Lude Generation

I got into my car this morning and the clutch felt slightly different, couldnt put my finger on it though.

Parked it up, came back 5-6 hours later and when i went to drive off the clutch pedal has about 5 inches of play where nothing happens.
It used to be really tight, and you only had to tap the clutch to change gear, now the biting point is basically on the floor.
What could have caused this? a bit of reading suggests the clutch might need bleeding? or or might be a problem with the cylinder? how would i go about checking this?

have you checked your fluid? look in the little pot on the left of the engine. i forget which is which but make sure they are both topped up.

Can someone find a picture of this little pot please? As mine feels a bit like that.

You should have find two very similar white pots with grey cups. One is bigger with sensor inside and it's for breaks, other one very close to first one is for clutch. My is relocated as tower bar wouldn't fit so pics will be usless. Also check master and slave cylinders and hoses. Master one is located inside the car I would say behind clutch pedal, and slave cylinder on front of Your gearbox. I would expect leeks somehere there. More often it's slave cylinder fault

No fluid in the resevoir and im guessing this is a clear indicator that the seals have gone in the master cylinder? (that is the master cylinder, right?)

Well there's your problem right there

Correcto! I'd change the slave cylinder if it hasn't been done yet also

Typical. just happens to be one of the parts i cant grab of the one im breaking!

I looked on ebay and it seems they are the same for the 2.0 and 2.2 ludes, is this the case? hoping i will be able to get one from the local scrappy.

not sure. someone who's done an auto to manual might know though?

Yes, 2.0 and 2.2 are the same.