I've recently finished piecing together all the components of my engine and was trying to mate the engine up to the transmission that's in the car via cherry picker and a jack under the trans. I struggled for a bit and with a gap about 1 inch before taking the engine back out to inspect the pilot bearing and it seems I broke the brand new bearing as one of the needles had popped out. I feel like maybe I didn't tap the pilot bearing in far enough, or maybe I packed too much grease in it causing it to hydro locked. I have a new pilot bearing + the mazda trix pilot bearing install tool on the way.
Could this be a result of poor installation of the pilot bearing? Any tips for mating the two without removing the trans?

 

You just have to make sure to adjust your load leveler so the engine and transmission are at the exact same angle BEFORE you try stabbing the transmission input shaft and then it will slide together easily.

Dont ever try to force the engine and transmissiin that last 1/2".

If it doesnt slide easily together the angle is off

 

I think I followed an old guide from Rotary Resurrection (Kevin Landers), which suggested to pull the engine and transmission together and then separate them off the car where you can see and line them up nicely. It did require jack stands to get the car high off the ground so the transmission had enough room to pivot, and definitely a load leveler which I think cost under $50 at the time.

 

All good advice above, and the bolded part is probably how you busted your new pilot bearing - the tip of the input shaft was in there, but at the wrong angle attempting to go in. A few more points of advice I'll add to the above...

1. Having one or two friends available to help you by providing an extra set of eyes & muscle helps enormously with the engine/tranny line up, mating & install process

2. Invest in a quality load leveler to properly handle the engine on the hoist. Also it helps to have the car up on jack stands, and having a jack under the transmission to raise it and get the angle to match the engine's going in.

3. If it still doesn't slide in easily, in addition to the angle being off, the splines on the input shaft might not be aligned to mesh either. If that's the case, just get a wrench on the E-shaft hub bolt, and slowly rotate the E-shaft clockwise - if your angle is already spot-on aligned, as soon as the splines rotate into alignment, the will mate right up.