The hard part is done! I took my time and used some silicone gasket maker stuff to put the rear housing onto the new transmission, greased all the appropriate bearings and surfaces, and figured why not try putting the thing up in there by myself.

So I got out my floor jack, jack stands, and proceeded for nearly an hour to do it the half-right way (I'm supposing here the right way is to use a transmission jack), balancing the transmission on top of a wooden block on top of my jack. After catching the falling transmission for the third time and letting out a few more choice words, I recognized that I was now in what must be very close to the same position Jeremy was in when he completed the first transmission swap on this car. I decided to give that a try, and I must say, I can't recommend any other option now. He ended up hurting himself, which leads me to believe that I had the car at just the right height and my legs are longer, making this maneuver so easy for me.

With the rear of the transmission on my knees and the front grasped like a medicine ball in my hands, I was able to lift it into place and carefully rotate and try several angles. It probably took about 5 minutes total for me to lift it, position it, and get four bolts threaded through to make sure it stayed in place. I felt like a rock-star and semi-pro mechanic at the same time. As always, when I succeed at something, I envision myself to be the expert, so I feel like I could work on Miata transmissions all day, I even think I could try a re-build. Silly how my mind works on stuff like this.

Next up, re-attach the clutch slave, put the cat and appropriate braces back in place, and we should be off and running!