Yeah, 1/16 a side seemed a bit much to me. It was almost a year ago now that I pulled it apart, and I honestly can't really recall what was there, not that that would have been right anyway.
I do recall those side plates being a bear to get out, and upon trying to reassemble I would flat out refuse to believe they were previously installed had I not been the one who took them out. To say they are tight fitting would be a huge understatement! I am at a loss for how they got this thing together in the first place. After putting the trb caps in the lathe and cleaning up the seating surfaces with a file and emery strips, and going to town on the crankcase cleaning the mating bore, it would still have been a heavy press fit. I guess they must have just used the studs to crank in the side plates, otherwise they would have had to load the whole rig in a press to get them on.
I did not remove the races, and I can't see them having moved, there is no evidence of that. Though I will admit I was second guessing myself when I saw that gap. I am kind of hoping they did have a stack of gaskets in there, and didn't just crank down on the thing until it seated. I guess the crank check will tell the tale there...