I spent some more time looking at the Ford this weekend. I rechecked the fluid and found it was actually a little too full. The shop manual warns of overfilling and says that it is especially important to leave some room in there as the clutch gets older and more worn out.

So, I took out a little fluid and the clutch seems a little "looser" if you will, but still was functioning well. I did not see any problems with the firewall being cracked and I did watch the slave cylinder while my wife pushed the clutch in and it does move the required .53" or better.

By looking up under the dash, I could not really see the spring that assists with the release. The clutch pedal seems to be a one-piece unit and I now suspect that the problem lies in there somewhere. I'm hoping that maybe just a shot of WD40 will fix everything!!!

Thanks for all the pointers - I need to check the pedal bushings next I think.