Master; Pulled the clutch cover last night to start figuring out what went. Clutches are in perfect shape (well as perfect as a near 30 year old piece can be) Oil was nice and clean, no heat glazing or discoloration on the centrifugal.
I don't think you have to worry about clutching if you gear it down in the 5s and don't mind a little high rev, low speed Low gears.
The actuator arm (for want of a better term) on the gear shift shaft broke in 4 place around the "box" that moves the arm on the "star" cam to shift the gears. It may have been caused by the length of my shifter and the fact that i don't have any stops on it. I may have been putting a lot of leverage on the actuator, which is stamped, possibly hardened steel.
The roller was stuck near the peak of going into gear and the arm was kind of jammed. I got it unstuck and it's now in Neutral. The F/R shifter seems a little "hesitant" to full seat.
I'm going to weld up the arm and fit it to test if that's the only issue. If it doesn't fix it, i likely have a bent shift fork and will have to crack the case open
And oh yeah ... the greased gasket trick came through-- both the adjustment and main cover came off without a single tear or stick to the gasket. Finally, something went right!
Murphy must have vacated these parts since race season is over for me.
Welded the arm back together, installed and it shifts correctly now.
For now, it's going back together. I got good weld penetration from all sides, but it's definitely hardened steel and I don't trust it long term. There is a used shifter arm on ebay i'm going to have to snap up.
Cause was definitely my shifter setup. I found witness marks up past the star cam where the arm end that engages the cam was hitting a nub on the case. Normally it can't reach that point, i think the "overshots" happened as the lever began breaking apart. Watching my video, I can see my shift throws going farther forward on the upshifts throughout the race.
Already made a bump stop for the lever. Time reassemble, add oil, weld and ride! (still have a couple jets to try--pulled the plug and i'm still lean)