question re. crankshaft bearing circlip

[snailstoves]

Hi all, bin a while since I been on here. Glad to see its all ticking over in my absence.

I'm rebuilding my xs 650 1981 se
At the same time I ve tore down a '78
Hoping for another good engine or at least a donor for parts.
Turns out my 81 is in much better condition than the supposedly reconned 78. Can't believe anyone would put an engine back together with only 2 dogs left on the 2nd pinion gear but there we go. Monkeys with spanners.

Question

On both the 81 and the 78 I find only 1 semi-circular circlip on the large bearing that supports the crankshaft on the near side. I know my engine was leaking oil from here and so I'm wondering if there should be 2 halves and I'm missing one. Will try and add a photo to illustrate the bearing I mean.
Unfortunately the 78 is nothing to go by and is the same.
The clymer is unclear. Can't believe there's only one clip here that goes only half way around the bearing. There's no seal at this point so what stops the oil apart from a good fit?
If the link to the image works its the bearing in the top left of the pic. Or to be more clear its right next to the primary drive gear.
Thanks in advance

 

[ippytattoo]

What you have there is correct. There should only be one retainer. Usually when you assemble the cases you just make sure that it engages each case half the same and call it good. As far as a leak goes any oil that does leak past that retainer is just going to be going back into the crankcase as that is under the RH side cover.

Clayton

 

[snailstoves]

Doing!!! Totally forgot I was looking at er upside down.
Cheers bud.