Forced transmission to engine, did I break something?
 

Sorry for the 2 posts in 2 days. My other post describes a knocking sound that appeared and magically disappeared after my clutch install. It could relate to this.

When trying to get the trans to seat with the engine and cutch assembly , I got it to make good contact on the passengers side (dowel from engine to trans was seated), but the drivers side was still 1/8-1/16" apart. Stupidly, i figured everything was lined up and we just couldn't get enough force on it to make everything seat, and I used a lower trans bolt and an impact to bring it the rest of the way. I know now this was a terrible idea.

Now the car runs and drives. I have a whole 25 miles on it since completing (botching) the job. The only unusual symptoms now are some clutch chatter/judder on engagement (this seems to be going away. I assume its a break in thing) and some bearing noise from the transmission, which is a used 6 speed that I installed for the first time during this project.

Here are my questions: Now im trying to decide whether to pull everything apart and make sure I didn't break anything. What damage do you think I did or could have done by making that mistake when re-assembling? Based on my description, do you think I did any damage? Should I bite the bullet and tear everything apart to check for damage?

Note: Clutch is a SuperMiata Sport organic.

You may have lucked out, but for future, those are a lot of $$ parts to smash together. These bits will all slide together happily, if you have things like splines lines up, dowel's started into holes correctly, so if things aren't fitting as they should, they are trying to tell you to stop, and figure out why....

You might be right about luck. You are definitely right about listening to the parts. One thing I really need to improve about myself when working on cars (and this can apply to many other areas of life) is learning when to stop, and not force things. Sometimes it's better to take a break and come back later with a clear mind and a fresh set of eyes.

Sounds like you have the right approach! It does suck when stuff that should just bolt up won't, and I have learned there is ALWAYS a reason. Have also seen friends poke the trans input shaft thru the back of the box trying the "fuck it, just tighten everything down" method. Hope she's fine!

Thanks for the positivity! This is really just going to keep eating away at me unless I double check everything, I think im just going to go ahead and pull the trans and make sure I didn't destroy anything. By the end of this I'll be at least proficient in transmission removal and install.

I do this more than I care to admit. Especially with twin discs, it gets to a point where the friction of both discs on the splines (even with grease) can prevent you from getting the nose of the input shaft slid into the pilot bearing. I use the top two and the bottom two bolts, and tighten them half a turn at a time. If you are absolutely certain that the trans is square with the motor, and you go slow, it's doable, but the potential to cause damage to the pilot bearing is quite high if you mess it up at all, so it's not for the faint of heart.

My trans wasn't quite square with the motor, and i did not go at that bolt nicely.... I figured with how close I was, the nose of the input shaft was probably just starting to go into pilot bearing and clutch disk was just slightly off causing the splines to bind. Still, i deffinetly did everything wrong here.

Do you think its possible that I pushed the pilot bearing out the back of the flywheel? My Main worry is that the bearing was pushed out and the input shaft isn't being supported by anything.

X2. I never cheated, until I went to a twin disc clutch with a very tight tolerance input shaft. Took me three days on my back to get the trans installed, once. I've never had that issue with a single disc that was so bad that a little wiggle/retorque the pressure plate didn't fix, though.

If it was within ~3mm I think the input shaft would've already been engaging the pilot bearing, they seat at a good 10-12mm depth. Probably just misaligned splines as you surmise. Also, it probably wouldn't drive great if the pilot bearing was fucked/not in place. Send it.