[Jherriott]

Hey all,

Thanks to our 6 month winter "pause" up here in Canada, I have a 1988 Carrera Coupe with a G50 apart at the moment to do a top end refresh and replace bad valve guides.

While the motor was dropped I took the opportunity to check the clutch and transmission. The clutch had been making an occasional noise only at the moment when the clutch made contact with the flywheel. Therefore no noise when clutch was fully engaged or when fully released.

It turns out the pilot bearing had completely seized and the shaft was rotating within the bearing, wearing down the tip of the input shaft in the process. Unfortunately it looks like even though the clutch and flywheel had been upgraded to the 930 style by the PO, the bearing had not been changed? Unfortunate.

The end of the pilot shaft is now coarse and copper colored. When the new bearing is placed on the end, there is some minute play which causes me to worry. My fear being that the shaft will now want to rotate within the center ring of the bearing.

Questions:

1. Not being completely familiar with the stresses in this example, am I right to worry? Or will the new pilot bearing work fine on the worn shaft?

2. Does this occur frequently enough that there is some fix? Either a resurfacing and treating of the shaft, or a different bearing?

Any suggestions are welcome other than my mechanics suggestion of a new input shaft at a cost of $2,500 just for the part alone. Many Thanks!

Jase.