Thrust Bearing damage - Why?

Hi Guys,

have got the motor out of my valiant, preparing for big tube headers and another cam. I noticed a lot of crank endplay......around 0,04". the rearmost thrust surface is damaged. I have no clue why this happened....car is auto trans, there is some space between the converter and the flex plate when unbolted, no "pushing" from converter side. I once ran the engine for a short time with a wrong built converter (727 Stator in it, 904 trans) - could this cause such damage?

It´s a scat crank, i alredy contacted them regarding a new crank.....hope it is possible to supply a new one with the info from the balancing sheet. Or is welding / grinding an option?

Thanks, Michael