What I meant is that when the clutch leaver is pulled in, ie the plates should not be touching, I have felt some friction as if the plates are engaged. That may just be a case of the cable tension needs adjusting now it's worn in, not sure if that would be causing the weirdness with gears not clicking in properly
Glad you got your baby back Rusty
I too have quite a bit of orange sealant protruding from every seem.