Well I have got the beast out now, I did not need to remove the gear lever in the end. Once I had dropped the back of the box down it became obvious that if I lifted the front of the engine high enough it would come out with no problem. The prop shaft was a nightmare, even the windy gun would not shift the bolts, took me nearly an hour just to get that off
Still all's well that ends well, the engine and box are now sat on a little trolley I made, the rest of the car is at the bottom of the drive - happy days!
Thanks for all your help and especially to Matthew for taking the time to post those photos.
Best to all,
Enoch