MG Car Repair: 1954 MG TF Engine + Gearbox removal, vin data, gear lever

Question
Hey there. Busy trying to restore a 1954 TF1500 here in Kenya. Currently stripping the car before going for a big Moss order and today's activities were halted when trying to pull out the engine + transmission. The gear lever needs to come out, but can't figure it out. There seems to be a ball joint at the bottom does it just need to be forced out? There are 2 pins on either side too. Do these need to be removed? How?

And a another quick question - on the back of the fuel tank there seems to be a sensor of some sort (low fuel warning?) that I can't see in the Moss catalogue. Was this optional? Or something thrown on the last few examples? This is one of the last 100 made from VIN data.

This may be the first of many questions! Thanks in advance!

Answer
Hi Zak
It is not advisable to remove the gear lever in situ.  Underneath there is a remote lever with an extension.  Inside the extension is a spring-loaded ball bearing.  If you remove the gear lever you may lose the little ball.  Safer and easier to remove the entire remote control unit.  It bolts to the top of the gearbox with 4 bolts.  The spanner is 5/16 BSF (although the threads are all 8x1 fine metric).  

You never need to remove the two threaded pins, the lever has slots that slide over them.  The lever is held by a spring-loaded cup which is held in place by a large wire circlip.  If you draw the two ears together with a fine-nosed pair of pliers, it all springs apart.  Putting it back together is another problem.

The sender on the fuel tank is indeed a low fuel sensor.  It was fitted to every TF and every TD.  Check out the wiring diagram.  The TF has no gauge, so that's all you get.  It starts to flash at about 4 gallons, and becomes a steady blue light at 2 gallons.