[DonC]

X2 for leaving the engine in the car. Pulling the xmsn is really pretty straight forward. Remove steering wheel, seats, drive shaft tunnel, drive shaft. Remove the nuts from the motor mounts, disengage the throttle linkage, disconnect fuel line to carb/FI (jacking up the back of the engine will cause some movement of these and you don't want to tweak them). I use a transmission scissors jack I got from Harbor freight for about $30 that has castors on it to support the transmission from underneath as it moves back off the engine. Big X2 on trimming off a couple of bolts to act as alignment dowels. Makes sliding it out and back in a whole bunch easier with much less chance of damage. Saw Doug use them when I visited ERA. If it's good enough for Doug it's good enough for me. Plywood on the passenger floor another X2. I can lift my TKO 600 out of the car myself if I rest it on the passenger floor once it's off the engine. Suggestion: Once the tranny is out let the engine back down to rest on the mounts so you don't continue to strain anything that may be under pressure when you jack up the back of the engine.
With the engine out and bell housing off you can get a better idea of how the flywheel and starter are lining up and get a good look at the flywheel teeth for damage.
Hardest part of the whole operation is getting the rear inspection plate back in. Those stupid little ears don't want to go back under the roll bar grommet.
It's nice to have a second pair of hands when you're lifting the transmission out and back in and getting it aligned but one person can do it.
DonC