hey yall im swapping out a rusted subframe on a 2000 Civic LX and got everything ready but the shifting linkage wont pop off the tranny to save my life i got the screw tabs bent over and pulled the screw out,got it to slide maybe 1mm and its stuck solid i got it soaking in some WD40 right now to try and loosen it but thought ide ask if theres a trick or anything im missing before i attempt to force it off to much. sorry for the newbie question its the first honda ive tinkered with. appreciate any help. Thanks!

**d16y7 non-vtec is the engine forgot to add that**