Clutch job

[David Giannandrea]

You can just replace the TO Bearing without disturbing the clutch. 

If you must go deeper, you can center the clutch visually before the
pressure plate is tightened down. I used a plastic VW centering tool, it's
too small but it has a stepped section that enters the pilot bearing and a
splined section that pushes the plate around... good enough. Later, when you
are pushing the transmission home, you might need to apply the clutch pedal
to allow the clutch plate to float, so that any plate mis-alignment won't
prevent the trans input shaft from entering the pilot bearing.
 
As for locking the flywheel, you can probably get the needed tightening
torque from the compression resistance, else use an appropriate wedge into
the starter ring.

As for the spline grease, you want one that won't liquefy when heated, apply
just enough to leave a coating, not blobs.

As for the useful life of clutch plates, it depends on the driver. If you
shift with the smoothness of an automatic, I've seen them looking good at
200K (when I replaced the T.O. Bearing.)

David