92 Cavalier 4cyl clutch question

My friend dropped his car off to me to replace the clutch. He bought a cheap-o Auto Zone clutch kit for it. I tore the transmission out and went to install the new clutch when I realized, there was no alignment tool. I called Auto Zone and every other parts store to only get the same answer... "It's a self-aligning clutch, it doesn't need the tool". Well I've installed clutches in various cars and this car NEEDS the damn alignment tool! I tried the best I could to rig up my own alignment tool to center the clutch disc as best i could, but it wasn't good enough. The input shaft will not engage with the splines on the clutch disc. My question is...does this car need an alignment tool or is there some trick to installing this clutch that i don't know about? I'm thinking that the parts stores computers are all messed up because when i tore everything out, the slave cylinder was bad. We got one from Auto Zone that was the wrong one. Then we went to another pars store. We got the same slave cylinder that Auto Zone gave us. Well apparently in their computer systems, the slave cylinder we needed was for a 6 cylinder model. So if anyone could help me out a bit here, that'd be great because i don't know what else to do.

First post on this site.

I installed the clutch in my cav and I used a deep socket with the absolut perfect diameter (searched the garage for an hour) the hole inside ,past the clutch plate is tapered so it wont go in too far .its no alignment tool but it worked for me

hope it helps