Bulkhead fittings aren't cheap but should work well. Good creativity - if they fit tightly and don't rock, they should seal well. Will you be attaching a high-flow sock-type prefilter to keep the big chunks at bay... or just use the inline brass filter?

Your JB Weld should work fine as long as the tubes don't rack or move. Nail them suckers down well.... or for higher confidence, just do another bulkhead fitting.

Using the Dakota input retainer should simplify the number of parts you need to put everything together. Be sure to mock this up where you can see how all the parts move inside the bellhousing (range of motion, alignment, etc.).

Do you have the link for "using an aircylinder as a DIY slave cylinder?" It wasn't that tought to run down master and slave cylinders that met my needs, as long as I was willing to get them both. A bugger if you're just gonna buy one, tho!

Randii