Dear Julian S and other kind suggesters,
(a) Gosh, all BSA A7SS have this
dangly bit, surely cast in to allow oil pump drillways that are then plugged?
(b) Yes I think it should be 1/4 and you confirm my suspicions that when the lower frame rail repair was made, tho it was a very good job, the cross member arm on the DS had been slightly "gull winged" upwards so that when the replacement lower rail section was added, it was brought closer to the engline a tad.
However, I fitted all the engine and brearbox bolts today with the cases in place and they all went with very little problem ( bit of wiggling and jiggling like any pre-unit), right down to the dyno holding front. So I think I'll leave it as is?
Cheers
Peter G