Guys, where's my Zerk fitting?

You run the risk of getting metal shavings into the joint!???

I don't know about that. Years ago there was a TSB that covered drilling out some bleed in a carburetor with the carb assembled, on the car. The TSB said coat the bit with multimileage lubricant to capture the chips and drill it out. I've tried that trick a number of times over the years with mixed success. It seems to work better with smaller holes than larger holes.