New engine difficult to attach to tranny

[CamryTacoma]

I am having a difficult time getting the pilot shaft on the tranny to slide on to the clutch plate.
I pulled the engine out (from the top) of a 2001 corolla standard that I got for my daughter.
The previous owner ran it out of oil.
I got a 60k engine with auto transmission.
I swapped the flywheels and put a new clutch on the new (to me) engine and proceeded to put it back in (from the top) but could not get the pilot shaft on to the clutch plate.
I then pulled the engine back out and pulled the transmission out (from the top).
I am not getting it started at all. I feel like I just need to get it lined up perfectly and part of my problem is that the engine hoist that I have borrowed keeps losing height all the time.
My questions are these;
1) Is there a trick for getting the tranny (pilot shaft) lined up and on to the clutch disc, therefore letting me attach the tranny back to the engine.
2)Can I then get the engine and tranny back in to the car from the top (what I would prefer).

Thanks,
Josh

[Buurin]

CLUTCH ALIGNMENT TOOL!

If you bought a new, better rounded clutch kit, you may find piece of plastic that looks like your transmission input shaft. That is the alignment tool. You are to loosely install the clutch disc and pressure plate, stick that tool in the middle of the clutch and push it all the way in to center the clutch disc. Torque the clutch, then remove the tool. If you don't have this tool, go rent the right one.

Then make sure all bolt holes between engine and tranny line up, while supporting the tranny well, slide it straight into the engine. Keep it well supported until you get the mating bolts in.

[CamryTacoma]

I did align the clutch with a plastic alignment tool that came with it.
You leave the little plastic bushing inside, as there is no pilot shaft bearing in this unit.
I will try to arrange it so that it is lined up better.

[wylee]

Wrong clutch maybe? Does the alignment tool fit the old clutch okay?

A leaking engine crane certainly won't make the job easy, but it shouldn't be that bad.

[sam333]

Sometimes they go on like butter and other times they extract every bit of blood possible.

Take the disc off the engine and put it on the input shaft, make sure it goes on easy and is free on the splines. Do the same with the presure plate, just to make sure there are no major fit problems.

Pull the plugs so you can turn the flywheel easier if you have to make small adjustments to get the input shaft and disc splines lined up.

Its always alot of jiggling though.

I always use a breaker bar handle to line up the disc to the center hole of the presure plate , but what ever you use it has to be very close.

Having a leaky hoist is a terrible handycap in my opinion.

I have had nothing but bad luck using non toyota clutch parts. Hard fitting engine to trans , hard shifting( these were brand name clutches, presure plates and throw out bearings). I switched back to toyota parts and everything went together easily and worked perfectly.