Clutch to the floor

[Splitpi]

Long story of clutch related issues. About 8 months ago I was driving to Des Moines. Came of the interstate and pushed the clutch in to down shift, pedal had no resistance and went straight to the floor. Freaked me out as I thought I missed the clutch pedal and had my foot looking for the pedal. Found the break, but no clutch. Looked down and saw it pinned against the firewall. I coast to a gas station (in 5th gear) and realize the rubber hose clutch line burst so the slave had absolutly no pressure.

$120 later for a Tow and part replacement I get it back. I would have fixed it myself but it was the weekend and I was in a foreign town. Later that week, I purchase a SS line to replace the rubber and remove the resevoir. I install the line and purge the system.

About two months ago, I notice the pedal goes to the firewall, but the clutch engages. However, it doesn't engage till about 1/4 of the way on depressing the pedal. The clutch feels soft but not like it has air (I did try re-bleeding it and it didn't have air in it) and while it goes to the firewall it doesn't stick against it.

Yesterday, I finally got tired of that pedal feel and adjusted the master cylinder rod. Low and behold I noticed brake fluid (I purged the line with ATE Super Blue Brake Fluid because the color is very noticiable and its just good stuff) all along the master cylinder rod and drippings on the floor. And I set the pedal to start having resistance about 1/2 - 1 inch of depressing the pedal However, the pedal still travels right to the firewall. And I can feel the clutch is fully disengaged prior to the firewall.

So it appears the master cylinder is leaking and possibly not stopping the pedal movement to the firewall. And since I am replacing the master, might as well do the slave as well. I decided to spend the extra $20 and purchase the master cylinder assembled rather than the piston rebuild kit.

One other concern I have is that with the clutch going to the firewall, my crank possibly could have some play in it. So this weekend, I'm going to setup the dial gauge and try to measure if the crank is walking. This is compounded by the fact my knock sensor has been seeing a lot of knock lately when driving in second. I don't a DSMLink log of it, but the knock light (Check Engine Light) has come on a few times indicating more than 5 degress of timing was pulled due to knock. I hoping this is somehow related to my clutch problems and the clutch not fully disengaging/engaging and causing weird sensations in the engine under light boost.

My question is, is there any gotcha's on the measuring the crank and or installing the slave and master that I need to be aware of?

 

[Splitpi]

Update:

I put a dial indicator onto a magnetic mount and attached that to the engine oil pan. I set the indicator against the harmonic balancer on the crank facing directly into the crank so as to measure any horizontal movement in my crank. I then removed the Flywheel access plate and using a pry bar, I tried to move the flywheel to the passanger side. Dial indicator moved ever so slightly... ~0.001 or less. I tried it again from the crank pully and move the pulley to the driver side... again negligable.

So that is some good news, It appears my crank is not walking in the slightest. Now I need to figure out why one side of the rear is higher than the other (perhaps spring sag?) and look at getting an alignment check (per another thread asking about a loose rear end).

The master and slave clinders should be here later this week to put on and see if that changes how the clutch feels and behaves.