I finally got started on my car today. I bought a pair of insulated coveralls at IFA, since nobody else in town sells them. They sure made quite a difference while working out in the cold, and it was nice not having to change my clothes when I got finished, too.
All I accomplished today was the tedious stuff--disconnecting cables, unplugging electrical connections, etc. Tomorrow, I have to remove the entire exhaust system, driveshaft, and front axles, then unbolt the crossmember below the transmission and the transmission itself, then I can remove the whole assembly and get started on the actual clutch. I'm still pretty unsure of what I'm doing, especially since I'm supposed to use all these specialty tools (according to my repair manual), but I plan on manufacturing those tools myself. =) There's supposed to be an engine support tool that I need when I remove the transmission, because the transmission supports the rear of the engine, but from the looks of the tool in the manual, I can make one out of wire cable and a turnbuckle. Some of the other tools I'm not quite sure about, but I'll figure them out when I get to those steps.
I already need to buy a couple of new parts. The dust boot that covers the clutch lever on the transmission was old and brittle, and it broke while I was removing the clutch cable. And the nuts that are supposed to hold the "hill holder" cable (I'm not even sure what that cable does) in place were missing altogether, and whoever owned the car before me used a single nut that was extremely hard to get off. I'm going to replace that nut with the correct ones, but I can probably get those at Wal-Mart.
I took several pictures before I got started, and I plan on taking more along the way, so when I'm finished I should be able to show a progression of the whole process. I still can't believe I'm even attempting something like this, but if I end up doing a good job, it will have saved me several hundred dollars in labor charges, which will have been well worth it. On the other hand, if I screw something up, I'll have to haul my car to a mechanic, where it'll probably cost more than just a clutch replacement for them to fix my mistakes.