[tonythetarga]

It's not the bearing that's expensive in the 06-09 versions, its the fact you have to tear down the engine to extract the bearing. The other 97-late 05 cars have a bearing that can be extracted when the trans, flywheel and clutch are removed and the cams are locked etc.
In 2009 they redesigned the engine to remove the problem altogether.
The direct injection oil keeps the original bearing but you take off the outer seal and the oil injection feeds oil to the bearing to keep it from breaking down, throwing off the cam timing or detonating altogether, taking the rest of the engine with it.
Go to LN Engineering, Flatsix Innovations or EBS Racing websites and read up on the IMS bearing and various solutions.