I'm pulling my engine out to send it off to be rebuilt and following the rotary resurrection instructions. I'm at the step of disconnecting the clutch slave cylinder from my transmission and wondering if it matters / makes it easier to separate my engine from my transmission later if my car is in gear, or if it should be in neutral.

Wanted to check before I'm not allowed to touch my clutch anymore. Sorry for the super-n00b question, I know nothing!

 

It doesn't matter. I like to pull the engine out with the trans otherwise it makes it harder to align the trans shaft with the engine when installing.

 

Awesome. Thanks for the advice.

 

Since you got an answer already, I'll add a couple tips:

1. When separating engine from transmission, loosen the engine mounts (from the body side), so that the engine tilts with the tranny a little easier.
2. Use a clutch alignment tool when putting the clutch back (if removed).
3. When putting tranny back, have a buddy at the front tilt the engine to align with the tranny. He/she should also have a socket and ratchet on the front pulley bolt. When the input shaft splines don't want to align with the clutch disk splines, he/she can turn the engine a little so they match up. If the bellhousing and rear iron mating faces are parallel viewed from top and side, and the splines are aligned it should not take a lot of force to mate the engine/tranny. Do NOT force, especially if using bolts to 'pull' them together. Note the dowels on a couple of places where the bolts go. If confused about which bolt goes where (you didn't label them? lol), sometimes it helps to put the through the bellhousing and see how much they stick out. But there are threads about that and bolt info in the stickies.

 

I prefer to keep the transmission in neutral as it allows everything to turn just a bit while lining up.

 

Thanks for all the tips. I like the sounds of having a little play to assist with lining everything up. I already unbolted my clutch slave cylinder, but left the bolts still hand tightened. In the event I want to depress the clutch and put it in neutral, is it just as easy as tightening down the clutch cylinder before touching the clutch?

 

There's no need to actuate the clutch...have you never put a car in/out of gear while not running...?

You're overthinking a very simple process, don't make more work for yourself here

 

Hilarious. All these years of driving I just assumed I needed to clutch.

Thanks for pointing out the not so obvious to me