About to pull the trigger

On a 996 c4s with just shy of 100k mi on the clock...I plan on daily driving it and I'm prepared to shell out a few grand every year need be on maitinence. Long story short, the previous owner traded it in to a dealership which then put it up for auction. His old indy shop also closed down, so service records aren't readily available. I negotiated the price to reflect this; it's going for a PPI tomorrow. If all checks out, it's getting shipped to my indy who's a family friend, so labor costs shouldn't be over the roof. After endless hours of browsing forums, I came up with a list of things I plan on replacing up front; I plan on keeping the car for another ~50k or so, possibly longer. The list is: RMS Pelican Parts IMS kit (LNE bearings have failed, can't justify the ridiculous price) Clutch plate (if it shows wear) Water pump AOS Engine/tranny mounts (it's an old car, if never replaced should smoothen the ride) I specifically requested during the PPI to borescope and check for abnormally high scoring in the bores; I'm no wrench but I'd expect in any car with 100k miles on the clock there's going to be some form of scoring going on. Am I correct on that assumption? Is there any advice/suggestions? I know it's a lot to shell out on purely preventative maintenance but I'm willing to go the extra mile to treat her right.

Sounds like a plan. Hope a thorough PPI reveals a solid runner for you.

If it's been taken care of I'd wait on the RMS and IMS until issues come up, and if you're worried change the filter often to catch any signs of failure. Although I don't regret it, I spent $2k replacing my IMS and the old one turned out to be fine, and the clutch was fine. So although it's nice to be ready for it, there is no sense rushing out to replace it or look into it when more than likely it was done before, unless you have $1200 laying around for an inspection on a under $20k car.

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How would I be able to notice signs of the IMS going? I know chances are it is fine, but I'd rather be down an extra grand or so then having the car die on me and my investment goes down the drain completely. For what it's worth, the previous owner seems to have daily drove the car (average 15-20k mi/year). Unfortunately, I can't find any personal information about him.

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Butter anybody?

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Not trying to cause an argument, just saying that even LNE recommends replacing the bearing every 40k miles to cover their asses...so to me, there's no logic in spending 800$ for a tiny bearing with no proof that it's significantly less likely to fail. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe not. Point is, I'd rather not have this thread talk about the IMS; it's for any suggested maitinence/wear items that aren't listed.

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Here are some options you have. I copied and pasted below from their website but don't know where you got 40k miles on the LNE site. The IMS Solution is designed to last the lifetime of the engine and does not have a service interval. The Classic Single Row IMS Retrofit has a 4 yr or 50,000 mile service interval. Replacement is recommended at time of clutch service and upgrading to the new Single Row Pro IMS Retrofit or IMS Solution is recommended. The Dual Row IMS Retrofit and new Single Row Pro IMS Retrofit both have a 6 yr or 75,000 mile service interval.

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LN manufacture the IMS kit for Pelican parts so you're actually buying a part made by LN anyway... To come in and flame LN about failing bearings isn't a great starting point, just sayin'. If you're already not keen on spending $800 on a bearing you may not like the prices of anything else needed for a M96/996... As for maintenance change the oil well under the intervals,. Also there has been some talk about the correlation between cold climate and bore scoring you can read about it in several threads may potentially be something to keep in mind.

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I'm not flaming the part...It's not that i'm not keen on spending 800$ on a bearing, it's that i'm not keen on spending 800$ on a new bearing with no real proof it's better than the OEM bearing. I've read plenty of posts of LNE bearings failing. If they had no reported failures, I'd buy it for sure. The "solution" by LNE is simply too expensive. I'd rather replace the bearing multiple times. Why does every thread here seem to turn into something about the bearing? I have nothing against LNE, they have a great reputation and if the kit is made by them I'm sure it's rather high quality. The fact that they patented the tool and charge 350$ for a piece of metal is a bit scummy, but hey -- its a buisness, I get it. Kudos to them. I do live in the northeast, so that does worry me a bit. However, my commute to work is considerably long, so it's not like I wont have time to let the engine warm up.

