Broken Clutch Pedal Assembly support bracket

[MaelstromOC]

They will snap there if the bolt that goes through the top of the clutch pedal assembly is no long there. It's a bolt that goes straight up. If it's not there, it puts stress on the bottom of the clutch pedal assembly.

This is what I was afraid of. I read a long while back about that bolt backing out over time causing shift issues because some of the travel distance of the clutch was just moving the assembly a bit rather than going into actually disengaging the clutch. I'll check that out ASAP as well as that disconnected line.

Thank you guys!

[MaelstromOC]

So what Hanz said was actually a problem. Although the bolt hadn't backed out and was still there, the entire assembly has slid toward the firewall putting everything slightly out of whack. I discovered this after putting the new bracket in place. I didn't want to just tighten it down without checking to see why it seemed to be resting about a half inch off of the clutch booster. Taking a look at that top bolt appears as though it rests within a slot (which I found odd) and the entire assembly is probably about an inch out of place. There's also a ton of lubrication on a lot of the pivot points and such. It looked like there was actually some between the bolt and the top of the assembly that may have allowed it to slip back from vibrations/jolting. I'm going to drop the clutch pedal to get to that bolt and reset everything and hopefully that'll keep this from happening again.

I am still investigating my clutch booster though. I'm thinking that check valve is stuck. A buddy here has a 1st gen and I crawled under his dash to compare how everything looked compared to mine (to verify that top bolt being out of whack). He has hit clutch booster bypassed and it still feels easier to push in than mine does.

Regardless, thanks for all the ideas guys. I really appreciate it! I know this has taken me forever to really deal with lol, but I think I'm about there finally.

[Hans@GZP]

Clutch type can cause a heavy pedal. Try pulling off one of the bell housing breathers to try to get a look at the pressure plate of the clutch. If it's yellow (ACT), then that explains the heavy pedal.

[MaelstromOC]

Little update here:

I finally managed to get the entire clutch pedal assembly moved back into place and bolted down properly. After adjusting the clutch, the car had never shifted better the entire time I've owned it. However... after less than a day of driving, I went to leave, pushed the clutch to the floor to crank the car and pop. The entire assembly popped right back out of place yet again.

Is there any reason why there could be so much excessive force applied that it makes the entire assembly shift like that? I seriously tightened the shit out of that bolt up top, but now I'm basically right back where I started after only a day >.< I know that people delete their boosters (basically) so I don't see how that would manage to cause a problem like this.