Had mine replaced last year (almost exactly a year ago) and they mechanic lifted it from the top. We argued a lot over dropping it from the bottom or not, but he was able to pull it from the top. I still say it's better to drop it from the bottom though. I knew the shop owner so I made off well with the labor under $500. A lot of people don't want to do this but, ask the mechanic's at the Lincoln dealership. Some dealerships actually let the mechanics work on their own projects when they're off the clock. I know the dealership quoted me a few thousand dollars to do the same thing.
Make sure you get a good motor too. I got some good advice on this and had to wait a lot longer than expected but I found the perfect used motor - very low mileage, still in the vehicle an running (rear & side damage). Every motor I looked at the yards was lied about particularly on it's mileage and condition. The only way to tell is to see it in the donor vehicle running. Carfax every motor you look at. Seriously, I looked at over 20 motors - every last one of them lied severely about it's mileage and condition (floods, fires, major front-end damage - etc). They change their story real quick when you mention you've carfaxed the engine's vin.