OK, problem is I really can't tell for sure what it is your having problems with....

"....Does anyone know of an easy way to get 75lbs to fit up into this motor?...."

If it's trying to stab the transmission into the clutch disk and pilot bearing, You need a clutch alignment tool or old input shaft to hold the clutch disk inplace while you tighten the pressure plate down. A hint here is tht it generally works better if you holt the alignment tool up a little whiole your tightening the pressure plate insteatd of just leting the clutch disk just hang.

I'm don;t know for sure, but you should also check to make sure the ID of the pilot bearing is the right ID to go over the input shaft.


".....we're having trouble inserting the transmission's pilot bearing into the.."

If the problem is getting the pilot bearing into the crank flange, it should simply drive in (generally I use the stepped handle that comes with my seal driver set, it's aluminum and doesn't tend to mess up the hole the input shaft goes in).

If the pilot bearing does not fit properly there is a chance that you have the wrong one. While all 283 cranks were drilled for a pilot bearing even if they were used in a automatic car, the 283s used with a turobglide had a different size pilot bearing hole than the ones used with powerglide transmissions. Car Quest used to handle both pilot bearings, but you had to specify which crank hole size you had.

Yes, I know this because I found out the hard way several years ago.