Sound's familiar.
I seem to always have problems shifting into first and down shifting to third on the track. Made a heat shield for the clutch lines, changed the slave since it was leaking, had to make a new push rod since mine broke?????? Took my car for a ride the other day, and was getting flustered with the way it shifts. Haven't put it up on the stands yet to recheck the adjustment. I did have mine loosen up a while back even though I have a crushed lock nut on mine.
I have also changed the shift tower, shift lever and changed the pin position to the upper hole on the pedal since mine is a bear to push in. Since I did that, I get less travel so I had to raise the pedal a bit to get more travel.
Scott