Hey guys,
I have noticed I am just about out of clutch on the used 98 engine I recently bought in place of the blown engine that was origianaly on the bike. The blown engine was a 2000 what I'm wondering is how to swap out the clutch or I saw in another thread somewhere where guys were adding clutch plates or something. I am completely new to this, but basically good with mechanics.
Is there something I can do and if so can you either guide me to a step-by-step or explain..... I have never even seen the inside of the clutch on the bike.

That's the main topic, but if you think of it is there anything else I might want to swap from the better engine. Other than the completely melted piston of course. Or anything in the top end at all probably. But everything looked pretty good other than the what was left of the piston 2 1" melted peices And the rest looked like aluminum gravel all throughout the engine.

Instead of telling us what is wrong.....tell us what the symptoms are.  Is your clutch slipping?  Is the the clutch lever out of adjustment?  Is the lever on the side of the engine within the range of the indicator marks?

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1397956793

http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1270678838/0#0

And if you do decide to open up your engine and work on the clutch, be very careful to get the oil pump gear installed correctly and make sure the drive pin is in place.

Aaaand the next question IZZZ
What oil ya runnin?

OK I adjusted and checked the marks the bar sits right above the bottom mark. I noticed after riding this evening that it is not as bad, but still has what is either a slip or flood issue I can't tell which it is because I also just installed the raptor petcock when I get up to a higher speed and pull the throttle back hard it hesitates to pick up speed. I know it has more too it but it is either flooding for an instant or slipping which is what it feels like.
But again it is only in that higher speed and pulling the throttle full open, So i'm not sure if slipping makes sense.

I hate to say it but I don't know who, what , or where a clutch rod is, but is it something I can make better with parts from the other engine if it is slippage and if not got any ideas?

Steve H wrote on 05/06/14 at 15:42:28:

That is exactly what is happening, can you tell me how to fix it preferably for free using my blown engine with good parts.....

Change your oil before you do anything else. 2 quarts Rotella 15W40 or 2 quarts Rotella 15W40... if you think the clutch is slipping, save the Rotella T6 5W40 for after any needed mechanical repairs, the stuff isn't cheap. Go for a long ride and see if clean oil made any appreciable difference. If not, see below for the next step.

If you have an inline fuel filter, delete it. I had one on the 2003, it runs 100% better with a plain fuel line than with an inline fuel filter. No matter how good it looks, a paper or sintered bronze filter element is going to lean out the bike, the bowl is not refilling fast enough to keep up with demand. You may want to try this first, hell of a lot cheaper than an oil change... and quite possibly the entire issue.

No change? Drain out roughly 1 quart of oil. Add in 1 quart of cheap Dexron Mercon automatic transmission fluid. Ride the bike just long enough around the yard for the oil to hit full operating temp, and drain it out HOT. Bike upright, use a brick under the kickstand. The stuff that comes out is going to be black and seriously smelly. Fresh oil (2 quarts) and filter, go for a ride. The atf pulled a lot of glaze and burnt on gunk off the fibers and steels (alternating clutch plates). Expect it to be a bit grabby...

If none of those do the trick, get a longer clutch pushrod and a clutch cover gasket, and prepare to get filthy. And probably frustrated, the external clutch linkage is a pain in the butt.

You guys are awesome' I was hoping I hadent used up my savage.com tokens or something. I have this bike tuned perfect I can tell by the way it wants to go so bad but just can't for some reason.
That description of clutch slipping couldn't have been more perfect. I just did the raptor swap and doing have a filter. I know I needed it, the vacume petcock that was on it was working to an extent but had serious issues one of which was running out of gas after about a half hour of filling up. Now I have the raptor, I know I'm almost out of gas and still haven't had to use reserve yet.
I live in Florida and the thinner oils run like crap in air cooled bikes down here so I always use either 15 or 20w-50 I'm running Valvoline same 20w50 with superior wet clutch protection

I am worried about one thing you might be able to shed light on. I have a cheap china cone air filter with the lip that can cover the opening in the carburetor. I carved it out pretty good, but maybe not good enough. Would those symptoms at the higher speed match that as well because if so maybe just for a minute I'll clamp a screen around thecarb to test and if so find a way to deal with that rubber peice.
At first before I carved it out the bile wouldn't even idle right let alone when I Gabe it throttle maybe there's still a bit of rubber there.
You guys are pretty adamant about this clutch so I'm starting to suspect something else.

2 or 3 layers of nylon stocking, rubber band them to the carburetor mouth. Will stop anything chunky (like bugs) from getting sucked into the carb.

CV carbs and cone filters are usually a nightmare to get dialed in. The vacuum slide needs a fairly smooth flow of air, and the stock airbox and intake piping give it a chance to become linear instead of turbulent. I was aircleaner shopping for my 98 yesterday, had to keep telling myself that it doesn't have an Amal or Mikuni VM36/VM38 yet and to save my money until it does.

Cone filters, velocity stacks and Amal style aircleaners most assuredly look 1000x better than the big black rubber primary intake tract. Unfortunately, they rob power with our carburetor style, and it can definitely mimic the symptoms of a slipping clutch.

Read this set of several pages on Do The Ton. Why pods/cones and CV carburetors do not play well together... http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=45863.0