2003 Boxster IMS Replacement Continued

As you can tell today, I have been blogging like crazy trying to catch up. We have been so slammed at the shop, my duties here have been severely neglected. We finished up the yellow boxster IMS upgrade the other day. Being a tiptronic 2003 we had a couple of things working against us in terms of ease of replacement. #1: Tiptronic transmission: This requires removal of the center intake plenum and throttle body so we can remove the starter so we can get to the torque converter bolts and disconnect the transmission. With the manual transmissions, you don’t have to do these couple hours of extra work. #2: The glass rear window on the convertible top severely restricts access to performing #1 as it does not fold up out of the way like the plastic rear window tops. Luckily I am fairly small and flexible. Watching Wes on the other hand was like trying to shove 10lbs of stuff in a 2lb sack. Actually fairly funny to watch.

The tiptronic removed from the car.

And the leaking IMS and RMS seal.

Since this is a 3 chain motor, it is imperative that the cams and crank are locked out to preserve timing. Not as critical with the earlier 5 chain motors as they aren’t likely to jump, but attempt the 3 chain motor IMS replacement without using the cam lock tools and you are asking for trouble.

Removing the old bearing.

The upgraded single row bearing and flange.

And the new bearing installed. At this point we began the long transmission reinstall procedure.

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