I had the same problem on my '90 hatch. I thought it was a broken spring in the clutch as well. It turns out it was the clutch pedal itself. The bracket that holds the clutch pedal in line on the pedal assembly broke.

 

you just need to get someone to look at the throw out bearing dis engagement arm while you press in the clutch pedal. if it moves your cable isnt broken...but maybe its stretched and doesn move enough to dis engage clutch for syncro's to line up.

 

lol. He's not being a jackass cause he's telling you the truth. You listed a problem, they gave you options & now you're asking someone to confirm it? Nobody can confirm unless they're there. You cant know exactly what it is until you take some of the advice in here and eliminate the easiest options (the ones that dont require you to dissassemble). I'm not trying to bash you. GL on your problem.

 

again i dont want to spend money on shit i dont have to so im trying to make the list smaller of what it would be.

 

it moves but not much at all.

thanks guys for all the help im gona mess around with it this weekend

 

First - if you have to start in gear, its the clutch won't disengage, when the clutch is engaged, the trans is locked to the engine. Just a FYI.

Second - one thing you're going to want to check; you said the previous owner switched transmissions. Make sure its stock to your car. If its not, he could have mix/matched flywheels, screwing up the offsets. (or worse, unbalancing the motor)

This being said; It could be many things. Personally, I would have someone push down on the fork lever outside the trans and see if that did anything. If it did, check;
a.) the pedals
b.) the cable.
c.) the cable mount.

If the redneck clutch lever test didn't work or the other things are all good, the only other things it could be are the following;
a.) a bent clutch fork
b.) a bad/improper clutch disc
c.) a bad/improper pressure plate
d.) a bad/improper throwout bearing

Good luck.

 

Thank you every much that was the post i was looking for.

 

Another thing to add on to the possibilities is to check the fire wall. I have seen the fire wall crack due to forceful clutch pedal movement. This will naturally cause the metal to flex in the direction of the pedal movement causing the pedal to not move far enough to disengage the clutch from the flywheel.

But before I would do any extensive $ repairs, I would get a friend to push the clutch pedal in and visually see if the fork moves any or enough.

 

yes the fork moves but it moves very little,thanks for the advice

 

like i was saying...it could be a stretched cable. you can tighten it to get rid of the extra slack and be on your way.