Are my BB cups too loose?

[twozeronine]

What do you think from these pics:

Drive side:
http://img15.imagesh.../img0066ee.jpg/


Non-drive side:
http://img854.images.../img0067jk.jpg/


I've read that the cups need to be flush with the frame, but there's an obvious gap in those pics, so I suspect that the answer is yes. That's about as tight as I can humanly get them though, and I don't want to risk trying to tighten them any more in case I damage the frame or something. I'm already looking at getting a torque wrench (as per my other thread), so will that give me a lot more leverage?

 

[GrasB]

Where is the obvious gap? There is a 45 deg chamfer on the cups but the actual inside flat surface looks to be flush against the bottom bracket shell. Job done.

 

[twozeronine]

Oh right, ok. I assumed that the angled part should fit into the shell, and not be visible when fully tightened. There is a little bit of play in the cranks though, even though the left crank is on tight.

 

[GrasB]

How old are the cups & BB? You might need shims between your BB shell & the cups, this is what I have to do on my fixie, took about 1mm off the width of my BB shell due to corrosion of the frame. This has to be made up with shims else I can't torque down the cranks properly.

 

[twozeronine]

Actually, the BB is brand new (no spacers included). I've been trying to track down the source of a very annoying clicking sound when I put power down on the driveside crank. I thought it might be the BB, so got this one just yesterday, but it's still doing it. I've now ordered a new 105 crankset to see if that solves anything... If it doesn't then I think I'll have to admit defeat and take it in to the shop.

 

[GrasB]

Most BB shells don't, I had 2x 0.5mm stainless spacers made up then use a copper shim against the BB cup (more prevent them corroding together)