clutch down, moderate braking.... funny clunk noise (well, more of a feeling) and a slight movement of the pedals... ok, pretty sure that wasnt supposed to happen... and after that - any time clutch and particularly brake (or both) pushed and steering wheel turned, horrible juddering and grating feeling through pedals, again particularly the brake. Which makes me extremely worried.
Peered into the pedal area and under the bonnet, no clues. Spend about 10 minutes playing with it and moving the car around to get more of a feel, decide to risk getting home. At least I can recruit help more easily there for fixing/diagnosis/lifts.
Drove all the way home with flashers on, no more than 25, mostly in 2nd and 3rd gear, using clutch as little as possible and footbrake hardly at all, with one hand on the handbrake and using engine braking quite a lot. Just in case something worse was to happen and all footbrake/clutch utility was to disappear, or the steering was to fall apart.
Now on closer inspection, and a 2-person manipulation of controls, there's a part of what might be the pedal supports/pivot that bends more than it surely has right to when the left & middle pedals are pushed, and a lumpy (but sound) bit of the upper steering column seems to be grating on it.
What the hell?!
Please let this be a loose bolt that i havent yet spotted/felt and haynes doesnt diagnose.... kinda need this car over the next few days, my tank-fixing window was thursday into friday and it already looks like im gonna miss that. I can deal with the holed pipe (just keep it under 1/3 full), but this, no way.
EDIT: Given it a better look with the aid of a desk lamp on an extension cord, and a lot of pain. Looks like a bolt has come free, sheared, pulled through the bodywork, a welded thread has snapped or something. Basically theres a thing what the two pedals connect to (somehow - havent determined it yet) with three supporting bolts at corners of a 3-dimensionally bent isoceles triangle, one of them (at the thin point) has come loose somehow, so it's free to move slightly, with the other two still limiting this motion. I think it attaches almost directly beneath the wiper motor so i cant properly check it.
A job for no-nails?
