Wait for it to grenade and then....?????

All right, I wanted to throw this out to the community to see what y'all think. Pretty sure where I am going with this, but input won't hurt. Bought a 2002 911 with 140k miles for $14k. Car has an absolutely flawless exterior (9/10 to be sure). Interior is a good 7/10, easily to a 9/10 if I have the driver's seat redone. No rips or tears, just wear from, ya know, 140k miles. Got clearance from the wife to add a 3rd German option to the garage for my 41st birthday. No leaks, no BS, bought from a 100% meticulous owner. Weekend, sunny day car. Will never see the track. I like paying to use other people's cars for that and since I am from 15 miles from COTA, that is pretty damn easy (looking at you R8). Here is where it gets fun. Car has not had IMS, RMS done. Looking at around $3 or $4k to get all the stuff done that keeps me up at night (besides what they recommend that I can't see or have not read a million posts about). That is the common sense stuff. Fine doing that, but...... I will literally keep this car forever. I do not give a shi$ if I eventually wind up in a 911R or a GT3. (GT3 is likely when child support is over in 7 years or so....all you young cats, don't wife that girl unless she is that GD good). I can see passing this thing down to my son when he is old enough to not be a moron in it. First 911 in, last 911 to leave. I party like that. I am a month out to taking it to a very reputable Indy in Austin. Happy to do that and going to do that no matter. But, here is my dilemma. My brain says "Get the IMS done before it grenades!". There is this other, more fatalistic, F it side of me that says...."Drive the heck out of it for as many miles as you can get, screw the IMS.....this thing drives like a monster......let it grenade at 150k miles or 190k miles or 240k miles...who cares?" When it dies, it dies. Take it to Flat 6 and have them drop a 3.8 in the thing and explain to the wife that the $20k new motor was/is worth it. 1st world problems, I know. What do y'all think?

Since it is a 2002, and if it has the original engine, there is a very high probability it had the small singe row bearing. It will eventually fail and ruin the engine. Since you plan on keeping it for a long time, install the IMS solution. Enjoy the car.

More than 20K for a Flat 6 3.8 upgrade and a year or more wait. You could also buy a good used motor for 8 to 10K and have it installed. Much cheaper and faster. That's what I did.

Thanks guys...I appreciate it. Good friend said. Get the IMS done and I asked 'what next?' "drive it"

I would say do the IMS. My Indy recommended doing a roller bearing when I do my clutch (whenever that will be). But I say just do the IMS and drive the snot out of it for now. If it explodes later on then do the whole engine rebuild thing. But let’s say it doesn’t blow. Just set aside that rebuild money for the GT3 down payment

Put your deposit down on the LN Engineering 3.8 or 4.0, go drive the car and in a year or two when your turn comes, if the car is still running, get the engine built.

IMS Solution and drive it till the end...

Wait. You have a second wife that you will have to explain a new engine for your 911 to? Didn't you learn your lesson the first time? Second vote for IMS Solution, or at the very least a spin on oil filter adapter.

I bought at 71k miles a few years ago and installed a Solution at certified shop. It's pricey, but my personal goal is to hit 150k in this car before a rebuild or sale. If the cost of install is not a big deal for you financially, go for it. If the money is something you'd regret if a rebuild is needed early, then get a nice retrofit with a pre-inspection. Those are incredibly reliable procedures, so it cuts much of the risk the Solution addresses (at least for several years).

I say leave it alone and get a FSI motor when it's toast. There are other things that'll kill your engine. If you read this forum enough, those things will keep you up too. If it really bothers you, maybe wait until your next clutch?

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you have less than a 1 in 10 cance of them going in the life of the car thats 1 in 150 chance per annum also the higher milage cars ie over 100k have less chance of it going. Too many scare stories on here, a lot by garages drumming up business. I've had a couple of 911 and never bothered, also it seems ims failure is as likely if not more with reto fit.

Love this topic. I'd be in your same shoes if I got that car. Given 1) the mileage and 2) your intended use I wouldn't do it. But of course it's easy to be gay with someone else's ***.

I am torn on this dilemma too....But here is my story....I put in LN IMS at 47K miles....last summer the car grenaded at 54K miles because of oil starvation on the crank/piston bearing. Putting in a 997S engine now (with factory IMS) so in the end I could have saved the IMS cost. At 140K miles my view is drive until it dies...even with a new MS something else can go. Though it will be expensive, there are so many options for another engine.

My plan as of now is to drive my 99 until it grenades. I'm slowly starting to shop for engine cases and will buy the parts for the 3.8 engine build. I drove a 2000 model with a 3.8L in it and was stunned by the torque and power. This is the route I plan to go SLOWLY over the next two years.

Mikelly- when you say 3.8 do you mean a 3.4 engine modified to 3.8, or do mean an engine swap 3.8 engine from a 997?

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I agree. At 140k, this is the sound strategy. Put the money towards extra oil changes and oil analysis. And get the magnetic drain plug. I bought my �01 at 68k and I sleep great at night doing nothing but oil changes and flooring the accelerator A LOT. As one �Carrera Wing� owner to another, congrats on the new ride!

