I stupidly put my #2 con rod assembly in a jaw vise before I knew any better and left some small divits in the surface of it, where the con rods meet on the journal. I have read that this can produce a stress riser that can result in early failure of the cap. What is the fix for this? Do I have to sand the face of the cap on some sandpaper on a piece of glass? I have about .019 side clearance, so I doubt if I could remove much material without opening this up too much. Am I screwed on this?

no! seriously?? i said ROd VISE...if you dont have one then you need the lead or brass smooth covers for yours..http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=...electedIndex=0

Yep, I know that now. I am using a couple of pieces of aluminum angle iron to hold them now. Live and learn. But what I need to know is - am I looking at replacing the rod or rod cap (which would involve resizing the big end), or can these marks be dressed out?

Pictures...

its only side clearance,,dress the rod with a 600 grit hand stone ands lite oil..should be fine..

i would torque it up and chack it to make sure it is still perfectly round,it may need to be resized again,buy a set of aluminum soft jaws if you dont have a rod vise.

Mike, I checked it for roundness when I measured bearing clearances. No worries there. My main concern is if some stress risers could develop from the marks and cause the rod cap to fail x number of hours down the road.

i think you will be alright,maybe eddie young will chime in,he would have more insite on this.

Just dress them with some 600 grit wet or dry paper so that you don't have anything sticking out past the surface. The little divits won't cause a problem. You just don't want any little burrs sticking out to grab the crank or other rod. When you rub your finger across it, you want it to be smooth.....meaning, you don't want a burr to catch your finger. Go to Summit or Jegs and get a cheap rod vise for like $50. They are soooo much nicer to work with instead of a regular bench vise.
Eddie