He does say 1127 motor which would suggest the oil boiler not watery motor, have seen it done and can't remember the headstock needing any adjustment, the front downtubes on the cradle do need modifying to get the exhaust headers past as the oil and water engines have different cylinder spacing...
And always a PITA to set up without the airbox.. Try blocking the powerjet inlets in the carb mouth, don't use anything permanent but I have done this previously on 38's when running open filters with some success in better running..
Oh I 'get' charisma, trust me.... I own a Mk1 Bandit, have owned several actually, including Mk2 bandits and they have a lot less charisma/character/soul than ALL of the EFE's ESD's or Slingshots that I have also owned..
Hopefully there will be some pics attached to this! A bit dusty from storage and you can see someone has had a go at the top nuts with either a wrong sized socket or probably a shifter at some point..