Please Help Me With Transmission Alignment!
 

I have worked on trying to do my friends clutch for 2 full days now. It started great, everything came apart easily and the transmission came off fine. Then the promblems started arising. Fist off, the pilot bearing was hopelessly stuck in the end of the crank, and none of the three pullers I tried could get it off, I ended up spending $25 on a drill bit that was the PERFECT sizee and drilling out the outer race. That took about 6 hours of my labor plus about 80 miles of driving to do something I just never should have messed with. now, I absolutely cannot get the transmission to line up enough to go all the way in. Is there a trick for this? I have the engine tilted slightly rearward to make the angles line up as close as I can get. I can put it up there an finagle it up and down and side to side, but cannot get it to pop in. How would a shop do this?

PLEASE HELP ME! I'M DESPERATE. IF I CAN'T GET THIS TO POP TOGHETHER, I GET TO PAY TO TOW IT TO A SHOP WHERE THEY WILL PROBABLY CHARGE ME $300 TO PUT IT BACK TOGETHER. I'M ONLY GETTING PAID $100 FOR THIS, SO I DON'T WANT TO TAKE THE HIT JUST TO GET IT THE FUCK OUT OF MY GARAGE, BUT I AM SO SICK OF THIS CAR.

FYI, I got the tranny of in 1.5 hours from starting, and I have done clutches on 3 different cars.

Push the engine as much as you can. I had my dad use straps and a big crowbar to push it forward. I'd say it probably moved 6 inches. Oh, and is the clutch on backwards? :cool:

did you use a lineup tool? does the new pilot bearing fit the tranny input shaft? it should NOT be that hard to do...i can do them by myself no problem... don't use a jack...just bench press it up there...once you get it to slide in a little bit its not hard to hold up...push forward while wiggling up and down/ back and forth/ rotating the transmission... unless something is fucked up, it WILL pop in.

note: if you do it this way, be careful. i tried to do it with a dislocated shoulder, and ended up dropping the tranny directly on my head. it hurt, and i bled a lot. i know its dangerous to do it this way, but as a last resort for one that doesnt line up, it works fine. plus, ive never dropped one when i didnt have a screwed up shoulder like that.

I don't think thae clutch is on backwards, is that possible? I think I have it on so that the splines are mostly towards the back of the car. You know how they stick out on one side a lot more than the other side? I can get it within about 1.5-2".

Ditto, I did the same thing, only it was my wrist that was fscked, didn't think it would matter... it did..

BAM! onto my chest, it hurt... a lot.

That sounds like the clutch is on right. One trick you can try doing is have a friend wriggle your crank back and forth via the front pulley whilst your trying to shove the bastered in.
Sometimes helps alot.

yeah... my sister thought i was dead...lol...my head was all bleeding and shit..kinda dazed me and i just layed there for a minute or two.

ahhh what we do for the ol' rx7s.

lol

i had the same problem kinda as your having .. i learned that if you take off the shroud under the engine and somehow push the front of the engine up so the back of the engine is aimed more down then you can slide the input shaft into the pilot bearing easier. then i get it as far as i can and i use the bolts and give them a couple of turnsand use the bolts to pull the tranny to the engine. i would try that .. also ,, are you sure the pilot bearing will even fit around the input shaft?? just a shot in the dark

hmm, I kinda assumed it would, will either of my pullers be able to pull it to check without damaging it? Oh, NM, it has to, the alignment tool fits perfectly, really snug, just how I want it, but that means the tranny has to go in at EXaCTLY the right angle. I loosened the motor mounts and had my dad push backwards on the intake manifold, which moved it a lot, but not consistantly, so then I used a big clamp to move the engine back a little bit, but if I could get a nice jack under the front, that would work much better. It didn't look like there was really much to jack on, such a short engine, but I guess I'll give it a try. Also, for putting the bolts in to work, the pilot and everything already has to be lined up, if not, that wouldn't work, and if it's all lined up, why would it need much more encouragement?

New Idea: How hard is this engine to pull, and can it be reinstalled with a tranny on it? I am so good at pulling the engine on my 1990 325i, I swap my two motors pretty regularly. Last time, I pulled it out to change the oil pump. I have the hoist in my garage still, so if it is easy engough, I could pull it, and plunk it back in with the tranny. Is this a thing where that is possible?

Also, the input shaft of the tranny just as the splines start has a taper on it, the end of the crank seems to have a matching taper, do these tapers rest together? It doesn't seem like that would work, but it looks like they would, just curious, seems like that would be bad.

So, as a VERY LAST RESORT is it possible to drop engine andtranny into the car as one? This is my solution for every cramped job, engine comes out.

Yes, yes it is. Much easier that way, I think.

the only one ive done was on a galant but the motor was out of the car...and its fwd but i just had to keep wiggling.....then the bell housing broke!!!woo hoo i hate that pos car

Yes, I've taken my engine and tranny out together plenty of times, it'll work.

If you'll put a block of wood on the front of the engine between it and a jack, that'll tilt the back of the engine down just enough to slide the tranny in. Also, kevin Landers advised me to put some grease on the end of that tranny shaft.
When it first went in, I thought it HADN'T gone in because there was about 1/4 inch of space between the tranny and the engine...found out that was ok,the bolts will finish the job.
Good Luck!

I'm telling you, wriggle the crank back and forth while installing it, it helps wonders for the transmission shaft to go into the spigot bearing.

^^ good advice

last tranny swap I did ended up in the transmission falling off of the jack and landing on my hand...ouch....

Yah just move the pulley back and forth and it should go right in. Make sure you use the alignment tool first..