The shifter has to be removed from underneath. You have to take the ball/knob off, the spring, and pull the reverse lock-out "T" handle off also. You'll have to remove all of the linkage rods from the shifter too. It takes some wiggling, but it will go out the bottom without removing the exhaust. You will need to disconnect the exhaust from the manifolds, which you will be doing anyway, since yer pulling the engine.
The factory shifter mounting on these cars is just dumb, imho.

Hey Joel, I get that same bad feeling when an engine is swinging over the fenders. But Im not sure if it matters if the trans is on it or not. If the motor falls onto one of our glass fenders its probably all over anyway. Lock up up the building and forget it ever happened. LOL
Rodney

I should have done my homework before my last post.  You actually don't need to yank the shifter to pull the tranny.  Just disconnect all the levers at the trans, speedo cable, reverse/steering lock cable, then the bolts to the cross member and it slides right out.  I was surprised that the shifter doesn't bolt to the side of the trans.  My '79 buddy has a Hurst and his does mount to the case.  A bit odd - but it did save me the hassle of trying to get fool thing out of there.    Thanks for the help!