[blykins]

Jeff,

You want clearance between the throw out bearing and the pressure plate fingers. No preload, no touching. There are bearings that are made to sit against the pressure plate and ride, this is not one of them.

If you don't have enough room to adjust the slave and get some clearance, there is a little spacer block underneath the clutch fork mounting bracket. It will give you another 1/4" or so of clearance by placing the clutch fork and bearing further away from the pressure plate.

From the pics, the alignment doesn't look that bad. Remember, when the clutch fork goes towards the rear of the car, it will swing in a slight arc, which will help align things.

FWIW, I would also use a return spring. In the overall scheme of things, you can set the clutch up to your preference....whether it starts to disengage at the top of the pedal throw or deep down....but in any case, I would make sure that the bearing doesn't touch in the clutch pedal out position.