85' GPz550 clutch is sticking...

Hi guys... now that I got my engine together I get to run into a lot of problems! Yay! Right now my clutch is sticking real bad and I cant figure out why.

I did a cable adjustment and that didn't fix it so I thought maybe I forgot a washer when putting the clutch together. Nope. 

I even put the bike in first gear without the springs in and there was a lot of resistance. With the springs in it won't budge much at all. I can get the slightest movement from the rear wheel. Without the plates in there is no resistance.

Do I need new plates? What's going on?

Hmmm. I own 3-4-5 GPz550s and never seen anything like that ... did you try the GPz550 forum on Assface (FB)? There are a couple of very high level techs on there who raced GPz550s including Al Ludington.

 

When you stripped it did you separate the plates (I believe this motor had been standing) have you checked the correct number of each plate type (people add extra plates) are there ridges worn in the basket stopping the plates separating it sounds like the plates are sticking to each other or the actuator isn’t moving the pressure plate far enough 

Luckily I still had the old gpz engines clutch plates laying around in a container so I swapped those and they worked MUCH better. So much so that I was able to take her on her first maiden voyage! And oh boy, is she FAST!!! Only issues right now is this really nasty valve ticking noise that I cant find and the shift mechanism is really loose, and so bad that I had to lift my whole foot up to shift to 2-3-4-5-6.

Im still curious though, what was wrong with the other clutch plates? here's a picture of them. 

Looking at the deposits on the friction plates they were probably stuck together 

I see what you mean. It's weird though because I am positive that they were not stuck when I put it together because I tried to get them on all at once but ended up putting them on individually. Maybe them getting stuck a while ago caused damage?

Well I won't worry about it too much. Im just happy that it was an easy fix. Diagnosis: the friction plates were bad in one way or another!