When you say its not what you wanted to hear I completely understand.. But you have to know nobody here will tel you "thats fine.. Just run it"... Thats about the worst thing a forum can do to a member. So... You leave the bearing alone. Put it back togehter and my gosh.. Its still knocks.. Now what. Your mains are shot.. We agree on that... But they will continue to work in your engine but for how long....
Maybe 6 months... Maybe 6 weeks.. No matter... They are shot. Did you actually see the top half of the rod bearings.
Thats the side that wears most. Remember the rod bearings are getting pushed down for a long time by the piston weight and the compression. Then the rod is driven down by the combustion... Still its wearing down on the top half of the rod bearing....
Now the mains are always being pushed out of the block so the bottom half is the bearing that shows wear first. I just don't want to tell you the rods are fine just because you said they measured out fine with plasticgage. Actually seeing ALL of them is important. Your this deep into the bottom end its best to have all the inspections prove you are correct. Its never fun to do a job twice because you skipped one step. Look at the back side of the rods and mains. See if they have the nembers 010 on them... That means the crank was turned 10 thousands undersize so the bearings are that much thicker to fit the smaller diameter crank journels.