Wow, a "pulling the trigger" thread while KK is on vacation. Awesome! OP, I disagree that you should assume that any engine with 100K miles should have scored bores. There are examples of cars with well over 100K humming along as they should, and there have been badly scored bores on cars less than a year old. I don't think you mentioned the year; there may be some items that need immediate attention based on the age. If you're set on doing the IMS, don't cheap out and skip the clutch and flywheel. I don't necessarily agree with going with the cheaper bearing - so much of the cost of that procedure is maintenance; if you can reduce the frequency drastically by spending a few hundred more on the parts, it might be worth doing. Be sure to have your indie check the coil packs. If they're cracked, might as well do that while you're already throwing a pile of money at the car.

if you are buying a near 100K mile C4S with no upgraded bearing, i would suggest grinding the hell out of the seller on the asking price. doesn't hurt to try and you sure have a lot of ammo. after the PPI let them know you are worried about the news you have heard about the IMs bearing failures/etc and give them the impression you are ready to walk - i'm sure they will allow for a portion of the replacement. if there is no documentation of clutch replacement, i would use that as ammo too. IMS and clutch are approx $3700 - try and grind them down $1500 off the sale price - replace both and your car will be in much better position for resale when you sell in a couple of years - or like me, a couple of months

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My point was not just 996s but almost any car with 100k on the clock would show some scoring marks in the cylinders, no? Not necessarily penetrating all of the cylinder lining, but still showing some for an engine of this age would be normal, no?

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Just IMO Yes, no, maybe, it depends. Smooth rubbing on smooth isn't going to do much, or maybe pit like tappets. Get some gunk in there and yes, you're going to wear things down or scratch things up a little. I'm going to place the scoring issue on another level than that and it could happen when the car is new, old, middle age, it really just depends (IMO) on the driving habits of the previous owner more than age.

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I did this and was told that the price was firm... So yes, you can ask, but then you have to ask yourself if you want a Porsche now, or a Porshe later, or if you just want your hobby to be looking for the perfect one rather than driving one. These cars were $80k+ new, and you're still paying those kinds of rates for maintance. Also, although winter, the market still may be strong, so if you don't buy the car someone else will. This is, and even more when spring comes, a sellers market. [edit] My favorite story about something like this is from a motorcycle forum I was on years ago. Someone saw what was a pretty decent looking vintage bike and asked questions about it. The forum kings then started to reply that it was over priced (it wasn't, they were being old and cheap), and then gave the person a bunch of questions to ask the seller. The thread went on for the better part of 2-3 days (over a weekend I think) and by the time the person had enough "info" to go back to the seller they found out the bike had already been sold. The two things to take away from this is that it's nice to ask questions but sometimes sales move quick and you can question yourself right out of a deal, and that internet opinons really need to be taken with a grain of salt - it's best to do research ahead of time.

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When the bearing starts to go it will start to send a bunch of shinies in the oil filter and bottom of the filter housing. Checking it every 1000-1500 miles, and this may not even require a new filter, should give you enough time to notice it going out and replacing it before any real damage happens. It's also cheaper in the mean time than dropping a few grand to find out the bearing is fine. Again though, I had mine replaced and it was fine and I don't regret it, but I also could have used (and still used) that $2k in other places.

I think your MX plan is sound, and will give you some piece of mind as well as replacing wear components known to the 996 as common failure points. These are almost exactly the same things I'm looking at doing in the coming months. I will also concur with you about the IMS bearing and tool from a certain well known vendor. The first R&R of the trans and flywheel will likely take a full day or a bit more. The second time I can do it quicker. I'd rather use an open stock SKF or equiv bearing and just go in there every 40-50k miles and do the clutch and bearing as a wear replacement. The one issue with that is a potential for catastrophic infant mortality on the bearing. Failure rates from the aviation world show a remarkable trend in infant mortality early in the life of an engine. The same could be said of the IMS bearing as well, so I'll depend on an open carrier bearing from a quality mfg and just swap it every ~4 years.

I may be in the minority here, but I would rather have the original factory Porsche IMS bearing. How many of the replacement bearings have gone 100k or 200k or 300k+. Zero, I suspect. I'd rather go with the multi-billion dollar company with the storied racing history's bearing choice, flaws and all. For me, the small fry's bearing isn't even much of a placebo, but that's just me.

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I would definitely rather the OEM bearing if I was purchasing again, luckily my car did but I upgraded to the LN as preventative. I think its important to note that even if the seller has upgraded the bearing to an LN one it seem some are getting to the end of their life and should be replaced with the new "pro" revision or the "solution".

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Could not agree more. I'm on my original clutch and IMS at 80k miles. Oil change with DT40 every 6 months or 5k miles. Inspect filter for metallic bits and have magnetic drain plug. Filter has been spotless for 3 years and 18k miles.