Looks like the problem was the nuts were frozen. There was no clearance at all. Used the dieselgiant instructions (not the quickie version) and it required a suprisingly large amount of force to move the nuts (my husband supplied the actual labor, I'm the typist.)
Anyway, the adjustment went well. Before I was having to do the ignition sequence (turn on the ignition, wait until the glow plug realy clicked (25 seconds) and then try to start the car. Sometimes I'd have to do this 20 times before the car would start, and it would put off a huge plume of white smoke. Now the car starts right up, even when it was 40 degrees this morning (cold for SoCal.) Runs smooth. Thanks for all the good advice.!