Leaving out a steel and a fibre plate will make more room in the basket for plate separation...If the fibre plates are the right thickness as Ron mentions (.093")...
If you have thicker than standard fibre plates quite a lot of that benefit is lost, even with the two plates removed...The final height of the complete 'stack' of plates is, in fact, close to standard..
Note that the clutch adjustment will need to be reset to suit and it may be necessary to alter the length of the pushrod....
The cable should only be regarded as a means of joining the clutch operating arm to the handlebar lever...Not as a means of adjusting clutch operation...
Correct setting of the clutch operating arm is achieved using the adjustment screw inside the gearbox at the lower end of the operating arm...Remove the filler plug to access this...
The principle of operation with the later box is exactly the same as the WD one in that maximum clutch lift is achieved when the operating arm is at 90 degrees to the axis of the pushrod...
In other words, when the handlebar lever is pulled fully in the operating arm should be parallel to the joint face of the gearbox cover...
Achieve this by first backing of the clutch cable adjuster..Next adjust the screw at the bottom of the clutch arm so that the arm lies at a slight 'outward' angle to the joint face...
Then readjust the cable to give the correct amount of free play and check the position of the clutch arm with the handlebar lever pulled in...If necessary due to the arm not lying parallel to the joint face repeat the procedure making more adjustments as required until the correct result is achieved...
NOTE!!...One important point to note is that the small piece that holds the operating arm adjustment screw onto the clutch arm is removable and mounted on a spline...Thus if removed it can be reassembled in the wrong position in relation to the arm..This can cause problems with adjustment and might be the root of your problem..(going solid when the clutch is pulled in)
When the clutch is pulled in and the operating arm is lying parallel to the cover joint, the part that holds the adjuster screw should also lie in this 'parallel' position and the screw itself should lie along the axis of the pushrod...
If this is incorrect the outer cover has to be removed to correct it....
It is possible to achieve correct adjustment by 'offsetting' the final position of the arm to compensate ...In other words use only the adjustment screw and its carrier as a guide to correct setting. However, that will require the removal of the filler cap every time you want to check things and recommending the incorrect way of doing it isn't something you heard from me...
...I would remove the cover and set it correctly if needed..Ian
email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com