Machining the ring gear side won't help tighten up that backlash, so I don't think that's the solution at all.
Is there any option of a thinner seal housing or anything weird like that? Leave the shim off that side despite the. 015 spec?
I just ended up with an Option 1 car myself. :) 1999 Corvette checked off a lot of "fun" criteria boxes for me, at a lower price than many other fun cars.
Edit: Hauling bikes on it might not work very well. :rofl:
Here are our scores....I highlighted the best raw times, and the best clean times (no cones). Ignore the bolded times, they're some weird calculated time that makes no sense since we didn't have classes.