This may help others like me. I was almost afraid to try to replace water pump in my motor because of what I read on different post. The boat shop wanted 160 dollars ,which I didn't think was that bad, I can't afford that right now. The biggest fear was the shift linkage behind the carbs. Due to these post, I did purchase a swivel 1/4" adapter for the 7/16 nut and one of those flexible grabbers you push on one end to open up. got to have it for bolt replacement. Tape was necessary on swivel to make it stiffer so it would not flop around. I used masking tape. To remove linkage all i did was go to port side of engine and remove bolt. 1/4"extension is necessary. someone has to help to operate shift control back and forth to disconnect and reconnect. I believe it was in reverse to remove. the shift linkage did rotate slightly when replacing. try to keep offset rod angled like it came out. it has an offset on the top. the rod has a hole in the top for bolt. the bolt is threaded on the head end and just a taper point where it goes thru the shaft. I used a welding rod with the end rounded off to realign the bolt hole. That helped out a lot. I can't even work on a lawnmower but i did do this. good luck
