[frodo2975]

Update: I ended up taking my car to a mechanic, which said that the throwout bearing, the release fork, and the clutch need to be replaced! They said something about the release fork/throwout bearing going bad and has warped the clutch disk, so it all needs to be replaced. They quoted me $600 to replace everything, which seems like a fair price. However, the previous owner of my car had the TOB and the clutch replaced just 20k miles ago, so it seems odd that this stuff has broken already. Does this sound plausible to you guys? BTW, the shop didn't have time/parts to do the job today, so they put it back together and didn't charge me anything, so I haven't spent any money yet. I'm debating whether I should just have them do the work or get a second opinion from somewhere else.

[Mr. Red Pony]

For 600 I did mine myself with aftermarket parts.

[frodo2975]

Just to let you guys know how this turned out:
I took the car to a second mechanic to get another opinion. This second guy was a ford mechanic for 20 years, and he agreed that the clutch felt fine. It's not slipping, or grabbing, so I think the first mechanic was just lying to me when he said it was warped. The second mechanic said the TOB is getting there, but it sounds like it's still got a long way to go before it needs replacing. He recommended installing a spring pulling up on the clutch pedal to stop the rattle. For now, the weather here in Florida has warmed back up, so it's stopped rattling. If it starts up again, I'll try the spring thing. Thanks everyone for all the advice and everything.