Well,
Yes Roger, the steel plate was there. Today I refitted the distance piece together with a Orabanda-inspired Viton O-ring, and screwed on the Cush Nut about half way and re-checked the alignment. I took John's advice and used a steel straight-edge and not the plastic ruler, and
lo and behold the sprockets are in alignment within less than 1mm.
Suspect it was the steel straight-edge that did the trick, and not so much the Distance Piece.
That will do me anyway! A little disappointing, as I was all committed to do the Muskrat solution.!
I also removed the inner cover rear mounting bolt and the cover sprung back a little. I don't think there has been any damage, but I fitted about 1.6mm of spacer (two washers). This after screwing on the outer cover temporarily to ensure there was no tension remaining. There were no spacers there when I dismantled it a few months ago. (Not my doing).
I measured the Bearing sleeve and it seems to be unmolested Swingarm.?
Also attached are a couple of photos of the Clutch Nut, showing exposed threads. Does that look about right.??
As a final check, I took a photo from above to use the inner cover as a visual straight-edge.
Also attached a photo of my John Chaterlea Clutch Locking Tool. What a great piece of kit that is. It took all the nightmares away - Breaking teeth off the gears etc. Any associated Royalties John.??
Nevertheless, I chickened out at 55 ft-lbs.
Moving on to the clutch mysteries now.
Cheers
Colin