I'm in the process of replacing my clutch/pp/flywheel/transmission front&rear seals, and I was wondering if I should replace the transmission front cover. I have my new throw out bearing, and my old transmission front cover sitting here. I can tell there is wear on the cover where the bearing slides, and I can wiggle the new bearing on the front cover a little bit, but how much is too much? Is it really nothing to worry about?

what made me think about it, from mazdatrix:

 

It's optional, but not necessary.
You can just re-grease the guide sleeve.
The release bearing centers itself as soon as it contacts the clutch.
I suppose if the wear was really bad, (maybe over 1mm) the centering motion of first contact with the PP release fingers could start to be a problem.

I got a bad release bearing once. It was way off-center.
If I had used it, I'm sure the release fingers would have been prematurely worn.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll lay a straight edge over the sleeve and kinda eyeball the wear (I don't have feeler gauges).

Also, is there any tool that I might find at an auto parts store that can remove the pilot bearing? (as opposed to buying one online) I have everything apart, and I have the new parts, and I'm not even quite sure where the pilot bearing is.

 

You can probably just eyeball it.

For the wear to be a problem it would have to be worn almost half way through the sleeve.

An eccentric bearing is a way more likely cause of excessive release finger tip wear.

 

I see. Well I got a new bearing from Mazda, it looks to be okay. I've spun it in my hand, and slid it over the sleeve, etc. One of the tabs broke off my old bearing, clutch immediately stopped working.

I decided to go ahead and replace everything since I had it apart, turns out my clutch was real bad as well. Like, fell to pieces when the clutch cover came off.

 

It sounds like it really needed a clutch job!
(A dab of grease works wonders on the release fork tips.)

Maybe to finish the job, put in one of those Miata short throw shifters on e-bay.
Mine was $36 shipped. I wish I'd done it sooner..

 

I already had a mazdatrix short shifter, but during this clutch crap I swapped it to my wife's '90 vert. I'll probably never get it back, so I'll check out the miata shifter.