what could prevent the transaxle casing from closing to a quarter inch gap into the engine and stop. I've taken the housing off twice!! I also noticed that even though the clutch alignment tool was in all the way, it appears the center of the clutch is about an eighth to a quarter inch above center of the pressure plate center, is that possible while using the alignment tool?

Assuming your slave cylinder isn't hooked up, misaligned clutch disc or theres a problem with the alignment pins.

Even if you installed the disc in backwards [you shouldn't have been able to bolt the pressure plate to the flywheel in this case], the trans would still bolt up.
The problem would come when you tried to install the slave cylinder.

This post has been edited by alltracman78: Feb 25, 2008 - 10:22 PM