I'd be a little careful bolting the caps down without shims. That Babbitt is very thin and it doesn't take much to distort it or the shell. I think I'd sneak up on it from the other direction like the service manual suggests, starting out high and removing shims. If everything is clean and there aren’t any burrs the shells should snap in place right on size.
I've heard from quite a few sources that the shim packs available today aren't the best offering and that they ended up making their own shims.
I have shim stock that I've gotten from McMaster Carr and to make a really fine adjustment I'm planning on making my own shim stacks with .001” and .0005” shims.
Laminated Brass shim stock is available in .002” per layer, which is probably what the vendors are selling in their shim stacks.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

Denny G
Sandwich, IL