thanks for the feedback and focus on the kickshaft, I can understand why that is, having read your notes, so let me try and summarise:
* the first thing is, that all these bits were already assembled when I got the bike (engine was blown up, so no go, plus miriad other issues with the frame etc!), but the bike was "whole" and theoretically driveable "just" with a blown up engine, so presumably it went together ok before, so why not now???
* assuming it wasn't assembled properly before (somehow??) then I clearly have to change something to make this go together and it seems that the quadrant is out of position to start with. It looks to have been pressed onto the "spline", but not far enough? should the quadrant align with the bottom of the shaft or just press all the way up to the shoulder/stop on the shaft? Looking at Musky's pic, it seems that it shouldn't go all the way up and there should be a "spacer" (?) there, so how do I get this quadrant positioned correctly please?
* AND Musky, the quadrant looks like its awfully tight on the "spline" when its been pressed into position, I cant see how another spacer behind it sitting over the splines would really make any difference to its holding location, thoughts?
* now the shouldered stop, John's comment seems to suggest that the gearbox has been repaired at some stage and I believe thats the case, the bushes are clearly not original through the box, and seem to still be in reasonable condition. I think the shouldered stop is probably a good thing wrt its function too per John's past idea, so if I (can!) push the quadrant further on such that it aligns with the bottom of the spline, it will clear the shoulder, but will that misalign the pinion?? (I'm not in a position to fully assemble the box yet, so can't check that, what are your thoughts on this alignment please?)
* Finally, Swarfy's ideas about shaft location between the 2 steel bushes makes perfect sense, I have a top hat bush in the inner case and a plain sleeve in the outer, the outer sleeves for both the gearshift shaft and the kicker shaft are "almost" aligned to the bosses in the case maybe just a slight protrusion (to take the thrust away from the aluminium boss?), are they correctely located? If I (can!) move the quadrant on the shaft further up so that the quadrant and bottom of the spline align, then I suspect it will need end float adjustment/shimming....
Soooooooo, whats your thinking with all this please? thanks for your help as always....here's couple pics of the quadrant/shaft