Last night, I finally got around to replacing all of the clutch lines. It was actually a pretty easy job since I don't have the battery in the engine bay.
The O rings between some of the connectors were definitely a bit worn. While I was at it, I also removed the shock dampener from the fluid feed into the slave cylinder. As Hussein mentioned, this helps moderate the flow of fluid, which is also why there is a bit of a lag when quickly changing gear. I'm not sure whether my problem was O rings, which were letting air in but not fluid out (completely possible), or this dampener getting stuck (a likely culprit since my recent clutch issues often occur after a few quick gear changes). Another possibility is that the dampener was getting stuck, then allowing the system to suck in air from the worn O rings.
Either way, air was definitely getting into the system and I was not losing any fluid.
New vs. Old feed line between the reservoir and master cylinder.
First section of the hard line running from the master to the slave. New on top, old on bottom. You'll notice that the rubber top piece slid straight off the line. Had to pull it out of the female connector before installing the new line. You'll also notice that the old line clearly has a smaller opening than the new line.
Old vs. New line that feeds into the slave.
Blurry pictures, but here is where I removed the shock dampener.
Carefully removed using a screw.
I will need to be a bit more careful with hard launches and quick gear changes now that this dampener is removed. But this definitely eliminated the lag!
Every component of my hydraulic clutch system has been replaced, so I'm really hoping this solved all the problems.
After doing a full flush/bleed, the clutch is now firmer than ever. I've bled this clutch at least a dozen times in the last two years and it has never felt this great. Put about 200 miles on it since yesterday and so far so good. I'll be abusing the car this weekend, so we'll see how she does!
