You will get there! I have every confidence!
If something is worth doing .... Its worth doing 101 times

.... I have the clearance at about 0.16mm .... It closed up a LOT with the shaft nut tightened down (so the C washers certainly do not supply the crush against the celeron washer, the entire shaft pulls down against it with the end nut). Weirdly the pinion depth is so close still... its not worth touching (slightly loose rather than slighty tight drag against 1.7mm feeler gauge).
I'm glad I whipped up to bunnings and grabbed a much larger feeler gauge set. It helps a LOT not having to stack a lot of gauges to get the right reading (who would have thought, bunnings of all places is where to go for a larger feeler gauge set).
Find Kincrome 32 Blade Feeler Gauge at Bunnings. Visit your local store for the widest range of products.
www.bunnings.com.au
The reverse idler shaft still has slop, but less with the washers reversed.
I've just tried to make sure I've got all the metal particles out of all the parts before I assemble the primary shaft. How on earth was this car still driving with all that metal circulating in its oil.
This is a much more fun challenge when you throw all the bits into boxes, move them around the shed 1/2 dozen times over 2+ years. Have the gearbox pulled out by someone else and partially dismantled at a different location by someone else... ..... Then 2.5years later pull out boxes of completely foreign looking parts and try to work out the order they go back together in. Especially the different washers on the primary shaft, none of the manual diagrams are clear enough to identify exactly what goes where.... I'll refer back to my photos earlier in this thread (gee's I'm glad I took them!)
Fortunately I've found the top cover, front covers and missing bits in a box in my fathers shed (well hidden under the nose of the 2cv carefully placed among DS parts). This is my trick too.... Pull apart 1/2dozen completely different cars and mix all the bits together in the same shed, just to give yourself a challenge a few years down the track
seeya
Shane L.