I did not really intend to be out there all day, but it worked out that way.
First, tried to track down source of oil leak. As Stefan might remember, when I bled the clutch slave last fall, I came out from under the car covered in oily crud. There must be an oil leak of long standing - but since there is nothing on the floor below the car, I figured it could wait.
Today, I got under the car to look for leaks. Basically, there are none. Not even an RMS area. There is some very light sheen on the edges of the oil pan, but nothing to write home about. But on the vertical side of the engine next to the bleed screw and all the way up near the oil cooler, there was caked on crud. The O2 sensor wire was caked, the wiring harness leading to the clutch slave was caked and the air intake pipe between the throttle body and the MAF was caked too. The top of the transmission had a lot of oil crud too. So I cleaned it all off with carb cleaner and electric parts cleaner. There appears no obvious source of the oil. I suppose it could be the oil cooler seal? But there would be evidence around the base of the cooler? No? It could be from the bad AOS - but the stuff was caked last fall at Gundo's. It could not have been seeping that long?? So other than watchful waiting - any ideas?
Second, I lubed the top mechanism. Dang good thing too. I found that the "red cup" on the passenger side was off the metal ball. Upon inspection, found that the nut had fallen off the rear of the metal ball and that the ball was barely hanging on to the top mechanism. A half hour of fiddling, we found the nut in the drainage tray. Maybe another hour later - I figured out how to get wrenches on the thing and get it tightened. This time with blue locktite. I am very lucky to have found this before the top bound up and --- carnage. +1 for inspection and maintenance.
Third, in the process of tracking the oil leak, I found a plastic bracket that does not appear to do anything. I will try to get pictures posted.