yes, when I reassembled the engine with the new bearings, i'd measured the gap with plastigauge... I had gone through every port on the block with cleaner/compressed air a couple times over... I know I should've hot tanked it, but I didn't have as much of a budget back then to get it done right... when I disassembled it this time, the wear was minimal and consistent, not to any peticular spot on the bearing, but the scratches were small but consistent to what I'd dealt with before.Have to ask - are you measuring clearances with plastigage? And did you get the block cleaned?