This may sound silly, but did you unscrew from the tranny case or the tank?  IIRC, there is a small shaft that is flat on one side that needs to go down in the hole correctly so the flat spots align.  I may be wrong, but that's my first recollection.  Haven't been in there in a while.

The old timers/wise ones will chime in shortly  

see, told you the old timers would chime in.

"old_rider"  

This link has a couple of photos that shows what things should look like.  The black O-ring in the photo is an addition to stop the leak...you should have the listed seal.

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1268286763

thanks for the input dave and steve..10.30am now here in scotland..i'm going out now to remove the tank and see if anything has pushed back into the housing at the tank end....

That's when I always find a misplaced item too, right after the replacement arrives.

Small internal twirly bits go in a baggie, taped to the speedo cable housing.
Just saying that you're not organized doesn't mean it has to be that way.
The time saved by being organized is more than the time saged by just tossing stuff here and there. I've organized a body shop and increased production, a plastics warehouse, decreased time locating parts, and the
"Yard " for an oilfield company. The time spent making sure you have the parts AND know how they go back together beats having a puzzle.
We have different length bolts on cases and head covers. A drawing on cardboard with an X stabbed at every bolt location and the bolt poked in saves headaches.
Notes, like, this bolt must be IN the headcover when it goes on
This on must be in place, upside down,

Time spent avoiding frustration,,, took me a while to learn that.

Ohh, ang get EVERYTHING  off a waterpump befORE you let them have the core... I'm pretty sure I got screwed there three times.
And never throw anything away during a project.
Baggies with duct tape, black sharpie, organize parts, coffe can, tons of ways, I even put bolts back in the hole afi remove something sometimes, that's usually car stuff, tho. Not bike.

If ii dont know exactly How something goes together, then I'm very careful about how it comes apart.How washers are stacked, maybe a string, tie them up, in order. If its a big job, cardboard on the bench, first parts off, back of the bench, Maybe some notes, last parts out, nearest me.

The first engine rebuild I was involved in, that was all i did was keep up with where stuff came from. Three or four eighteen year old guys, nobody knew hoot, but, the dude wanted to rebuild the motor, I don't think we even had the good sense to hone the cylinders. It ran just as crappy as before. It was a Matador,, it was supposed to be gutless.

...  if you can remember where you put the digital camera