threadless headset question

bought a second hand frame recently, condor frame with condor headset, stripped and rebuilding it. on putting the headset back together after cleaning, the top cartridge bearing doesnt seat fully into the integrated cup, and after making sure all the bits went on as they were before (cartridge bearing, compression ring, two very thing washers, dust cap), the dust cap also doesnt fully cover the bearing, leaving about 1.5mm gap. ive disassembled and reassembled and nothing changes. have put the rest together and it all spins smoothly and no play at all.

do i ignore? or take it into condor?

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Tighten the top bolt a bit more to see if the bearing will pop into place. Or go for a short ride? Is there grease between bearing and headset cup?

Yup all greased up. Tried tightening top bolt till steering became stiff, still the same. Have adjusted everything properly, proper torque on stem bolts. All feels right just except that slight gap and can also rotate the dust cap if I grip it tightly by hand. Can't do that on the other bike. Haven't ridden it yet so that might sort it out

If you can rotate the dust cap with the steering tight I'd say something is in the wrong place/order.

99.9% sure everything is in the right order. Made sure I layed every bit out as it came off in a line, took a picture, put it all back together. Will try riding it and seeing if the bearing is pushed in a bit further then readjust the stem and top cap bolt

The person who put it together to begin with could have fucked up and you've just copied them, or could have lost a seal?

This is also true!

Never trust anyone.

Bienvenu chez moi

Avec brulee

Made sure I layed every bit out as it came off in a line, took a picture...

Can you post this picture?

took this as an opportunity to clean up the headset on the other bike, also condor with condor headset, to see what part male that up. FML cartridge beatings are stuck, hope a good soaking in penetrating oil helps. Anyway, no washers between the dust cap and compression ring as in the problem headset above. so took them out and the dust cap now sits almost flush with the cup, same gap as was on the other condor before i took that apart.

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If you don't have an adequate gap between the bearing cover and the cup, then you won't be able to take the slack out of the system.

Apologies if I've missed something, but the first photo looks good to me.