TOPIC:

I’ve been looking at the shiny new engine I bought (maybe not so shiny, or new) and it has got me thinking. The sump on it is the later large capacity item. Is it possible to swap the sump without removing the engine?
Or would I be better to leave well alone.

Perfectly doable. Exhaust is going to have to go away, which might be interesting. The hardest part will be getting the oil pickup off- it's held on by Philips screws, and I almost guarantee you'll need an impact to get it off. The angle doesn't help any. But, that being said, you CAN drop the pan while the motor is in-frame.

I've done this a couple of times. As Lucien says, the exhaust system needs to come off.

As for removing the oil pick-up - I've always managed with using an impact driver with a JIS bit (otherwise make sure it's a really tight fitting bit) and then turning the impact driver by hand. I've never had to impact it with a hammer.

ah yes, my favorite screws , Japanese Industrial standard JIS screws.

I bought a pair of JIS P1 and P2 drivers a few weeks back to take the butterflies out of my carbs. I was very surprised by just how solidly locked in they felt in the screw heads.

Normally, when using Philips drivers, I think I have to exert as much force pushing down on the driver as I do rotating the driver. just had to rotate the JIS drivers and I didn't once get the feeling they were going to cam-out.

I will never use Philips drivers on my bikes again.