I could have worked on it from there, but it would be easier to work with it on an engine stand. I bought one from Advance Auto Parts for about $40.
My good buddy Carl had an engine hoist so that we could lift the motor onto the engine stand.
To lift a motor by a hoist, the first thing you need to do is find the screw holes on the outside of the heads as indicated in the pics. The bolts I used were 3/8 course thread and I got them at Ace Hardware. You want to get Grade 8 bolts. The engine hoist chain will go through this bolt, and one cattycorner on the other side of the motor.
Then you put one of the chain links through the bolt, and then do it on the other side. Keep in mind though, that the stress of the chain up against the valve cover or head when it's hoisted into the air might scratch the valve cover/head. So it's a good idea to have a rag or towel in between the chain and the metal it would scratch, to protect the valve cover/head surface.
Then make sure that the chain is fastened securely. Here we used a Grade 8 bolt and nut (3/8" inch again).
The next step is to hoist the engine up into the air. On Carl's engine hoist, there was a lever you jacked up and down to lift it, and a dial that rotated to let the engine back down gently.
The next step is to attach the engine stand onto the motor. The engine stand comes in two parts really - one part is the part that bolts to the back of the engine, and the other part is the stand. In the pic below you'll see the first part being bolted to the back of the motor, with bolts going through bolt holes where the transmission would bolt to. The bolts going into the motor (the ones that have arrows pointing to them in the pic below) should screw in about half an inch to an inch into the motor. Notice we used washers and nuts to give it more stability:
Make sure the bolt connections are really secure. Here I'm using two wrenches to tighten all the bolts:
The next thing to do is to attach the second part of the engine stand, the stand part. Slide it onto the first part of the engine stand attached to the motor, and be sure to stick in the engine stand pin (indicated by the arrow in the pic below):
Then you just lower the engine hoist so that the stand rests on the ground. Here you can see me using a pair of pliers to turn the dial on the engine hoist to lower it:
And now that the stand is on ground, the engine will be stomach to chest height, so it will be much easier to work on!Now the teardown begins, so the next part will be about removing the throttle body.