MG Car Repair: slave cylinder and hydraulic lines, clutch pedal, slave cylinder

Question
Hi Howard,
I finally got the engine on my 74 Midget to run and run well.  My wife admitted that she doubted that it would ever happen.  That is where the good news ends.

There has been no pressure in the clutch pedal, so I bleed the line.  I built up considerable pressure, but the slave wouldn't move enough to disengage the clutch. Upon inspection, I found that the inside of the slave cylinder was VERY badly corroded, and there a nut behind the shaft.  Given that the shaft looks like a custom made piece - almost 4 inches long - and the previous owner still needed to put something in there to extend the reach, I'll assume this has nee a problem for a while.  I proceeded to scrape some of the rusty scaling out of the slave, and bleed the line without the shaft in place.  This time the slave moved an additional 1/4 inch, but with excellent pressure.  Before putting the shaft back in the reattaching it to the shaft to the transmission, I pressed (stomped) on the clutch.  This time the piston shot clear to the end of the slave cylinder, but has become hopelessly stuck in the full forward position.

I've deduced that the slave cylinder needs to be rebuilt or replaced.  Unfortunately, I cannot seem to be able to disconnect the slave from the flexible line.  The previous owner petty much stripped the nut.  I could cut the line an use vise-grips to free the flex from the slave.  My worry is how do it remove the other end with mangling the rigid lines.  It seems that the hydraulic fittings are non-standard, and my wrenches don't fit on them correctly.  I've even contemplated replacing the entire line from master to slave with flex brake line.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Corey,
It does sound like it is time to purchase a slave cylinder. As for the flex line stuck in the old slave cylinder, you may be able to use vicegrips to just loosen the line and then remove the cylinder and unscrew the cylinder off of the line then. You must have a flex line between the cylinder and the hard line that is attached to the body. You may be able to hold the end of the flex line and get a hydraulic line wrench on the hard line nut to take the flex line off and put a new flex line on along with a new cylinder.
It was common to add a nut to the end of the clutch operating rod to take up slack usually because the carbon release bearing would ware down and cause the extra slack. Some would weld something to the end of the rod to get extra length. Most mechanics like to replace the master cylinder and the slave cylinder as a set because if one is bad, it is not long before the other goes out. Be sure to use DOT 4 fluid.
Howard