pulling a slant 6 out without the tranny attached

It's fairly easy. Take the transmission inspection cover off and/or the starter out. Make a mark on the flywheel and torque converter so you know the correct positioning to put it back in. There's only 4 bolts holding the innards together so if you're doing it through the starter hole, just remove the bolt, turn crank...remove the next bolt and so on. I like to use the jack or jack stand with a 2x4 method but you can also be ghetto and just use bungee cords to hold it up if you can find an attachment point above the transmission. It's fairly well supported already so it doesn't take a ton of support to keep it held up. I wouldn't remove the tranny or torque converter unless you absolutely have to.