I've done 4 transmission swaps - it can be done without removing the engine and without moving the transmission too far. I'm sure many people will chime in, but you can remove the transmission from the car and slide it far enough away so it will sit on the sub-frame (after you lower it). Otherwise you can go the route of removing the engine and transmission together - obviously you will need a way to lift the engine out to do this -
Here is a link to my thread - happened to me within 3 months of owning the car
http://svtoatc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5742&highlight=transmission
If you go the route of leaving the engine in place - here are some rough steps to get this done. I'd suggest getting either a shop manual, Chilton's, or Haynes before starting.
Park in a flat surface - preferably cement with a roof overhead - loosen lug nuts on both front tires
Jack up car, block rear tires. Place jack stands behind rear sub-frame - jack up and support rear of car (not necessary - unless your a bigger guy like me :laugh: )
Remove both front tires - remove 2 15mm bolts holding the caliper on the drivers side - hang with wire. PB blaster CV nut on both sides of the car - as well as the roll resistors on the bottom of the car, the rubber mounts on the transmission, the sub-frame bolts, and anything that looks like it attaches to the sub-frame or transmission. Also hit your y-pipe -> should come off.
Unplug battery at this point, the battery, tray and intake must be removed.
Tackle all of the roll resistors under the car that attach the transmission to the sub-frame and the sub-frame to the car.
Keep the bolts separate and clearly label the zip-lock bags you put them in .
Support the radiator through holes in the PLASTIC pegs that come through the rad core support on the top of the car - I've used welding wire multiple times without any problems. Remove the rubber supports on the sub-frame - I think there should be 4 ~4mm bolts holding them on, spin them 180* out of the way. I think you should have an air damn under there, my car didn't, some did. Remove that before this.
There is some A/C components mounted to the sub-frame - unattach them from the sub-frame.
Remove the drivers side cv nut - discard, 1 time use, although, I've always re-used them.
There are multiple ways of doing this, but I found this to be the easiest. If you don't have a slide hammer and the tool to remove the stub-shaft from the transmission, pop it out of the transmission at this time -> just turn the wheel all the way to one direction and it will have enough play to do so.
Pull the cotter key and spin nut until it is flush with stud - gently hit with hammer until it pops loose - remove steering link.
This is for a 2bolt LCA - never seen a 4 bolt.
Remove both LCA bolts and spin off top retaining strut nut -> pull the entire strut, CV and LCA out of the car at once -> be careful with this stuff.
If you done have a slide hammer - cut the retaining strap off the stub-shaft boot next to the transmission and pop the boot off - gently pull on the CV until it slides out - stuff rag into greased area to keep clean, cover end of CV shaft for the same reason.
For the passenger side CV - I left the brakes on and the LCA attached - remove the CV nut and removed the nut on top of the CV so I could pop it down and removed the 2 ~10mm bolts holding the vibration dampener on the motor so the CV would slide out. The vibration dampener is the thing hanging off the motor that the CV shaft goes through to help with vibration.
If your MTX fluid starts leaking when you remove the CV's - drain the transmission, there is a large HEX plug on the front for that purpose.
Now we address more things under the hood -
Without the intake tube and battery box we can see the whole transmission. Support the motor from the lifting hook on the passenger side so you can remove the motor/transmission mount.
Remove the transmission/motor mount from the car - you can now see the shift tower. Remove that as well, I believe it is 2 bolts and 2 pegs - take a look at the starter - it is hidden a little bit by the intake, that will eventually come off if it needs to.
To remove the shift tower you will have to remove the shifter cables - this can be done from underneath or through the wheel well - take your pick, may have to use both. I used a small crowbar to pry them off - I believe there is also a bracket holding the cables to the side of the transmission, remove that if you need to.
There is a plug that goes into the back of the transmission - that is for your spedo - can be a PITA, it will eventually come out - just be patient. I've gone up the wires until I found a plug and undid that one one of the cars.
Before you drop the sub-frame, go into your car with a ~10mm socket and remove the 1 bolt that hold the steering together on your car, remove it, slide the arm up and yank off the linkage - sames time and a rubber boot!
At this point you can lower the sub-frame - be careful, you don't want to have the internal (half-assedly welded) nuts to spin, thats real fun on top of a fun project.
Drop the front 2 bolts, loosen the rear 2 - check for anything attached or anything that will bind - pay attention to exhaust, remove if needed.
Push down on the sub-frame - it can flex pretty good.
At this point I like to use a cardboard diagram to help where the bolts are supposed to go. There are a few different sizes and it is important to know where they go if you want to have hair by the end of this project. Just stencil out the rough shape of the transmission and where the holes are - when you remove a bolt, poke it through the cardboard where it came from.
Take pictures as you go - there are grounds on the transmission as well as some wires going into it - it is important that you put these back where they came from. -> remove brake line from transmission - a #2 pencil helps to stop the fluid from leaking...
Have a buddy help with the removal of the transmission, it is heavy. Slid if off the motor and rest it on the sub-frame - you can twist it around, you just need enough room to get that the bolts holding on the flywheel -> you can do the TB after the clutch is installed.
Install clutch and flywheel according to directions, make sure they are clean when you install. Putting the transmission back on the car is easier with 2 people - after the transmission is on and has at least a couple of bolts in it, you are home free. Put things back together how they came off, torque to specs found in literature you got BEFORE starting this project.
If you don't want to do all of this, find someone who can - you can get this done with a complete set of metric 1/2" and 1/4" sockets and a few wrenches, a torque wrench, a jack, and a few jack-stands. You should be able to get this done in a weekend.
I may have missed a few things, but the important stuff is there - I' sure you had fun reading this