Long story short, I totaled my car but they are letting me swap my head unit back to factory. I will be short on time when I do this and the hood is half bent in anyways so Im wondering how bad of an idea it is to swap out the headunit without disconnecting the battery.

its fine if you installed it properly with a wiring harness. just unhook the harness np.

if you did direct wiring you'll need to disconnect to avoid shorting wires or just be super careful doing it 1 at a time and tape them off to avoid shorts.

when in doubt, disconnect the battery