[Hotwatermusic]

Here's what's been done: New clutch cable, clevis and pin, well sorted pedal cluster with bronze bushings, fresh Kendall gear oil. As a control, with the engine off and clutch untouched, I could easily put the shifter in 1st, 2nd, and reverse. 3rd was tricky, and 4th and 5th impossible. After adjusting both ends as per Bentley manual, the clutch cable looks like this at rest:


There didn't seem to be enough engagement with the standard adjustments. 1st and 2nd made the horrible grinding noise, and reverse was impossible to get into (just grinded too, as if I hadn't waited long enough). Also the clutch pedal wouldn't return to its normal resting spot, it just sort of hung back about 2 inches behind the brake pedal. So I adjusted the cable at the transmission end for more pull, which ended with the cable being drawn to the end of its range, seen here:


This gave me better engagement, I can get into 1st and 2nd gear with no problem now. Problem now is the clutch pedal still won't return to a normal resting position. I had a helper come work the clutch while I watched underneath the car. Here's what I saw, first at full pull:

But when they let off the clutch it wouldn't return to its normal resting spot, and looked like this underneath the car:

The omega spring is about a 1 cm away from the heat exchanger.
I then had the helper use their foot to pull the clutch pedal back even with the brake pedal and with a "THUNK" it banged back against the heat exchanger where it belongs.
This can't be right, right? What am I missing? Any help would be much appreciated, this whole thing has had my car out of commission for more than a month and I so ready to get it back on the road.