Do NOT use the hydraulic (grease/bread trick) method to remove the pilot bearing. The pilot bearing area has a sealing plug (freeze/welsh) plug behind it that seals the area since the crank rear main bearing section is drilled clear thru and the pressure of the grease/bread will push this plug deeper or even out and not budge the pilot bearing. This is not a pressurized oil gallery, it is only open to the oil pan area.
I do not know why GM has such a tight clearance of acceptable depth (1.228"-1.240") for the installation of this plug since there is ample area behind it. Others have pushed this plug clear thru and it dropped into the oil pan, but my '03 Z06 has a reduced diameter "step" behind the plug that should prevent a push thru unless you seriously put some pressure on it. I was .320" deeper than the spec and I was still far from falling thru. Of course I could not know this until I removed old plug. However, if you did move it some you may have disturbed the original sealing of the plug (it has a bit of sealant around the edge) and could have a leak so probably not worth the risk to not replace. New GM Stainless plug PN24502262, around 5 bucks.

I know this has been mentioned before but I did not run across it my searches as it was found in threads and not in a specific warning so here it is.
Additional info here:
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...g-removal.html