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I am in the middle of diagnosing a running problem with my antique bike.

Last time out it ran great, clutch felt fine. So I played with the timing but bike would'nt run right so I put it back where it was and now runs fine. So I took the bike back out today and the bike takes of ok but acts like the clutch is slipping. So I pulled the cover off tonight and the clutch linings spec out as do the springs, but the basket nut was alittle loose. But thats about all I could find accept the normal grooving on the basket fingers. I plan on filing those out tomorrow night. The thing I wonder about is I know that grooves in the basket will cause the clutch to hang up and kill the bike when you come to a stop, I'm wonder if the reverse could happen also where the grooves will hold the cluch linings out and not compress to transfer the engine power to the tranny. ???????????? I'm also going to try an extra washer behind the spings to see if that helps or not.

What do any of you think? Run into a similar problem?

Did you happen to put "fuel efficient" or "friction modified" oil in your gear box? If so, drain it , clean your plates since they're out anyway, and put regular oil in.

re: ' I'm wonder if the reverse could happen also where the grooves will hold the cluch linings out..'

It could...but less likely than the other (clutch hang-up).

The grooves come from the plates in the position of engaging the transmission, not DISengaging, so that is where they will tend to get hung up. The plates would have to skip a 'tooth' whanged into the basket to get stuck going the other way. A notchy basket will prevent the plates from moving smoothly as they should, so both situations are possible.

Possible, but not too likely.

It's common to either put in stiff(er) springs or shim the existing springs in an attempt to get the clutch to engage more firmly (not slip). That's often a band-aid approach, imo. In most cases, something else is wrong that needs to be taken care of.

Beware of coil bind if you put washers/shims in with the springs!

BTW, I've replaced friction plates, steel plates, and springs (twice) in my Honda, and it still slips (using wet clutch certified oil). Wish someone would tell me how to fix THAT!

Buy a Kawasaki....

Sure thing! A KDX700SC! I'll go pick one up right now!!

Didn't say a KDX....

Well I figured out what has happened. After pulling the clutch cover off, I found first off that the nut holding the clutch basket was finger tight and so I tightened it up and bent the washer over better than it was. but that was'nt the problem, i found that the friction plates were glazed over. No doubt that it was all those practice starts I was doing. I must have smoked the clutch. I pulled the friction plates out and roughed them all up with some 80 grit sand paper and stuck it all together. Run s like it should now. That was my last opton and it worked at least until the race tomorrow. We'll have to see if they glaze over on the start in the first heat.

I always look at the back of the oil containers to make sure there is no friction inhibiters inside the bottle. I run 10W-40 Valvoline in both bikes.

Well anyways thanks for the input guys, as always it's appritiated.

Indi, not 2 weeks after I bought this bike, A guy about 30 min. away from me put a '83 KX250 in the paper for $600. He would'nt let anyone come look at it because he was rebuilding the top end, and he admited that he put it in the paper to soon. Now he wanted $800 for it after the top end was done. I looked all over for a reasonably priced post vintage Kawasaki but they were just priced to high if you could find one. If it would have been in the paper sooner, I'd be on a green bike instaed of a Honda, but I could'nt pass up the deal on this Elsinore. It was to cheap.

Later guys!

By the way, I did the snadpaper deal as a band-aid fix until my new friction plates come in. I went up to the Honda Dealer and ordered new ones.