[V8] Was: Replacing the thermostat Is now: Timing belt time

[toml99 at todomundo.com]

I already emailed John(nearby) who's Indigo Pearl trunk I was hoping  
for before he caved and realized he couldn't live without his  
car....Ha.  Anyway, just to put this out, both the oil pump bearing/ 
viscous fan bearing(same part/different part #) are both things that  
never get replaced, and after doing the Lago car last summer,  
realized all the noise was from the oil pump bearing(107K).....How's  
your's looking?.....Dealer only item, and I've spoken with my bearing  
friend, and there's no ready made stepped bearing to stuff into that  
triangular holder(at least in the us).  Anyone know any different,  
and I'd love to hear it.  I"ve got 2 sets that I'd love to just  
replace the bearing, but can't?.  I got the assembly from a dealer in  
California(who's website is down) for about $75 each, and the bearing  
guy said"why don't you just buy them from him".....Anyway, they used  
to be around $125/each dealer, so that's $250 on top of the belt job 
(one of the bearings Audi used to charge $250 for), and they are the  
same bearing/holder.  Anyway, seemed like a good time to bring this  
up.....Tom