How to work behind engines?

[Madcityami]

Today, I pulled my frozen bilge pump. Seemed like a simple enough job. However, I did not appreciate how difficult it is to reach back that far. I could barely get one hand back there with my shoulder balancing on the starboard intake manifold. What is the secret to working the back of a twin engine bay without breaking something important? It looks like I could put some blocks on the intake manifolds to clear the delivery pipe and lay a shelf across, but I’m curious what others are doing.

 

[WREKS]

I find these helpful. Laylows I ended up fabricating a gantry crane to pull the engines. I have found no easy way.