I have the ESM and reviewed the instructions and it seems quite straight forward, but I have been there before. On my MR2, its "easy" but there are issues with sticking bubble between the MC and Slave that causes the pedal to drop to the floor and you basically have to "power pump" the clutch pedal to rebuild the pressure in the system. No reason why is should act that way, but it does.

So, noting that, are there any tricks people do to bleed the clutch that are not outlined in the ESM? Any issues to watch out for? I am using a Mity-Vac and not draining the system dry, but removing the fluid in the MC and then using ATE Blue to bleed/refresh the system.

 

It sounds like you know what you are doing. And, if you never completely drain the master then you shouldn’t in theory even need to bleed the system.
One tip I have picked up over the years is to avoid pumping brake or clutch pedals to the ground. There is a slight chance that you can damage seals by pressing the pedal to the floor. The theory is that a ridge and / or crud might be built up at the edge of normal pedal travel. When you exceed normal pedal range you can potentially damage piston seals.
Though I have never needed to do this, I also hear that the most stubborn bleeding problems can be solved by reverse fluid injection – essentially pumping fluid into the slave bleeder to push air out the master reservoir. There is some info on some slightly expensive tools to do this on the web. I hope you don’t need them, but if you do search reverse fluid injection. Maybe your mity vac can be adapted? I know mity vac sells a reverse fluid injection tool by the name MityVac 7220 - Hydraulic Injection System Shooter.

 

About 2 weeks after I flushed the clutch fluid my master cylinder went out. I did mine at ~85k.

 

i follow the same steps as brakes and everything worked great with no problems what-so-ever.

 

My pedal got stuck about 3 times while I was bleeding my clutch. Just pull it back up with your hands and continue