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Well I'm beside myself, so for now I'm going to think about it and do a little cleaning up.
Owen, how about a washer as a shim?
Well check out the next video:
youtube.com/watch?v=en0cX0t8rqI
Wes

I'd NOT use a washer or shim; dress the nut surface a bit if required. As to cleaning the oil pick up strainer, my choice would be kersosene but either it or gasoline would be fine as long as it's clean, dry, and done safely.

Mineral spirits make a good cleaning solvent and is much safer than gasoline. Lacquer thinner is a good parts cleaner too. Use both in a well ventilated area and wear protective gloves to save the skin on your hands.

(o{}o)

P.S. take the cover off of the oil pump pick up float to thoroughly clean the screen.

If the odor of kerosene bothers you, an alternative to mineral spirits is plain old charcoal lighter fluid, It's a nice clean isoparaffinic hydrocarbon, essentially odorless, and a very good solvent for oil and grease residues. I use it to clean things like wheel bearings and my oil bath air cleaner. A plus over gasoline is that it doesn't attack paint as on the air filter.

I have a parts cleaner in my garage with the Green solution, an essential component of the pushbutton works, but were I in your position I'd go to the auto parts store and get a couple of aerosol cans of brake wash, it is basically degreaser in a can, and the agressive spray action helps, about $3 a can.

Just out of curiosity, do you know if your torque wrench is accurate? It seems that an out of spec wrench might be enough to keep those castellated nuts from lining up properly with the holes in the con rod bolts. If you can, borrow a good quality wrench (Snap-on, etc.) that is known to be accurate and see if there's any difference in your results. Maybe it won't make a difference, but it sure would be the easiest solution to your dilemma.

Other than that, I'd follow O_D's advice. Just don't over-torque the nuts to make up the difference. If you do, I suspect what's left of your con rod bearings will drain out of the oil pan during your next oil change.

One other question: I know just enough about engines to be dangerous so I may be totally wrong here...but I was always under the impression that removing con rod caps or main caps and then reinstalling said caps without checking clearances (via Plastigage or similar method) would create problems with the needed clearances between the bearings and the journal surfaces. Can one of the wise sages here let me know if I'm off the mark?

Lastly, Wes, your videos have been fantastic and I will surely be referring back to them as I (hopefully!) begin work on my '47 Custom. Please, keep up the great work!

-Scott G

Using (or not using) PlastiGage has no effect on bearing clearances, it's just a simple way of measuring the clearance. Were it me, with the caps off, I would have used it just to satisfy my curiousity about what clearances I had.

Scott G,
Thanks for all the kind words, I'm very glad to hear that people like my videos. As I've said before I'm not a Certified Mechanic, but I enjoy working on things. I find tearing stuff apart easier than putting them back together. So on to your first question, I was also wondering if my Torque Wrench was accurate. So I checked it at work against two other wrenches form 30 to 100 ft. lbs. and all three wrenches clicked at the set values. So I'm assuming my wrench is accurate enough.
For now, this is just a spot inspection, since I have the oil pan off. It was reported to me this car was running fine before it was park (by the previous owner) and sat for 10 plus years. So what I'm trying to show is what to look at when trying to get a car back on the road after setting for a long time. I'm not sure how much I would gain by using Plastigage right now (besides that I believe I would have to clean off all of the oil to get an accurate reading), as I said this is just a look and see. Now if I saw a shining strip on the bearing, I would be pulling the engine and going for a rebuild.
Thanks to all for your support and keeping me on my toes.
Wes

Wes, you may need to prime the oil pump when you get it all back together and are ready to start the engine. I would crank the engine, without starting it, until there is a reading on the oil pressure gauge. If no reading appears I would prime the pump and make sure there is oil pressure before running the engine. Speaking from experience.

(o{}o)

Thanks JW, I was also thinking about adding an external oil pressure gauge.
Wes