Time for a professional...

[origamitect]

The "simple" transmission swap has ballooned to epic proportions. If you all remember I have the frankenbenz with the transmission that went out. Found a tranny from an older 240D. Bemoaned the lack of a 46mm wrench for about 4 hours, realized the driveshaft could be compressed enough to disengage it from the rear of the tranny. Stripped out one of the starter bolts, had to weld a piece of 10mm allen on to remove it. Found another starter bolt from the guy I got the tranny from. Did a combination of sitting on top of the engine to guide husband with the mother of all extensions (reached from the rear of the tranny) to get the two top bolts off. Removed P.O.S. trashed tranny. Realized - hmm. there is no pilot bearing in there! That must have something to do with the trashed tranny...hmmm... time to feel really stupid for a minute. Tried to install new pilot bearing - and of course I have the 35 mm bearing trying to get in to the 34 mm hole. Bought two brake hones and honed for 10 hours to remove 1mm of material. Pressed pilot bearing in. (still didn't go in easy.) Installed transmission. None of the linkages match up to anything. Identify which linkage is which - mark to cut or lengthen as required, cut and weld to resize. Everything fits, but, reverse binds up coming out. Decide - well, I can live with going forward only for the short term, lets take it for a test drive. Hahaha. New clutch works, but! Somehow I have switched the linkages for 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th. So - I have to remember to shift in a backwards H. Look at linkages and try to switch them back - now they all bind. ACK.

AND the friction plate seems to not grab at high RPM. ACK. What would cause this? I am at wits end. I really don't want to spend 600-1000 to have someone replace the clutch, but what are my options at this point?
Thanks in advance for your help.