I have a Vauxhall Vectra C (late 2003 reg), hatchback, 1.8L SXI 16V (Z18XE).

A bit of background: Around 2-3 years ago, the clutch pedal would occasionally feel 'slack', as in the first half of it's travel would require very little pressure, and you'd have to push it right to the bottom in order to disengage the clutch to make gear changes. A few pumps of the clutch pedal would bring this back to normal and it would be fine again for some time, typically a few weeks. I understand this can be a relatively common issue with the slave cylinder. I can see from the service history I received with the car that a 'full clutch kit' was fitted at the beginning of 2011, but I do not know what this included exactly. This was something I'd planned to look into but over time the problem seemed to disappear so I never got around to it, and it's been absolutely fine for the last 18 months or so. Ignorance is bliss, and all that! I had fitted new brakes, and bled the brake system, around the time the clutch issue disappeared, so with hindsight I'm guessing that was linked due to sharing some of the hydraulics (if I understand it correctly).

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, everything has been fine for 18 months, until I notice that whilst depressing the clutch pedal, I can feel vibration through the pedal and a 'whirring-knocking' sound whilst the clutch pedal is pressed down. There is no noise or vibration whilst the clutch pedal is not pressed down, and no slippage at all. A quick bit of googling backs up my dad's diagnosis of a worn thrust bearing. Within a week, it became harder to disengage the clutch and change gear. Then, just before bank holiday weekend, I was driving home and it got really bad and I only just made it home (a short, quiet journey thankfully) with it stuck in one gear most of the time. The car is now undriveable because I can not safely change gear, even if I could wrestle it between gears.

Now, ideally, I'd like to keep this car going for another year or two but due to its age, I need to be careful about how much money I spend on it. My dad has always worked on his cars himself, and I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty, so ideally we'd like to resolve this ourselves if it sounds doable, or as cheaply as possible via a mechanic if not.

My questions are:-

1) I can get a new thrust bearing from a popular online auction site for around £5. Is this likely to be good enough, or would I be mad to not fit a whole new clutch kit whilst I'm at it?

2) If I should fit a new clutch kit, what should I include at a minimum? I can buy a new third-party, 2 piece clutch kit (both plates) and a new thrust bearing for less than £60. If I include master and/or slave cylinders, release bearing, etc, I think I'm looking at easily another £100 or so on top of that. Anything else I've missed?

3) How difficult would it be to do any of these jobs at home, given that we probably have the appropriate tools, but would be working on the driveway with ramps? Practical, or wishful thinking? I'm presuming the gearbox can be separated from the engine to provide access, without the engine needing to be removed?

4) If I was to look to get this done professionally, what would be a reasonable billable hours to expect? Any idea as to total price?

Thank you for taking the time to read this! I wasn't planning on it being so long winded but wanted to make sure I covered everything I could think of. Any help would be much appreciated!