Oxfordguy,
Enjoy Florida and I hope the transmission turns out to be a simple thing. I like the way mine is mounted. I can take it out from under the car and I have timed it twice and from the moment I started taking the shift handle off until I had it on the bench was just 20 minutes. But even with the manual and CD showing every spring, bolt, and nut, I would not tear into it as I am just not mechanically inclined at all and would just wind up paying extra to have a transmission shop fix what I had lost or messed up on top of the original problem.
Good Luck and Best Wishes,
Ron