Leatherphase

Well I figured my 78-3 is a little out of time, but I never could get the shuttle driver to budge so I decided to remove it and lube it a bit. The screws that hold it to the rocker shaft were already missing So it should have been simple to remove, but after a little heavy persuasion, the shuttle driver came apart. Seemed liked it was glued together, the replacement looks like Just a solid piece so that should prevent that from happening again, anyways my question would be what kind of singer friendly lubricant could I put on the shaft/shuttle driver so could still adjust to time it and is the original simanco shuttle driver salvagable?

It’s hitting the side of the cap nearest me. It looks bit different with a notch on the side it hits and now i notice it’s a different part number as well, maybe I should grind the opening a bit more since I can’t find a replacement? Its hitting just the edge

I have an old Singer 78-3 that I’m hoping to start working with, I think it’s needle bar is a bit off, because the needle intermediately hits the little cap on the the race shuttle. Removing the cap seems to relieve the problem, what does the Shuttle Race Cap do? Does just keep dust/debris out of the bobbin and race assembly? Is it important enough that I should bend/replace the needle bar in order to keep it on?