im getting a motor shipped with no front cover, to reinstall cover w/o damaging thrust bearing, what precautions should i take?

 

Make sure you Install all rotating assembly on a tilt. Also, crazy glue the Oil Pump key on the E-Shaft prior to Installing the Oil Pump and It's Chain.

I dunno what you are asking exactly.

 

The fsm shows how the needle bearings/spacer etc are assymbled. But you know that. What you might have missed, is a passage in the fsm that gives you a measurement to make if you have doubts about the needle bearings having fallen (ok, they're not needle bearings, suffer through with the term). The measurement is .0961. THEY call it the pulley boss protrusion depth.

There's a free fsm online. The url is on this site. Just download the ENGINE section.