Ok, I am exhausted so forgive any incoherence. I am going to do my best to explain where I am currently at with this, I am going to be very detailed and walk through each step I took. I am also going to bold anything I was unsure and would like an answer on.
-Received new clutch case cover to replace the one that cracked.
-Received new pressure plate to replace the one that cracked.
-Removed all the aluminum metal shavings from the basket cavity and drained oil.
-With all clutch basket parts removed I accounted for all of the parts with the diagrams I referred to earlier. All parts there.
-I removed that extra metal plate that I had jammed into the stack and placed it to the side.
-Removed each of the plates and friction plates. Reapplied liberal amounts of oil to each one before replacing them back into the stack.
-Put the clutch back together. The pressure plate sat funny the first time, rotated it and it sat nicely.
-Put the heavy duty APE springs in and started to bolt down the lifter plate pressure plate. Instructions read to bolt down until "snug" so I decided to only use a long socket and hand tighten with that in a cross pattern until snug. I know that the lifter plate has been known to be made of "cheese" so this seemed the safest way to tighten it down.
Could I have not tightened this enough?-Put the clutch cover gasket on and put on the new (to me) clutch cover. Fit nice and snug.
-Broke loose the adjuster lock nut (it needed some convincing).
-Slacked out my entire clutch cable. Slack at the lever and a the clutch case cover.
-With the nut two turns out and the screw all the way out I hold the nut with a wrench and with a flat head screw driver I started to turn in until it stopped. It stopped with a couple threads out! I backed it out 1/2 turn from where it stopped. I hold the screw in place with the flat head screw driver and tighten the adjuster lock nut. Seems we are past the weird adjustment screw issue.
-With all the slack in the clutch cable I decide to put it in neutral start the bike up and let it warm up and make sure oil levels are good. Good oil levels and oil pressure light turned off very quickly.
-I pull the clutch lever and there is some resistance so I hold it in while giving the engine some RPMs.
This pumps oil into the clutch basket... right?.-While holding the front brake and clutch lever (don't want the bike to fly away from me)... I drop it into first. It lurches forward suddenly and bike dies.
-Decide that maybe I need to pull some more slack out of the cable because its obvious pulling the clutch lever is not doing much.
-At the clutch cover I work out some slack and get a much firmer clutch lever feel. I also back out the adjuster knob a little bit at the clutch lever.
-Try to put the bike in first while holding in the clutch lever and it lurches forward but its not as violent and the bike stays running, quite a bit of drag here.
-I back out the clutch cable even more. At this point there is no "slack", my adjustments are on an already pre-loaded arm and it is moving the arm.
-Bike doesn't lurch forward but there is drag. I also can't get the bike into neutral with the draggy 1st gear. I have to turn the bike off... and I sometimes have to roll the bike forward and back within the range of a foot to get it to click into neutral.
-I adjust out even more. Same exact results, draggy first gear and can't get out of first gear into neutral.
-I decide that I want to take it around the block. The drag isn't bad to the point where it is killing the bike. I put on my gear, hop on the bike and drop it into first. There is drag but as I release the lever she starts to move forward. I give about 30% throttle and what I can only describe as clutch slippage, I was not accelerating as quickly as I should have been and the RPMs were shooting up. This is exactly as bad as the slippage was before I put the APE clutch plates and springs in. I try to go into second and I have to force the lever, its clunky.
-I pull over. I adjust the clutch at the lever (in the direction as if I was reducing slack). I do not see much of a difference. Clutch is slipping in 2nd gear as well as I head back towards the garage.
-It is dark, I decide to roll the bike into the garage, grab a beer and call it a night.
I am at the point where I can take this clutch apart and put it back together blindfolded. Despite the frustration I am really enjoying myself, so no worries there. So what do you guys think?
Also I keep coming back to this thread and wonder if I am doing something stupid with my clutch adjustment to cause the slippage:
http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=69523.0Thank you to everyone helping me out, it is very much appreciated.