I replaced my clutch and everything was going fine until while putting the transmission back on it was catching on something. It lines up fine but will not push in the last half inch. Does anybody have any idea on what this problem could be. And yes I used the alignment tool.

 

Getting everything lined back up perfectly isn't easy. Sometimes it takes a bunch of tries before the engine/trans will go back together. If it's off-angle at all, the nose of the input shaft will not slide into the pilot bearing, and you risk damaging it by trying to force it.

 

If RR88 is correct, you can try turning the engine to match the tranny, by turning the belts CLOCKWISE on the front of the engine. It makes sense in theory, but I'm not sure of practice on an RX-7. I have a BNR32 that I race in and the few times we have replaced clutches and transmissions, we havent had much problem getting them re-mated, aside from the 7-speed dual-clutch we put in. I have also replaced the clutch on a 2001 Eclipse V6, and we had to wiggle the transmission back in, since they are wrong-wheel-drive, and we had to bleed the clutch lines early and rebolt them to the transmission to push the clutch and release the TOB so we could slide them back together, and once we did that, it mated just fine and ran like a scalded pig. However, these experiences are on piston engines.

 

Thanks that makes sense. I had a strong feeling it had to do with the pilot bearing. Ive never seen one in such an annoying spot before