I just picked up a nice dial caliper from Myke W and decided to measure the axial clearance on my IM shaft. It came up 0.12 mm off. The wear limit is 0.25mm and I measure 0.37mm of axial play. IThe procedure I used was to place the dial caliper on the block with a magnetic holder. I pushed the IM shaft all the way toward the flywheel side of the block, set the dial to zero, and pulled out the shaft as far as I could. I can't figure out what could be causing the excess play. I had new bearings pressed in and the shaft itself looked really good without any excessive wear. Any thoughts?
Have you checked the thrust surface of the intermediate flange for wear? (the piece that has the o-rings and holds the intermediate shaft in place)
I think I may have figured out the problem with the little help from Myke W. The vacuum pump was not in place and bolted down when I measured the axial clearance. Hopefully, with the pump bolted in the IM shaft will have less play. I will report my findings shortly.