Danno

Also from a safety, ease-of-control, and time-efficiency issue, I would not use jacks on the motor to lower it. Get a hoist with leveler, will save you hours in lowering and lifting the engine out the bottom.

you also do not have to do anything with the tranny and torque-tube to pull it out the top. The only part you'll have to remove extra compared to out the bottom is the cooling-fans and perhaps the radiator. Since you're gonna be rebuilding, remove the oil-filter housing & oil-cooler, the front-pulley. Maybe even the belt-covers, belts, and pulleys. You can take the alternator and bracket off, cam-tower, head and headers. Then all you need to take out is the short-block. Simple. At this point, it can come out either the top or the bottom.