Chris, island,
I think that would work fine for the initial installation. It's the subsequent installations I'm concerned about (i.e. pushing the stray bits in).
John,
I'll bet Wayne knows exactly what to do in this situation. I just he's got enough going on.
Chris,
re: the dissimilar metals, Brass is higher up the Galvanic Scale/Series (more noble) and therefore the aluminum will experience the corrosion. Interestingly, Copper (in the anti-seize) falls between then on the scale. I don't know what that means practically speaking. Maybe if you can limit the potential between any two adjacent materials you're better off overall?
I think maybe I should rethink what I'm doing and use an o-ring. Sigh.
Thanks everyone for your input.
Feel free to add to the discussion.
An image of what I'm working with:
Tim K