Haha, I'm not going there, but I'll look underneath to see if the staples go through. I think I'm going to have to remove the shift cover. At the very least....pb blaster, tapping to bolts to get them loose and/or a wrench from up there.
I may buy a 1/2" drive, 13mm impact swivel.
...but if it comes down to it and I can get to those two top bolts at the shift cover, I'm not opposed to drilling the heads off those bolts. Hopefully not, but if necessary I will. I do have a 12v, 90 degree DeWalt drill.