I too have aftermarket front suspension. You can still have the engine in several positions, trust me on this. What matters with all of this is this, your z-bar must be parallel to the ground and your adjustment rod should be in the ballpark parallel to it's line of thrust and angle. If all of this is good, your good. Should have lube on the bearing retainer that the throwout bearing slides on. Lube on the fork pivot points and clutch linkage. The spring is there to simply keep the throwout bearing away from the clutch fingers.
If you are having difficulty going into low gear, but goes into 2nd easier, your clutch probably is not disengaging all the way.