I removed all 7 bolts around the bell housing and the top starter bolt. the throwout fork is disengaged and the driveshaft is off, all exhaust is out of the way. I can get about a 1/4 inch gap on the bottom using 2 pry bars on either side of the case. it never opens up at the top of the case. Is the main shaft stuck on the disk or is it a stuck guide pin? any input would be great, thanks.

There are 8 transmission bolts. So you probably missed one up top

Is that including the top starter bolt? I have 7 plus the one starter bolt. and all the diagrams i can find have all the ones i've taken out

Quoting the great Billman...

3 short bolts with 17mm heads, go through trans and thread into engine

3 long bolts with 17mm heads, go through engine and thread into trans

2 on the bottom with 14mm heads

1 starter bolt with 14mm head

You likely missed one on the passenger side, view blocked by the header.

Make sure you actually got the TOP starter bolt, you can see it from the driver side if you got the right one or not. That's what got me last week when I took my trans out lol. If not I have no idea.

Did you ever get it?/what was holding it in? I'm pretty interested lol

You probably forgot to pull the clutch slave fork out.

I ended up removing the other starter bolt and broke the starter loose and it slid right off, Hardest part of the clutch swap aside from removing the transmission was reinstalling the slave cylinder, nothing to hold it compressed while you run the bolts in makes it kindve tricky

We forgot the 8th bolt this weekend. You can actually see it in the engine bay and get a wrench on it from the top before you start lowering subframes and transmission mounts.