Is that my problem?  Does the clutch have to be in place and the crank shaft in place and half the gears on the clutch side put back on before neutral will work?

The main reason i'm asking these questions is for the lining up of the cam.  I was under the impression,when i have the transmission gears (2 shafts full of gears and the cam and the spring in place, i'd be able to manually twist the transmission and watch it move through all the gears on the cam. LITERALLY watch the things move on the CAM (not have the 2nd half of the case put back on)

but maybe it doesn't work without the clutch parts/gears put back on?

I can hit 5 gears. i can push it all the way down (the gear shifter) then go up up up up and watch it shift gears.... but never can I hit neutral.

The Cam has a "star pattern" piece on the bottom which i'm assuming represents what gears are what.  is the "broken star corner" where neutral is supposed to be?  is there even a way to improperly put the Cam back into the 3 shifter things wrong? or is it a "if it fits, its right" type deal?

just this FIRST time i think I really need someone here to help me PHYSICALLY here (although skype would count i think) then everytime after this i'd be fine.  I learn fast, but i dont know enough about these engines to be able to rebuild one from scratch without any knowledge and a manual that only shows you how to take it apart and has blurry black and white pictures LOL.