Had another go Wednesday evening for the clutch cylinder re-fit and all appeared to be going well. With a copper mallet the slave unit was eased into the mounting hole on the bell housing. Then came the awkward bit of refitting the hydraulic pipe and its union to the slave. Being very conscious of the steel union and aluminum slave, it felt I had made sure the pipe and union went in squarely, finger tight. Then on with the spanner but as it got tighter the pipe still swiveled in its position, not good as I believed I had cross threaded the joint.
Getting the slave off was difficult as before. Using a lever iron to knock out the slave cylinder, it unfortunately slipped into the bore without me realising and after removal of the slave cylinder and inspection of the bore it revealed a nasty gouge that was unrepairable. And yes, I had also begun to strip the thread in the slave cylinder.
I remained restrained and put that one down to experience therefore will have to wait until funds are available to purchase a new slave unit and new clutch pipes and fixings.