difficulty adjusting clutch sweet spot

I think the springs on disc would hit the fingers on plate. Don't ask me how I know that

Well, when I worked for the local chebbie dealer year ago, there was a TSB on clutch noise on S10 trucks. They came out with a revised clutch disc. I got where I could do one in about 25 minutes. I put one in backwards once. It worked, but much like the OP describes here.