time to reg it for a week or so, but I can sit in my garage and make vroom vroom noises.
Should make a decent regional C-stock car.
Maroon92 wrote:
Nicely done. Have those really become so attainable?
Interesting, a local craigslist search brought up a couple Boxsters under $10k. I also stumbled across a 2006 Elise for $25k OBO. Damn - I don't need to see that ad.
BAMF wrote:Maroon92 wrote:Nicely done. Have those really become so attainable?
This one has been on the market for a long time. PO first offered it last August at $10,500. He kept getting lower and lower until I offered and he accepted.
This one has TONS of maintenance records. New water pump, ceramic IMS, new top, new clutch and flywheel. Drives like it's got 10,000 miles, not 100,000.
Nice job! That sounds like a good deal.
Woody wrote: Nice job! That sounds like a good deal.
Thanks. Somehow I convinced SWMBO that it was a good idea, and she's still on board...
This isn't the last you'll see of the car. It's going to be a project car for one of the outlets in my sig.
Depressing for those of us that own one of these. Crazy cheap.
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