Living with the GTX FEB '11

I've had it back for a week+ now, and so far it hasn't let me down. It's still restricted to urban duty though.
Passed 159,000 when I drove home from the shop.
Got to drive it in the snow for the first time, which is the reason I bought it. The AWD works great, and the car felt in control even when in a 4 wheel drift. Traction on acceleration seemed great.
I replaced the 3 wipers right before it snowed. The motors work, but slowly when pushing heavy snow. My rear defroster doesn't work. The button on the dash doesn't light up anything when down, and the window doesn't get warm. Gonna check the fuse and the hatch connection.
I had a scare the second night of the snow. The doors wouldn't open. I figured it was a lock problem, but I think it turned out to be the door freezing shut. Not sure how this happened, and can't remember it on any other vehicle. It was with both doors. I finally just started pulling real hard and the driver opened. Pushing on the passenger from the inside got that one open too.
The car doesn't have ABS. While traction in snow and ice seems superior, the lack of ABS caused me to slide into an intersection. It was very icy (drove up it later), and downhill. Once I figured it out, I used the skills I learned last spring at the Bridgestone Winter Driving School. It's hard to feel the 'loss of grip' point when there's no grip to be had in the first place. On regular packed snow, I tested out the grip and could feel and hear when the tires lost grip and when they regained grip, but on this downhill, nothing. I slid into the (blind) intersection but not across it (T intersection with me hitting the T), and regained control and slowed enough through the exercise that I was able to make my turn. Luckily no traffic at that time.

Strangely, I think the GTX was broken into. Came out the car this morning, and after I opened the front door, noticed that half the back seat had been folded down. Passenger was locked. Nothing was stolen, and I think I felt the lock unlock when I opened it. However, while unlocking it is easier than I remember, I can't lock it from the outside now.

Daily Update- Button her up

Shop agrees with my conclusions and ideas. They're going to mark the wear points on the bell housing with some paint and put it back together, Figure I should be on the road by the end of the week.

Daily Update- What we know, what I think

After a bunch of back and forth, a bunch of measuring, and a bunch of scientific method, here's what we know.
1- The pressure plate rubbed against the bell housing.
2- We've measured all the things that could be too long- The engine-transmission spacer plate; the flywheel; the clutch pack; and the pressure plate. All are correct thickness.
3- In a reversal, we found out the throwout bearing didn't engage too much, but instead it disengaged too much, getting wedged against the bell housing. This left a lot of space and no pressure against the pressure plate.

SO, since nothing is too long / thick, I believe that the pressure plate only came in contact with the bell housing because the throwout bearing wasn't supplying pressure against it due to the arm that normally puts pressure against it wasn't because the slave cylinder was broken in two.

THEREFORE, now that we've replaced the slave cylinder, we should be able to put everything back together without any further problems (in the bell housing). However, to double check this, we'll monitor the clutch fluid for metal pieces from the bell housing.