I fought with my clutch not completely disengaging a while ago. Rebuilt the master & slave cylinders, was better for a bit, but then acted up again. I was about to pull tranny & replace T/O & pilot bearings. Dreading this, I checked freeplay & it was more than an inch or so. I adjusted freeplay & it now disengages completely around 2 inches from carpet, I can finally shift to 2nd w/o letting revs drop to 2500rpm. My only concern is that I may be masking another problem. I'd hate to totally trash something due to sheer laziness, but at the same time really don't wanna drop the tranny. Is it possible to mask a failing pilot bearing with the freeplay adjustment???

 

Just what I really didn't want to hear I've kinda been thinking the same thing. I do have some noise if i rev & let off. I swear it's coming from bellhousing area, Dad thinks it's muffler packing rattle. Then again Dad's old & I don't always trust his hearing. Should a T/O bearing go after 21000 miles? I do have RP's street/strip setup so I guess there may be additional load on the bearing.

 

With a throwout bearing , you will notice the noise more often with the clutch disengaged.When you press the clutch in the noise will change pitch as the pressure plate comes against it and then stop.Think about a bad roller skate bearing rolling to a stop.The pilot bearing can be a little trickier as there is no way to stop it from turning while the car is running.If it siezes , it could make the car hard to shift as your main shaft could be spinning all the time. The noise you hear when you rev and let off really could be from the muffler.There are lots of heat shields and whatnot down there and much of it is apt to make a bit of noise.

 

No cats, no heat shield. When the problem arose, it was sudden. I had gone for a drive in the twisties & when I hit the Interstate to come back into town, it wouldn't let me hit 3rd. Then for a while it was hit or miss. One time I'd push in the clutch & it would let me shift fine. The next time, I had to fight it. Seemed rather random & variable.

 

Have you checked the little hose that connects the master to the slave cylinder? Are you losing any fluid?
I have had a similar problem when it was really hot out.The clutch wouldn't engage at all until the car cooled completly down.I bled the system rel good and never had that problem again.
Could be that your pressure plate is "notched" as descibed above.

 

It's been bled, both master & slave rebuilt. Hydraulic system is ok. I'll double check fluid level, but I think it's good.