Well, you are right….It is best to have another pair of hands to help align everything. Make sure the water tubes are correctly oriented, the angled cut ends of the water tube should be pointed toward the gearcase, it is easier to align and get the tubes started correctly this way. And yes, the back half of the outer lower motor cover has to come off to access the rear most gearcase bolt. Make sure the water tubes are clean, hit them with a little emery to make sure the tubes slide easily into the grommets. Make sure the grommets are in good shape and add some grease inside them also. You may want to test fit the impeller housing up into the tubes by itself (while off the gearcase) to ensure the tubes are oriented correctly and will slide into the grommets easily. Be sure to clean the driveshaft splines and re lube with OMC moly lube, replace the oring if necessary. The final tricky part is getting the shift rod correctly secured into the connector. This seems like a trivial thing, but shifting headaches and gearcase damage will result if not done properly…. Mumbles has a great method, use a bit of red paint on the recessed part of the shift rod to ensure it is properly positioned into the connector before tightening the connector bolt. Make sure the other bolt is tight also. Unfortunately, the threads on the SS bolts are easily messed up, so be careful…Try not to drop the screw/washer or you will have to pull the gearcase down again to retrieve it….
Finally, once everything is in place, check the shift lever adjustment to ensure you are getting full forward engagement and that the gearcase comes out of gear when shifted into neutral….Again, I can’t over emphasize the importance of securing the shift connector properly and checking things out….
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