Couple Dauntless Oil Pump Questions

My oil pump cover has some scoring from the gears. Primarily on the distributor side.
Less than .001" according to my fingernail gauge, probably half that.
Is there any problem with lapping it on a surface plate or would I be better off just putting a thrust plate on?

The other question is about the relief valve.
It's staked in and I don't really want to mess with it.
Other than visually, is there any way to check it.
Service manual basically says leave it, but the manual wasn't written for an almost 60 year old engine.

 

And another question.
New timing cover, new gears.
I'm getting an easy .007 but not .008 clearance between the gears and the covers.
Can I run with that?

 

I think lapping it out would be fine. Most likely .007 will be good. Just my opinion.

 

I didn't have much luck with lapping so I went to the thrust plate unit and it
was a no go also. Just couldn't get the pressure I wanted till I put a new timing cover on it.

 

That's what I'm worried about.
I'm toying with the idea of getting a thrust plate and milling a few thousandths off the perimeter of the pocket.
Would only take a few minutes but just thinking about the math part gives me a headache.