Intro, Clutch weirdness, Steering noise

[Paul Anderson <panderso@arbortext.com>]

Greetings,

While I've been a VW fan for decades (Bus, Cabrio, Vanagon Camper), I just
recently purchased an '87 5kcstq.  It has 180K miles, a rust-free body
(naturally), a nearly spotless interior (one seam going on driver's seat), and
runs and drives very well.

When I had it inspected by the local dealer, they found a laundry list of
things that "needed" to be done.  The most crucial of these items were the
front pads and rotors and a new brake bomb.  I've made arrangements to buy a
set of Bentley manuals from another quattro lister and will start to check
items off that list soon.

In the meantime, there are two items that have my immediate attention:

::::::::::::::::
Clutch Weirdness

During a short 3-mile trip from work to home, I noticed that the clutch pedal
throw was getting shorter and shorter.  Soon enough, I had the pedal pretty
much bottomed out and was having difficulty shifting.  Placing my toe under
the pedal and lifting it back to its fully extended position fixed the problem
and the pedal throw hasn't shortened since.  Is this a one-time aberration or
a warning of future failure?

::::::::::::::
Steering Noise

In this case, the rack should _not_ be the problem as it was replaced less
than a year ago.  The symptom is this: Stop the car, and turn the steering
wheel from side to side and listen to the clunking in the suspension.  The
sound is worse towards the middle of the travel and less towards full left and
full right.  Were this my old Cabrio, I'd say the strut bearings were going,
but I'm not as familiar with this car, yet.  Opinions?

Thanks for any assistance,

Paul
'87 5kcstq