don't pull on the shaft as you'll seperate the tripod joint.

only ever done drive shafts on my 2l focus but so dont know how similar it is to a s2 but my drivers side haft is held in the box bu the drive shaft bearing support so once thats off it slides out easy. my passenger sade shaft has a spring clip (cant remember exactly what its called) in a groove on the splines so requires some force to get it out. i had to stick a long flat screw driver through the box and whack it with a big hammer. on a s2 you have an lsd so there shoulnt be anthing in the diff that gests in the way either!!

and yes you have to take the shafts out the hubs first.

i hope some of this is helpfull to you.

ps. to get my passenger shaft back in i located the splines, compressed the shaft and then 'tapped' the end with a rubber mallet and then pushed it home till i felt and heard it click into place. then i put the drivers side shaft in.