Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/506091
May / June 2015 16 not been installed on the far end of the IMS in this picture) that will eventually connect to the camshafts on each side of the engine. Thus, the intermediate shaft is the link between connecting the crankshaft to the camshafts to drive everything together. On the end of the shaft, you can see a bearing with a threaded stud sticking out. This is the infamous IMS bearing that fails. That bearing is allowing the shaft to turn and stay centered in the engine block. You might imagine that once that bearing fails, how the shaft can start moving around, putting stress on the chains, and eventually losing timing when everything goes slack. And of course when we have chains, we have chain rails that they ride on, along with tensioner paddles to keep the chains tight when installed. These black chain rails can fail, and can not be replaced without a full rebuild, so they are cheap, replace no matter how good of condition they look. There are two, one on the tensioner paddle and one that wraps around the chain. Next the crankshaft and IMS assembly is dropped into the bank 1 block half with the three installed rods facing up for bank 2. If you look closely, in this picture I have already installed the pistons from the other side, as you can see the rod caps installed in this picture, but I forgot to take a picture of the carrier sitting in the bank 1 block half. The pistons and rods of bank 1 are installed in the typical fashion, that is, the rod is attached to the piston and inserted into the engine from the top of the cylinder. So as if you didn't see the pistons in bank 1 already installed, with the crankshaft carrier secured into the block, it is then flipped over and the bank 1 pistons and rods are installed in that block half. This is a bit opposite of the bank 2 side as we will see later, as the piston and rod are installed already connected at the wrist pin and lowered into the cylinders from the top (as shown in the previous picture). Inserting the pistons from the top using a ring compressor sleeve on bank 1. The sleeves are tapered so they can easily be pushed into the cylinder without the use of a conventional spring compressor tool. The process is so much simpler. With the pistons/ rods in place, the rod caps are installed from the bottom side and torqued to spec. Before installing the other block half in place, there are two coolant passage seals