The T-5 was left in the car when I went to put the motor in. The first time I had the motor in the car and running it went in perfectly. Now the motor in completely sitting in the mounts with the bolts in and the tranny is in but they are approx. 1/4" apart from eachother.

Does anyone have any suggestions why these won't go together or anything I can do to get them seated properly? When I push in the clutch it doesn't help the situation and even feels soft.

 

Put all 4 bolts in figner-tight.

Then have someone else sit in the car and push the clutch, while you wiggle the trans up and down and around with one hand and tighten bolts with the other hand with your FINGERS ONLY - no tools.

 

^^^^

Wiggle and giggle!

Sounds like the input shaft isnt quite lining up with the pilot bearing/bushing

 

Yea, you're in a world of hurt right now. That's the part I hate the most, the single worst job i've experienced working on my car. (front springs and balljoints are better than that!)
But yea, follow those suggestions, just keep plugging away...
Or remove the engine and realign the clutch, but once you've got it within 1/4", pushing in the clutch and wiggling it should work.

 

I had this problem a couple weeks before I got the motor to sit in the motor mounts where it is now. When I pulled it to see what was up I found my new roller pilot bearing mangled at one end of it. I went with a bronze bushing now (money) so I hope this one isn't screwed up too.

 

Should I remove or loosen the crossmember or TQ arm to wiggle the trans or leave it attached? Right now I only have the trans mount nut removed (which I lost) and the tranny is slid back about 1/4 - 1/2 of an inch.

 

The ID for the pilot roller bearing for my TKO was only .002" larger then the OD of the input shaft. With a little moving this way and that, even that went in by hand. Just be patient and move the trans around a little each way and itll slide in if all is well. Just make sure that the trans is in line with the engine, or itll never engage the pilot. If it requires more force then you can supply by hand, then something is wrong.

 

Well I pulled the tranny out tonight. Everything looked alright except for a mark on the upper part of the pilot bearing. I'm just going to treat it as if I'm just swapping a tranny now. I need to put the bellhousing back on and re-align the pressure plate then see if the tranny will finally slide in. O hope everything goes smoothly...

 

Yea, that means you had the input shaft tilted up a bit too high, push higher on the tailshaft.
My secret trick (shh!) was to buy 4 1/2" bolts, 6" long. Chop the heads off. Thread those into the BH, and put the tranny up on those, and slide it forward. Take a lot of weight off. Slip it into a gear, and twist the output shaft, once you can't turn it anymore, it's into the teeth on the driven disc. Then if you can get a buddy to push the clutch, you'll feel the output shaft able to turn again, then just wiggle it forward on those bolts. It might be easy (how much luck have YOU had with your car so far? Yea, me neither), but most likely you'll still be there "wiggling" for about 1/2hr while your buddy is holding the clutch.
Don't give up, it'll be satisfying when you feel it slide that last little bit. Remember, don't hit the clutch until the output shaft can't turn, if you're not into the clutch disc yet it'll just make it more difficult.