The punched dot on the dished plate is very small, so hard to spot. It is adjacent to the cutout in the periphery of the plate and is at the base of the tab or tooth on the inside of the plate. Iirc, it faces the outside. Err on the side of too few, rather than too many plates. If the stack is very close to the top of the drum and basket, simply remove one or two plain plates where they are doubled up.
Thanks old rider I will update post when I've completed the task hopeful this weekend if not sooner think I'm due some garage me time
As I said before, do not just bolt it together and go for a ride. Leave the cover and fairing off and start it up and make sure the clutch clears and that you can get neutral. Then allow the bike to warm up to at least 70 degrees on the dash and try again. Only then take it for a ride.
Also, when you come to do up your clutch bolts, just gently nip them up. Do not over tighten them as the threads are easily stripped
sound advice, best assembled up totally dry/no grease or lubricant and check each of the 6 caphead screws not only for condition but for for flecks of aluminium to help give you a clue to whether you already have a slightly 'poorly' one. I always replace with slightly longer screws to gain as much surface area as possible, as the std ones don't utilise all of the tapped post available and you need all the help you can get with a slightly fragile design considering it's a serviceable area.
I'm changing the bolts for slightly longer stainless steel cap heads as they are more durable than the weedy aluminium ones I know it's all fine for lightness etc but I think your right about longivety
Aluminium?? Certainly not standard. Titanium would be preferable if you want lightness and shouldn't be too dear in that size
Aleady got stainless items so can't see me putting on titanium bolts due to extra expense As I said earlier somebody's been at it before and made a horrible job at it drum was worn and basket was horrific looked like a sharks mouth Just want it to be right it's my first Ducati and hopefully not my last had jap bikes before and an aprilia rsvr and speed triple So if all goes well I'll be looking for another Ducati poss a 999 fingers crossed they just seem really nice to work on just getting used to the little quirks all manufacturers have
According to the manual I have they should be tightened to a suprisingly low torque setting of 5 +/-0.5 Nm (thats on a Monster 1100).
Thanks everyone for your time to post on this subject I can confirm that the clutch is installed and all is good and quiet used gs650 plates with lithium grease and the extra plate height of stack a pleasing 38.65mm which should be about near enough I think just awaiting gold anodised collars to change for badly faded red ones clutch is nice and light and has a buttery feel have to see how it goes
I'm impressed that you combined the quiet clutch mod with the lithium grease mod to get a quiet and smooth clutch, so now I'm not alone in having done both. If you should fine the clutch gets draggy when hot, the cure is simple: merely replace as many as necessary of the new friction plates at the top of the stack with your old used ones. The clutch will work every bit as well but any dragging will be cured. Hopefully, with a new basket, this won't be necessary though. I am currently running about half old and half new friction plates with no doubled-up plain plates at all. This has reduced the stack height quite a lot, which reduces the pre-load on the springs so there is a theoretical risk of slipping. I'm getting no slip though but I do have a lovely light clutch lever - 2 finger light... I also have so little drag that I can tap down as easily into neutral from 2nd gear as tap up into neutral from 1st gear.
I guess time will tell but first impressions are very encouraging and I'm more fond of the bike now as I know the clutch is right and is all alloy and not a mixture of steel basket alloy plates that wouldn't have last 2 minutes More mods to come but first rebuild and powder coat parts While I'm at it need to replace glass/Perspex on temp guage as it is cracked common problem I'm told
Best Thing I've done is to fit a starting circuit cable kit. No more sluggish, iffy starting for me...
Well, if you're talented with electrics, you can make up your own cables but the kits supplied by @Exige on here are tailor made for your bike and produced by a specialist company who manufacture them to railway industry standards, so will keep your bike starting eagerly for many years to come
Thanks for the tip I think I'm a bit talented and can make up cables to aircraft standard with the tooling I have just source Zyrad cabling and going to make some up