The investigation continues... I removed the transmission and clutch this weekend. Nothing seems wrong. The clutch was installed the right way and properly centered. All 6 pressure plate bolts were torqued to spec, although one of them was 5 mm longer than the 5 others. I cut it and reinstalled. I didn't remove the flywheel, but the shoulder onto which the flywheel centers on the crankshaft was flush with the face of the flywheel, indicating that the spacer used under the automatic flexplate was not installed.

On the gearbox itself, the clutch fork looks very good and not bent. Just by looking at it, you can guess that the force required to bend it would be very large... The pivot points were good, the throwout bearing is perfect and installed properly since it can only go in one way. The part where the slave cylinder pushrod contacts the fork is not worn.

On the hydraulics side, I received a new FTE master cylinder. It is the newer version made out of plastic. I compared the stroke with the old metal one and it's very close, but not exact. I took 3 measurements:
1- Stroke of the cylinder uninstalled
2- Stroke of the cylinder mounted on the pedal with pedal stop installed
3- Stroke of the cylinder mounted on the pedal without pedal stop.

Measurement 1 was 35 mm for the old and 37 mm for the new.
Measurement 2 was 28 mm for the old and 29 mm for the new.
Measurement 3 was 35 mm for the old and 36 mm for the new.

The conclusion is that you hit the pedal cluster at about the same time you hit max stroke in the cylinder. Also, removing the stopper gives you more travel, but when you install the pedals in the car you hit the floor before.

The bore of the MC and SC is 24 mm in both cases. So 1 mm of travel on the MC = 1 mm of travel on the slave.

The hardline is is good shape and not crushed.

While doing all of this, I remembered that I did not try the clutch with no stopper and no slave cylinder shim after I bled it with the oil can. Maybe it would've worked... I would have gotten more travel that way.

I installed the FTE cylinder and the pedals back in the car. I am now waiting for a new slave cylinder. The boot on the old one was ripped already. Maybe I'll observe a differend pushrod length...

I have pictures I'll post later.