Is there a way to remove the tunnel shift rod (side shift car) without dropping the engine?

I'm thinking of actually jacking up the engine a little in hope it will go through the engine cross member shift rod hole...

Open to suggestions

Have you tried removing the end at the transmission?

Based on no experience, just considering anatomy I think you can.
You may have to support the engine and remove the front engine cross bar.

So I ended up removing the four 8mm screws of the two ~3" mounts that holds the engine cross bar to the body, and loosened up the two rear gearbox large mounting bolts.

Using my floor jack under the engine cross bar, I lifted it ~1" and shifted it a little towards the passenger side.

That was just enough to get it out and slide the modified one in.

Moving on to the next step of my shifter linkage update. Modification thread to follow.