It should spin free and easy with that much end clearance. So what do you think is jamming it up? Gotta be something in there....maybe some high spots in the coatings?
I guess see your intent with the coating to keep up the idle pressures... by decreasing the clearances. But most of the pressure leakage comes from around the tooth-to-tooth and tooth-to-housing clearances... dunno if your gears are coated there. Be aware that the HV model pump will increase pressures at idle and lower RPM's, simply due to the 20% taller gearset.