Great pix that provide a lot of the details I've got to worry about. This looks very messy and a little dangerous.
The cutoff wheel sounds like a good way to go to get access through the bottom of the case (I was thinking Sawsall). It's definately worth it to save 27 lbs on the front end.
My current sealed repo battery is still going strong after 7 years without using a trickle charger but it's only a matter of time before the end will come. The battery I'm cutting up is the wet cell that lasted only 1.5 years and vented so badly that it messed up the paint around the battery tray and under the hood.
It will be a pleasure to chop it up.