I tackled this project today and it definitely took a whole hell of a lot longer than I thought. Took probably 2 hours of myself and my step-dad trying to squeeze our hands and wrenches in the seemingly small engine bay. BUT it's done.. and the first time I fired her up it STILL made the noise.. I was completely defeated and sad..After an hr of sitting I had to move it out of the garage so the 'rents could repark in the garage.. fired her up... NO NOISE... I don't know what happened, but it effing works. I heard it a little bit.. but compared to before it was quiet. It was amazing when I did get the stupid thing out.. in fact the bushing on the bottom end fell out when I placed (read: threw angrily) on the ground. I felt like a winner there, too. You definitely need some mechanical know-how to do this.. And I saw cracks in my serpentine belt, so I need to get that out of there, also. But that'll be another day. Sorry for the long post, today was emotional