I'd get the friction plate and make sure it slides on the splines.I muscled my ZF around for 2 hours trying to get it on the rear of the motor.Turned out it was never going to go on, due to the friction plate splines not being right.All looked good and clutch alignment tool convinced me it was ok. I'll never get caught by that one again as I always test the friction plate goes on the input shaft before assembly of the clutch.
Ross