woody no body seems to know wich way round it gose but common sense tells me the shim with the lip on it faces outwards it dose fit on the inside of the bearing in the crank case behind the clutch basket. but am not 100% sure. the other thing an not sure about is the small gear cog if you look on the photo above its number 10 it as a raised shoulder on it again i think it faces outwards if i turn it the other way the teeth are not level with the other cog. am at the stage know were am ready to put both cases back together but want to be 100% sure the gears are in the correct place. woody if you need any info on the parts book let me know i could scan it and email you them .

Don't you wish you used your camera as you were stripping it. The best tool on the bench

From the engines I've worked on over the years the gear cog goes the way it is shown in your photo at the start of the topic.

Thanks for the offer re: the parts list but now I know the shim should be there I'll know to look out for it when I get around to stripping the 198a. Everything else is normal Sherpa.

ok woody glad i could help. as for the coment made by noel063 when i split the engin the gearbox fell out as i didnt have anything to put the engin on my fault.