You can do everthing from removing the wiing harness, ic, and what not from the top of the car(youll have jack it up a little to unplug everthig on the bottom side) that will save you time and space to prepare for the lift. You dont have to take out the tranny or anything like , but make sure you everthing unplugged from the wiring harness or it will snag and youll have more problems than you need. Ive pulled my motor two times and put back in the car by myself with jack stands cherry picker . It took me all night the first time, getting a lift is more than worth it if you dont have a nice garage to work out of.