Attached are some pics of my stock clutch setup at 43k miles. I pulled it about 10 days ago when swapping a new tranny and clutch in. (I hate the new clutch, too. Sintered iron pucks, I should have known it would suck for the street. I miss my stock one.) My stocker held up so well I might put a new stock unit back in. There was plenty of meat on it and the flywheel and pressure plate were in beautiful shape. My stocker never slipped and never gave me a bit of trouble. I'm easy on clutches though, and sold my Escort GT last month with 160k on the clock and still going strong on the original clutch. For one thing, I take my car out of gear and my foot off the clutch at red lights, and I don't "gear down" when slowing down unless the situation specifically calls for it. Think about how much wear that puts on a clutch. I'd rather swap brake pads any day than a clutch. I drive the hell out of my cars for sure, but don't consider myself to be "abusive" to the clutch.
As for the smell, I wouldn't sweat it just yet. I got a funny clutch type smell two or three times one week, and then it went away. Don't know what it was.