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Hopefully this hasn't been gone over already, I've done a lot of searches and still not sure - I get an intermittent shudder / shaking from the front end of my '03 when engaging the clutch in 1st gear from a stop – It doesn’t happen when the vehicle is cold, and some days it feels just fine – the shudder / vibration really only gets going once it has been stopped over and over again, like in heavy traffic. About a month or two after I began noticing it I found the right front brake pads ground down to almost nothing but the left front still had a lot left, so I figured the vibration was due to a brake issue and replaced both front calipers and rotors, brake hoses, and pads - still got the shaking, so I also replaced the front and right side engine mounts, got new tires and alignment, but the problem stayed about the same. It seems like either something gets hot and warps out or maybe for some reason the calipers are not fully releasing once everything heats up. The clutch seems OK based on simple spin down stuff you find in the Haynes manual, but what else could it be at this point? Maybe the master brake cylinder or even ball-joints, etc? Any thoughts?

 
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Manual trans, shake upon takeoff: You are describing clutch chatter or shudder.
That's not brake related.


Gets worse as the lining heats up.

Should be totally related to the condition of the clutch parts and flywheel..... but can be caused by bad motor mounts too. I think yours will be clutch.


I gotta go....

 
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Re: clutch chatter... my clutch is doing exactly this when stone cold, worse after heavy rain. The engagement point is also very high and very, very grabby, both signs of a worn clutch and/or throwout bearing. Time to save up.

My clutch engagement gets better as it heats up and gets used, though, so I don't think mounts are bad (on visual they all seem okay).