Thanks for the input everyone. I'm going to leave the valves and aim to shim them all back into "assembly" tolerance next winter - I'll aim to get myself a kit from EMS duc (incl the MBP retainers). Or maybe just individual shims since a kit w/ MBP retainers will set me back around £430 once shipping and customs is factored in
The kit is probably the better investment in the long run given I don't intend to get rid of this bike (and may end up with more 2v 900 powered Ducatis in the future).
Anyway I've started the reassembly - carbs are seated with cables & hoses re-attached. Unfortunately the throttle is not snapping back, so I must have messed up the routing and/or adjustment of the cables - but that's tomorrow mornings first job.
I've got the oil cooler off and laying on the front tyre, I'll leave the heater disconnected and attempt to rig the bike up in a running state without the airbox on (though that might not be possible given I need to get the battery box w/ igniters & coils back on - maybe I can sit it on the bike backwards?), so that I have a chance in hell of getting a screwdriver at the sync screw (my regular philips will do it if I can see what I'm doing, the long one that I purchased is too long
). Really hoping that the sync/adjustment part of this process isn't going to be too much of a saga!