[JWL]

Yes, there was "back-in-the-day" thicker thrust flange bearings. Availability today is a big question? I would put a .005 shim at the rear, only, of the block and cap. This sounds easy but it is not. And, it is not a perfect solution because the bearing face will be at a slight angle to the crank thrust face. It will, however, work out ok. I shimmed the bearing of an engine I have put around 40,000 miles on and have not had problems.

In my case I made several different shims before I was finally satisfied that I had a proper fit and installation. To begin the operation I layed a piece of stainless steel shim-stock about 2 inches and overhanging, about an inch, both the front and rear of the block and cap housing area. I pushed and hammered, with a wooden block, the bearing halves over that shim stock. After each half was pretty well in position I removed the bearings and moved the piece of stock, or made new pieces, around to new locations and repeated the operation until I had the bearing flanges "stretched". Finally I cut pieces to closely match the half-moon of the bearing and "Super-Glued" those pieces to the rear of the block and the cap. One of those pieces developed a wrinkle and tore loose so I had to begin again, but, eventually I achieved the desired result and have been happy with it.