Clutch Adjustment

yep thats your firewall adjuster. turning it out will tighten up the clutch while turning it in will loosen it. the noise your hearing sounds to me like your throwout bearing.

glad to see another roush. Do you by chance have the white gauges? thanks

I am guessing that you just have a preference for the disengagement down low but wonder why. The lower to the floor you put the disengage point, the shorter the travel you will have of the throw out bearing itself. If it is too short you run the risk of just taking partial pressure off the disc allowing it to slip but continuing to wear. This will not only cause premature disc failure but drag on the drive train will cause you to lose rpm between shifts. This is not only a performance issue but a fuel mileage as well.
Having the release point higher allows you to run through the gears a little quicker and gives you longer travel to completely disengage the clutch.

The bearing may be making noise when the pedal is not pushed in because you have too much slack in the cable. The bearing will touch the pressure plate fingers at all times - unless you have too much slack in the cable. You may be hearing the noise or vibration of the bearing rubbing/bouncing off the pressure plate fingers. When you press the pedal, you push the bearing into the pressure plate fingers which are levers that compress the springs and back the pressure plate off the disc. This will load the bearing and eliminate any loose contact noise.

Just take out the slack - a lot of companies say to leave a tiny bit of slack in it to make sure that you don't tension it. If you put tension on the cable to the point that the bearing is always pressing in on the fingers of the pressure plate you can get slippage and accelerated wear.