Need a little tech help - IMS bearing seal removla

I have a 2006 Cayman S with 62k miles on it. I pulled the transmission to replace the clutch and flywheel. While I am in there, I would like to pull the IMS bearing flange and remove the grease seal from the bearing. Most articles on the interweb recommend locking the cams in place with the engine at TDC, then removing the cam tensioners so that IMS shaft doesn't float around with the flange off. My problem - I would like to find a set of the cam lock plates that are used to lock the camshafts. I can't seem to find anywhere that sells just the locking plates. I could make my own if some one has a template. Does anyone have any ideas or sources for the cam lock plates? Also, given the attached photo - would you guys replace the rear main seal or just clean it and move on? The black goo is clutch dust.

Judging from the photo you seem to have the large, updated IMS bearing which has very low failure rate. I am not aware of anyone selling just the locking plates. This bearing is larger than the opening and I don't know if it is possible to pull out the seal from there. Maybe more knowledgeable people would be able to help. I'd be careful not to do some unintentional damage and would be skeptical about the scary IMS urban legends floating on the Internet and the questionable solutions being peddled. Also a question - IF you are able to pull out the outside seal, how are going to pull out the inside bearing seal? Please let us know how it goes. Good luck!

From my understanding, the only way to replace the the IMS bearing on a 987 motor is to split the case. It is the 986 motor which has the smaller bearing that can be replaced while the motor is in the car. There are options for “improved” lubrication of the 987 bearing which include removing the seal or installing a kit to bath it in oil. You can do a search for more information on the pluses and minuses. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The bearing itself cannot be removed unless you split the case. The seal can, however. But if you remove the outer flange you MUST lock the cams or risk getting the timing chains out of time. To be honest your bearing seals are showing just a very minor amount of weeping, I would leave them alone.

Both your RMS and IMS flange seal leakage are minimal and you should be fine if you just clean them up. Changing these seals is dangerous for your motor. If you get it wrong, you can completely ruin your motor. But, if you are changing your clutch by yourself, then you are obviously brave enough to remove the IMS bearing flange. The cams do need to be locked. Rotate the motor to TDC. The slots in the end of the cams will be straight up and down. Place a 1/8" drill bit through the tear drop shaped hole in the crank pulley into the engine casing to lock the motor. You can make the tools from some scrap plate metal (about 1/8"). Take a piece of carboard stock and test cut the shape until you get the fit you're looking for. You need to lock both the intake and exhaust cams. They are under the green plugs to the left side of the motor. The other ones can be accessed through the engine cover behind the seats. Then remove the cam tensioners. All of the engine oil will drain out at this point. Then remove the bearing flange. Use a small pick to remove the front seal from the bearing. You will probably hear a small sucking sound from the vacuum inside the bearing. You will need new cam plugs, bearing flange seal and new flange bolts (these have a coating on them that seals engine oil from leaking). The RMS can be removed by carefully drilling a small hole into the seal, install a screw and pull it out. Don't let any shavings get in side the motor. The new seal has to be installed evenly and at the correct insertion depth. There is not a stop for the RMS bore. If you tap it too far in, it will fall inside the engine casing. There is a specific Porsche tool made for this. You can improvise with a piece of PVC. (I think a 2" coupling, if I remember correctly) Determine how deep it needs to be inserted and create a stopping guide around the outside of your PVC installation tool. You can use several wraps of tape to make this stop guide. Only use the tape as a visual guide, not a physical stop. Be very careful!!! You can really do some damage. But, you will love your car just that much more if you know you did it yourself. Good Luck.

Would love some recommendations about what to do (if anything) about this: My eye says the RMS is fine and it’s just my IMS seal that’s weeping, but what to do? (2007 Boxster base, 100k on the clock)

Wait a minute, look at the IMS bolt and the area around that nut. Seems to be almost the same as above by the starter motor. I see no actual liquid dripping. I would just use brake cleaner to clean up the residue and put it back together. Change you motor oil at 3500 miles so in case of the oil seal being broken, you have fresh oil for the IMS bearing . Hope you flywheel surface is ok. I have 62k on mine and changed the clutch at 38k due to a transaxle removal to install the Wavetrac LSD . My shop did not suggest any additional steps and most likely looked like yours. I was thinking about a light weight flywheel, but my shop suggested that there will be noise from the transmission when in neutral that can not be remedied, So I just had them check the dual mass flywheel for scoring and replace the clutch kit. So far no oil leaks on my garage floor from the IMS bearing .

Funny you say that, I was wondering about the mess up high next to the starter. I’ve gotten some smoke on startup and my best guess was that perhaps my AOS is beginning to fail and perhaps some oil is winding up dripping down from the intake plenum? My flywheel is totally shot (no spring rebound at all), and that was actually the reason for the job. It does look to me like there’s too much gunk at the bottom for one of the seals to not be leaking, but I could easily be wrong.