Well, I decided to go ahead and do the adapter, bushings and shifter last night because I'm not quite sure when my tech is going to be able to get around to the diff.
Started under the hood, piece of cake, this thing is easier to work on than I thought it would be. I had it buttoned back up in no time.
Then came the interior, still not bad, then came disassembling the shifter. I know now why they come from ford as an assembly. The side cover shaft retainer pin was kind of a bitch but i was able to get a pick under it and the cover slid off.
Upon reinstalling the side cover I found that it didn't want to snap back on, turn it over and see this...
So yeah, I'm emergency ordering a shifter assembly this morning because of a 4mm piece of plastic. Joy