Ok, I'm rebuilding my 1997 Mercury 150 EFI V6 per my Factory Service Manual. I ready to install the Crank Case cover. The FSM doesn't even mention installing the pump drive shaft. Doing a dry-run, I found it physically impossible to install the software into the lower bushing while meshing the worm gear to the drive gear, then installing the case cover. The length and extreme angle of the shaft makes that impossible. So I tried a dry-run (no gaskets/sealer) with the case cover installed. On the first try, the shaft fell out of the coupler and "got lost inside the crank case before I could get it meshed and seated. I pulled the over again to fetch the shaft. I could because I had no gaskets or sealer laid down. Try two, I used 2-4-C to help keep the shaft/ coupler together while guiding it in by only holding the coupler. The shaft is weighty and if fell out of the coupler again but the viscosity of the 2-4-C delayed it coming apart until I was incredibly close to getting engagement. I was able to fiddle the coupler back on the shaft, engage the top fag to the coupler and drop the bottom into the bushing while meshing the gears. Success, but I have to do it all again, with the cover seated, torqued and gaskets/sealers in place. I'll literally have one shot at it and it is fiddly and nerve-racking to do! Is this how the Mercury Techs did it when it was built? Anyone out there with experience with this with some affirmation I'm doing this the best method possible? I don't want to do this more than just once.