Will do, but the boat is several miles away, so it may be a day or two before I get out there.

This seems plausible, but I still don't know if there's enough room for that even, Plus that still requires standing on my head. I think that's kind of the norm on boats though, so I should just get over it.

So who is knowledge about parts? There's no one real close to get parts from, so I'd like to find someone to order parts through. (Seems like there use to be a guy on here, XTinnovations or something like that, that knew his game) I ordered an impeller last year to do this very job (Summer hit and the job got put off) and one of the guys that looked at it said I had the new style pump but bought the old style rebuild kit. I'd like to confirm or bust what he said before diving in. I do not want to start this job without having everything I need. I have limited time to work on things and don't want to drag this out waiting on parts.

Remove hatch, remove drive, disconnect the fuel line, disconnect the engine wiring harness plug, remove power steering hoses, remove the 4 bolts holding the motor in place( 2 on the side center of the motor, 2 towards the rear mounted to transom assy.). Start to lift up the engine, remove ground wire and battery positive wire once access is gained.

I would say to remove the engine would take 3-5 hrs. 20 min to replace the impeller, then 3-4 hrs to reinstall it. Then if all goes well and the motor mounts didnt move a fraction of a inch, the motor/drive should be close. Other wise a few more hours leveling and aligning the motor-drive.

Chit if I were pulling the motor, I would be planing on doing a whole lot more maintenance then a $40 impeller. Plugs, wires, fuel injector service, gimble service, water hoses replaced, fuel line/hoses replaced, water pump, ect. Making the 496 as "new" as possable. But Im not in your shoes.

On a different baja i read of a guy cutting a hole under the seat to gain access, then he just put some sort of cover/lid over it. The cover/lid looked like a lid for a live well on a fishing boat. It didnt look that bad at all.

G/L !

If you're offering this kind of advice, you must know that I'm not the only one. I do want to do some more service while I'm there. And as far as cutting some of the boat to make an access hole, believe me, it has crossed my mind. I will look into moving the fuel filter assembly first, but I still think I will end up pulling it. I haven't got pics yet, I haven't been back to look at it yet. All I know is I'm running out of cool weather, and need to be getting after it!

Post pictures. Is it really different than engine access on a H2X? Doing that one sucked but it was possible.

I'm not sure these pictures do it justice, but this sucker is tight!

That is tight; a few inches tighter than my H2X. Can you not get it from the side laying across the motor on a pillow? Sucks hanging upside down but it's got to beat pulling the motor.

The last person that changed the impeller said he had roughly 16 hours in changing the impeller. He followed that statement by saying no amount of money would he ever do it again without pulling the motor.

I have a 23 outlaw and so does one of my best friends, While neither of us change it we pay a local mercury dealer to do this it takes him not that long at all. He says once he did it once figured out how to do it quickly. I have had mine changed every other summer since new in 2006.
I would think pulling the motor would be a huge waste of time and money.

Im sure you thought of this, but what about just removing the fuel pump/filter housing? Looks like just the 1 water line leading to the manifold would need to be removed to gain access

Well, I did it. I got the stupid thing out without cutting any fiberglass or pulling the motor. That being said, if someone told me they changed the impeller by pulling the motor, I wouldn't call them stupid to say the least. It's a chore, not the actual work, just the proximity of everything. The impeller I pulled out was in ok shape, but had a perma-curl to it. I did find a rubber vane from one of the old impellers, so does anyone have any tips on how to clean the lines to make sure there is no more rubber trapped anywhere?