reinstalling transmition

[vvaffle]

So I put in my new clutch, bolted the pressure plate, and now I can't get my transmition all the way in. It is only about an inch away from the engine and I have gone through the whole twist, push, then twist again into normal position procedue. As far as I know the part of the transmition shaft with gears on it has gone through the inside of the clutch disc but I can move it any further. Me and two friends have been trying to push in that last inch for the last 4-5 hours. We made sure that there is nothing in the way. We have moved the transition left, right, up, down, twisted it around a little bit, angled it differently and it has still not moved. As far as I know the next part the shaft needs to go through is the pilot bushing. There is one thing I should mention, when I was putting in the clutch alignment tool it took considerable effort to push it in. When I installed the new pilot bushing I used a socket of similar size against it and then lightly hit that with a hammer until it didn't move any more. It seemed to be in fine and as far as I know both ends of the pilot bushing are the same so I could not have put it in backwards.

Does anyone have any idea why my transmition is not going in the last inch? I am starting to get frustrated because every step of changing the clutch has been harder then it should have been. If this would be better off in a different forum on NICO let me know.

[fatboy]

realign clutch.

[574-240sx]

if that doesn't work make sure the starter isn't getting caught on the trans tunnel. Rotate it so the starter is in the top corner.

[fatboy]

whats the word on the job?

[vvaffle]

I haven't gotten a chance to work on it since I posted because I had to go to work. I was hoping not to have to remove anything since it all took a while to do. How would the clutch have gotten unaligned? I didn't take out the alignment tool until I torqued down all the bolts on the pressure plate. I was thinking that by some odd chance the pilot bushing I got from pep boys is slightly too small even though I specified what car I need it for.

Also, the starter is definetly not getting caught on anything, the transmition is rotated correctly and the starter is flush against the engine part of the bracket it's supposed to be bolted to. While I have your attention, the two bolts that are supposed to hold the starter are the longest ones that I took off when taking off the transmition right?

It's getting dark here so I can't do much more work but if the opinion is that the clutch needs to be realigned I will wake up early tomorow and finish it up.

[ddgsxr504]

When you get a chance to work on her again take out the pilot bushing and clean the hole it goes in on the crank really good then try sliding the bushing over the input shaft on the transmission to make sure it is the right size. Also make sure the throw out bearing and clutch fork are properly put back on it take a good shove for the return spring on the fork to audibly/physically pop into place on the input shaft.

[voltron]

I don't know if this is TOO obvious, but did you take out the old pilot bearing?

[vvaffle]

I am 100% sure that I got the clutch fork totaly back in place and that I took out the old pilot bearing. I don't even think the new one would go in if I had not taken the old one out.

[themadscientist]

your clutch is not lined up, use an alignment tool to get it centered.