Thanks! Brave or dumb, hard to tell the difference sometimes. Plain scary to think of all the little things that could crop up on restart. I started out thinking this was a HG job and I just got sucked further and further into the abyss. At one point I was going to yank the engine and was advised that pulling the engine AND tranny is smarter. Then, the "hey, the tranny is right there, it has 178k on it..." Yikes. On the cleanliness I've gotten more deliberate as I've gotten older. The "Clean room wipes" I learned about on Pelican Parts are a God send. My stainless steel workbench is easy to keep clean and that Simple Green Max works really well. Ziploc bags are really handy too.
Yeah, I wish I shot more photos of the tranny build, you never regret having too many photos. The pump photo doesn't show it but the oil pump drive sprocket looked new. Having worked in a bike shop for 7 years and raced karts for 8 years, I know sprocket wear patterns and that sprocket is pristine. Yes, at $33 the pump sprocket isn't much but the low mechanical resistance and precision chain manufacturing have left that sprocket perfect. What kills a sprocket is chain stretch. When the chain stretches it is too long to mesh perfectly with the gear and at it meshes it wears the shoulders off of the gear. I will shoot a pic, but I'm tellin' you, it's remarkable in its condition. Although I lead the league in second-guessing, that one is a slam dunk.
Thanks for your comments.