Although I didn't feel much like car work, I decided to crack on with some of the jobs I want done today:
1) Car raised up on ramps:


2) Propshaft off, linkage off, hydraulics and electronics off, and gearbox off:

Now I removed the clutch kit. Observations were, that the old friction plate was quite worn and felt brittle. Pressure plate didn't look great, and the release bearing was donald ducked (lots of play) :







Here is a pic of the release bearing and slave cylinder inside the bellhousing (note the contamination, more on that later)

Here is a pic of the dual mass flywheel, didn't look great, but I've now cleaned it up so much I would eat off it!
Note - all the contamination around the lip of the flywheel. There was some in the bellhousing too. It is a combination of friction material, and what looked like a rubber bung, that had found it's way into the box and chewed up in the clutch!!

And here is the spigot bearing, in the crankshaft. This bearing felt fine to turn with my finger:

Here are some pics of the new clutch kit which is now fitted - note I'm using a clutch alignment tool, to align the friction plate EXACTLY where it needs to be on the pressure plate:



Here is my nice shiny new genuine GM exhaust system, cats backwards.
I noticed that the old exhaust was FULL of bits, and quite blocked. Hopefully this was accounting for the poor performance, and quite likely why it failed.
This new system is now fitted to the car:

As far as jobs to do are concerned - I need to get a new thrust bearing, so it's on hold till I can get that.
I then just need to fit the gearbox, and I should be away. I also need to drill the cat retaining bolts out of the cat pipes, they always break off, but that's no big deal. Thankfully my cats are Genuine GM too, and felt totally fine, no rattling and they are both totally clear.
Total cost, is
£280 for the new genuine exhaust system (inc all new rubbers)
£135 for the clutch kit
£30 on consumables, eg gearbox oil, clutch cleaner...
£445 so far.
Once this is done, I can then fit the 3.0 cams, and fit a new cambelt kit, waterpump, aux belt and tensioner.
But for now, I need to get cleaned up, and spend the evening with Maria. I am about to start a run of nightshifts, so unfortunately won't be finishing off the car until probably Wednesday afternoon and / or Thursday morning.
Coming along nicely though
