Since you are seeing that much movement of release lever by the slave
cylinder it sounds like the problem is inside the clutch area.

NO ONE can tell you exactly what is wrong in the clutch area without
separating the engine from the tranny and inspecting all of the parts.
Since you continued to drive it long after you knew something was wrong
you should plan on pretty near worst case. That means probably about
$300 in parts and flywheel machining. Add $300-400 more for labor if you
don't do it yourself. It could be more or you could get lucky.

When metal parts breakup inside the bell housing small pieces often get
embedded in the flywheel face. Hopefully machining can fix this or you
can add even more $$ to the cost. If the pilot shaft bearing chewed up
the tranny input shaft add still more time and money. If you do it
yourself you can take shortcuts and reuse marginal parts but most shops
won't want to do that as it risks you coming back too soon.

Mark

David Most wrote:
>
> If, when a helper steps on the clutch pedal, I can see the clutch slave
> cylinder piston push the release lever down at least one inch, does this
> mean for certain that the clutch slave cylinder is working properly
> (i.e., it's not bad)?
>
> Thanks for the help,
> David
> (with stuck '87)
>
> By the way, a mechanic that I've used in California insists that the
> clutch not disengaging (my current problem) must be due to a hydraulic
> failure of some sort rather than a failure of the throw out bearing.  He
> says that a bad or broken bearing would lead to clutch slippage rather
> than an inability to get out of gear.  Any disagreements here?
>
>