Mission accomplished (part 1a)
Here's the scoop, not included in the manual. The fork control tabs are all in a row. If you get one of them and pull the housing off, then guess what -- you're in gear. And you just about can't do anything else with the shift rod. However, if you pull the shift rod full out (up in the car frame, as installed) then you can pull the shift rod control tooth (singular) out of the slot formed by the three control rod tabs and you can pull the housing off the base. Simple, no? Not without instructions, it isn't. So, problem solved. It was truly a hangup of the control rod on the fork control tabs, not the rod on the housing..
In case you haven't read between the lines yet, I have done the deed. Naturally, given my level of frustration, I took no other pics than the ones I already have posted. R&Ring the control forks was no great problem. There are three (3) pawls in the setup, one each larger diameter one in the gallery connecting the 1/2 and 3/4 fork counterbores, and in the gallery connecting the 3/4 and 5/R counterbores. There is a skinnier one which dwells in a hole drilled through the base of the 3/4 fork. It's not clear to me exactly how the setup works, but it seems to do so. Oh. Kick me. The center pawl allows the state fo the 5/R fork to be communicated to the 1/2 fork, and vice versa. Clever. It is a pass-through and the protruding pin immobilizes the 3/4 shaft at the same time.
DO NOT SUCCUMB TO TEMPTATION! It is tempting to grab the fork shafts with vise grips to move them and see how things work. Do not do this. Bad Idea. The shafts are _not_ hardened and you will make burrs on the shafts which will interfere with holes in the aluminum housing when you put it back together. This will result in interference and will make one of the gears engage as you reassemble, which will result in your _not_ being able to put things together. Maybe it is possible to disassemble/reassemble the thing in R or 5, but why try? Oh, maybe because it was 3 which was engaging on putting the housing on, and if 5/R had been engaged, nothing else could have done so. But I don't _know_ that the control shaft tooth could go there with R engaged.
When I removed the main/transmission shafts, the 8-ball bearing lost its balls. The outer race fell out, but the inner race was pressed onto the shaft. Fortunately, with no further disasembly of other things, I was able to drive the race off. Gentle taps on alternating sides (taking a risk of damaging the shaft, I suspect, but maybe its' OK. The roller bearing comes apart with the outer race and the rollers and cage as one piece, and the inner race as another. I drove the inner race onto the shaft using some fixtures I has available, and all seems to be OK now.
I didn't put the bolts back in the housing, nor did I reassemble the outer bearing retaining rings and stuff under the small outer housing. That will be tomorrow. I'll drop the flywheel by a shop for their opinion and possible resurfacing. The wear on the old friction disc was on the pressure plate side, not the flywheel side, and I believe it was due to abrasive dust/oil making a nice grinding paste. The pressure plate is shiny. It will be replaced, along with the input shaft sleeve and throwout baering. The car should be a pleasure to drive once it's reassembled. That will be paced by the flywheel work, I suspect.
Michael