OK, so I did as Cornfed said and put the shim out the outside of the Phil spider. But now, when I put the spider lock bolth in place (the one that holds the arm to the spider), it pulls the chainring waaaaay out of line. I then put the shim on the inside, and it's still a little off, but not as bad. When I lay the Phil and chainring on a table, it's flat as a pancake. Do I need to put a washer on the outside of the bolt, in between the crank arm lock threads, and the spider? Either way, there is no way this is going to work with the shim on the outside, unless I'm one stupid person who can't get this simple set-up to work. No comment.

Try it on the other side of the spider. Did you need to use a mallat or were fingers good enough? Basically whatever works dest on lining it up.

I know cornfed knows flights. I don't know them. I do know that a straight spider is a happy spider. Flip stuff around and figure out what actually works best.

Jusy be gentle with that Phil spider. You already know how difficult they are to find.

I do run a few thin redline spacers between my drive side crank arm and a Phil wood spider. The spacers are from a newer non threaded bb. I am extremely fussy about alignment and tension.

Are you using new school flights with the threadless spindle and sealed BB?

I'm Busted. They are new school flights. Also, the problem is I'm an idiot. I ended-up putting the shim on the outside again, since I did notice a gap between the arm and the spider without it. Good grief I can be dense. Anyway, it's all together and looks killer. I used a couple thin washers in between the spider and the BB, and just a very thin one and the wobbly lock washer on the non-drive side. Chain looks straight along the bike from freewheel to chainring, and there are no slack/tight spots. With sheer perseverance and dumb luck, I may have this thing dialed in. Now, if tomorrow is nice I'm taking pics and submitting to the board. 82 GT f/f, ESP stem, Flight II (oops), Hutch Pro pedals, 82 GT Pro bars, Santa Ana decals all around (even the bars), Phil hubs, and Araya 7X chrome rims, Dia compe chrome MX1000, and a black Kashimax. Yummeee.