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      12-22-2017, 11:54 AM   #1
Diesel_d66
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Moving on from the Si...

I hit my 3 year mark with my Si roadster then a week later got into an accident and it’s totaled. Such a bummer. It was my weekend/sunny day car. Being in Maryland this meant I drove it about 6 months per year. It was such a fun little worry free car to drive!

So now I’m considering what to do next. I still want a roadster and my budget is limited to $25k. I’m thinking of going the M route or the Boxster S. Are the maintenance costs much more for the M? Any other cars to consider with the 250> HP and a manual tran? Help me decide

Last edited by Diesel_d66; 12-24-2017 at 11:54 AM..
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      12-22-2017, 01:28 PM   #2
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Oh man that sucks! I'm sorry to hear about your car but I'm glad you're fine. $25k for a M roadster under 75k miles.... it's probably doable. Maintenance costs isn't much for the M in my opinion other than the rod bearings I've been reading about and the valve adjustments. You got your oil changes as well. Depending on how spirited your driving is, you could do the oil change once every 6 months or once a year. My opinion could be biased as I would vote the M roadster over the Boxster S but it truly is more of a driver's car.
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      12-22-2017, 01:57 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Diesel_d66 View Post
I hit my 3 year mark with my Si roadster then a weak later got into an accident and it’s totaled. Such a bummer. It was my weekend/sunny day car. Being in Maryland this meant I drove it about 6 months per year. It was such a fun little worry free car to drive!

So now I’m considering what to do next. I still want a roadster and my budget is limited to $25k. I’m thinking of going the M route or the Boxster S. Are the maintenance costs much more for the M? Any other cars to consider with the 250> HP and a manual tran? Help me decide

You should be able to find a nice M roadster for that budget and if it’s a weekend car the operating costs shouldn’t be an issue. And you should be able to find another nice SI and have lots left over.
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      12-22-2017, 01:58 PM   #4
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Overall the Z4MR will be cheaper to maintain than the Boxster will be. Hard as it is to believe, M parts are less expensive than Porsche parts. Z4MR engine is much, much, much easier to work on than the mid engine Boxster which you have to access from the bottom in a very tight area for most things.
If you do decide to go the Boxster route, make certain it's had the ISB fix done.
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      12-22-2017, 08:22 PM   #5
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ISB? Do you mean IMS bearing?
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      12-22-2017, 08:54 PM   #6
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This is exactly what drove me to the Z4M coupe from the Porsche. The Boxster's mid engine design is not maintenance friendly. Plus the BMW is so much better looking.
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      12-22-2017, 09:11 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by wdb View Post
ISB? Do you mean IMS bearing?
Intermediate Shaft Bearing. ISB or IMS Bearing are used somewhat interchangeably as the abbreviation. Just depends on how and where you look.
Regardless of which you call it, it's an item that's a must to address if it hasn't been done.
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      12-23-2017, 07:21 AM   #8
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Yep that's what I thought you meant. There is a lot of controversy surrounding that bearing. A lot of folks with 100K+ miles on the original bearing, talk of the actual scope of the problem being far smaller than the hubbub made about it, that kind of thing.

The flip side is that you get a box of useless parts for a motor if it fails catastrophically.

I think the best advice is to treat it like S54 rod bearings; keep a watchful eye. For IMS/ISB that means cutting open the oil filter to look for bits at every oil change.
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      12-23-2017, 07:36 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wdb View Post
Yep that's what I thought you meant. There is a lot of controversy surrounding that bearing. A lot of folks with 100K+ miles on the original bearing, talk of the actual scope of the problem being far smaller than the hubbub made about it, that kind of thing.

The flip side is that you get a box of useless parts for a motor if it fails catastrophically.

I think the best advice is to treat it like S54 rod bearings; keep a watchful eye. For IMS/ISB that means cutting open the oil filter to look for bits at every oil change.
I got into my 3.0si Coupe because of the IMS issue. I had a decent '07 Cayman picked out and was about to buy it in November 2014. It was advertised as a CPO car, but when I went to buy it, the warranty went away when I asked for the details. The car was at Porsche of Tysons Corner (Virginia). With the warranty gone and the tight fit (for me) with the door/seat area, I decided to pass. On the way home from the dealer, which is a hour and a half, it dawned on me that I had really liked the Z4 Coupe when it was introduced in 2006 (the time when I bought my E90). I searched and found my car (at CarMax - never again).

But the point is the IMS kept me away, where as the N52 was a known entity to me and I have all the tools for it, so the 3.0si was a no-brainer. I thought the Cayman drove great, but to me the Z4 is as good, with less drama.
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A manual transmission can be set to "comfort", "sport", and "track" modes simply by the technique and speed at which you shift it; it doesn't need "modes", modes are for manumatics that try to behave like a real 3-pedal manual transmission. If you can money-shift it, it's a manual transmission. "Yeah, but NO ONE puts an automatic trans shift knob on a manual transmission."
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      12-23-2017, 03:30 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wdb View Post
Yep that's what I thought you meant. There is a lot of controversy surrounding that bearing. A lot of folks with 100K+ miles on the original bearing, talk of the actual scope of the problem being far smaller than the hubbub made about it, that kind of thing.

The flip side is that you get a box of useless parts for a motor if it fails catastrophically.

I think the best advice is to treat it like S54 rod bearings; keep a watchful eye. For IMS/ISB that means cutting open the oil filter to look for bits at every oil change.
Yeah, lots of variables involved. The three different designs have different failure rates, and when/if it fails has some dependency on driving habits, and car usage. I saw one let go in a car at a PCA autocross. Lots of metal, oil, and smoke. Ran into the owner at the next event and he indicated repair was about $18K. Probably about the same as a detonated S54 replacement.
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      12-23-2017, 08:16 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dc_wright View Post
Yeah, lots of variables involved. The three different designs have different failure rates, and when/if it fails has some dependency on driving habits, and car usage. I saw one let go in a car at a PCA autocross. Lots of metal, oil, and smoke. Ran into the owner at the next event and he indicated repair was about $18K. Probably about the same as a detonated S54 replacement.
Last time I looked you could get a kit to replace the faulty OEM IMS and there are shops that can install it. I don’t think the overall price is crazy either. If I had a car with this concern I would definitely get the work done.
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      12-23-2017, 09:16 PM   #12
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Last time I looked you could get a kit to replace the faulty OEM IMS and there are shops that can install it. I don’t think the overall price is crazy either. If I had a car with this concern I would definitely get the work done.
Correct! I would too.

It's interesting that people don't want to spend about $1K to eliminate something with a best case of 1:1000 of happening and more typical 1:100.
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      12-24-2017, 08:52 AM   #13
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Engine case needs to be split on some of them so the price can vary. I've heard "do it when you do the clutch" for those that don't need the case split.
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      12-24-2017, 12:00 PM   #14
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Lots of info here:

https://lnengineering.com/products/i...SAAEgJQevD_BwE

And also

http://imsretrofit.com/ims-101/http://imsretrofit.com

IMS 101:

http://imsretrofit.com/ims-101/

From the site:

MS Retrofit™ as a preventative maintenance:

IMS replacement takes an average of 10-14 hours.
Typically coupled with clutch and other maintenance.
Engine rebuilds take 60+ hours and can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Engines must be pre-qualified prior to bearing replacement.

Last edited by Huz-Z; 12-24-2017 at 12:10 PM..
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      12-24-2017, 12:17 PM   #15
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thanks for the info guys!

I think the boxster 09 facelift resolved the IMS issue and the lights were improved. I'd like to check the S version but from what I've seen they're almost all over $25k.

If you guy know anyone selling a ZMR let me know.
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