Like he said purge the system, I took it to a local shop and had them remove it, I didnt feel like taking in all that freon and adding it to the ozone problem (the tree hugger in me).
To make the job easier you should remove the radiator and the front bumper. You dont have to but it makes life 100x easier.
You will most likley need a big sized cresent for the lines that go into the firewall, I didnt have them and had to go buy them.
As far as the compressor goes, you can remove it and the braket that mounts to the block, this is the heaviest part.
When I removed mine I also removed the actual a/c box under the dash. You dont have to remove the dash or anything, but it helps to remove the seat on the pass side so you have some room.
I also ordered the plastic pipe that non-ac cars use to joint the blower and the heatercore. Without this pipe your heat wont work. I also ordered the plugs that go into the firewall where the hardlines come into the cabin, again these are oem parts off non a/c cars.
Its not hard at all just takes some time, GL