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Honestly it depends on the cases I get when I start shopping. The car I drove was a 3.4 to 3.8 conversion that UFO put together. It had 38K miles on it since the build and ran flawlessly. Car was a bit beat up otherwise, but I'd have bought it for the motor/transaxle/body. Ran like a Turbo with K16s. Was WAY FASTER than my 996GT3 was from a stop.

Cars are like people. The exact same DNS and components, yet some are amazing and some are turds. Your car is not a turd. It made it to 140k. It has a good track record. You could roll the dice and just drive it. Do the oil filter inspections and keep track of any changes. Save your money over time and buy that new engine over time.

The PO had the IMS go at abt 30k, The car then sat in his garage for over a year before F6I was able to get to his, wait list is something like 13 months. Then did the 3.8 and IMS Solution. Hell of an engine it is! And it should be more reliable than a stock engine. But, do you want to wait over a year to have your car back on the road after it detonates? If the car is as nice as you describe, and you are happy with the HP, and plan to keep the car for a long time, then plan to take care of the IMS. The IMSB will eventually fail, it will. But it may be a long time coming and something else might get the engine first. Keep on top of the oil changes, etc and you may catch it before it's too late.

Many of the responses have to do with probabilities and statistics. I think there is a psychological aspect to installing the IMS Solution. If you are reluctant to drive the car, or have this thought in the back of your mind that it could grenade at any moment, I think it's worth a few thousand dollars for the peace of mind. Sure there are other things that can take out the engine, but other than bore scoring and a failed rod bolt, most can be detected and corrected.

My engine has the IMS Solution, as well as the 3.8 build, and that's why I bought it. I will never have to worry about the IMS issue ever. Splitting Atoms has a good point about piece of mind. Thus , if you like the car enough to keep it for a long time, that certainly is a good solution. No fuss, no.muss.

Only you can answer that question. Normally when I get a used car, it eventually ended up better than the original condition after I'm done with it. That's just me, because I couldn't stand imperfections on my cars. Then there are those that just knows how to put gas in a car and drive it till it totally falls apart.

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I took apart my old engine that grenade....the case had 54K miles and no porosity....My shop says its good for anyone who wants to resleeve since two of the cylinders are toast. I have put in a 997S engine so I won't ever need them.

My 02 had 108K on it when I bought it. At 113K I had an LN bearing put in. The one that came out looked fine other than the fact that there was oil in it. At 140K i suppose there are a bunch of other things that could go wrong so whey not save the 4K at this point and sew what happens?

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Best answer.

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Could you share the details on this? Do you have a build thread?

Data point: Bought my '99 with ~45K miles 5 years ago, put the money into a dual-row retrofit (Solution did not exist at this time) and a few other odds and ends. Car is currently at about 85K miles; no significant failures beyond a fuel pump, a couple of MAFs, and a few other odds and ends. I think it's probably accurate that, excluding tires, I put more into the car doing the preventive work when I first acquired it than I have in the intervening years. Spin-on adapter and TOTAL Quartz Energy 9000 5W40 Full Synthetic (the oil recommended by my indy shop, which is very M96 literate). If I had it to do over again (today), I'd do the same thing, except the Solution rather than the dual-row hybrid retrofit bearing.

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Pretty much sums up my approach too, except mine's an '03, so single row bearing, which is slightly more of a worry....if I ever get the mileage up enough I will go with The Solution.

My 14 cents. Drive it like ya stole it. when the engine grenades, buy a cheap-azz 3.2L Boxster engine off ebay. Put in the new bearing kit, RMS and any other minimal stuff you want to do. Swap it in to the 996. Lather, rinse, repeat. You won't know the diff of the missing 40-whatever HP. YMMV, don't try this at home, may cause **** leakage.

If you wait until it grenades- you can cost yourself $$$ with other parts that become damaged during grenade event. Those $$$ could have been put towards a solution. My less than .02 worth says give FSI a call about options/facts- Jake and his team are top shelf. Of course- I am a bit biased with the FSI bundle pushing mine around.

I ponder this question myself so I guess the real issue is - how long does an M96 last? I have just under 175k on mine and aside from a bit of a leak on the RMS it appears to still be running strong. I have replaced the IMS with the original LN bearing but aside from that I know there are many other causes of death. On a "regular" car you would continue to run it until oil usage becomes too much or something else goes wrong. But in our cases they literally explode. I guess I'll just continue doing what I'm doing and once it feels like the engine is starting to lose performance start exploring my options.

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I know the PO of my car spent around an extra $3k on replacing damaged parts after the IMSB went. And he had to wait over a year for a rebuilt due to the number of engines ahead of him at FSI. I'm sure having a local shop install The Solution wouldn't take nearly that long, a local "referenced" shop quoted me two months on another car I was looking at. But the engine has to be in acceptable condition to have the work done.