Well, I finished up the clutch today. It does seem like it was the ball all along since it was flopping all over the place. Now the ball nice and tight, the clutch seems to run like it used to and I can shift through all gears without any grinding so I am happy about that. I ended up using a heli coil kit that I had laying around that magically worked for the ball threads I had (M8X1.25). I believe I do have the largest ball. Desperation does sometimes breed creativity! Anyway I was able to grind some flats on the tap to make it work. I will admit, I didn't need to drill for the tap because the hole was so wore out, but it did cut nicely. Ball is in there nice and tight. Here are some pics:
Here it is with the wrench on it:
Heli coil fit snug (mirror view):
With that said, I think I am about 95% there. I still haven't been able to find where my brake fluid is going. I can't find any leaks but I have to fill it up on a regular basis. Today I think I may have found the culprit. I saw some evidence that it is leaking between the master cylinder and vacuum booster. I've seen this before on other cars. Ugggg, when will it end. My brakes do feel spongy so it could be that some air did get in my clutch line. Off to the next project! Thanks for all the help and suggestions. I'll post back after I've replaced the master brake cylinder. At least I can drive it around now.