Question : Problem: Location of G5 tower PS

    Clearly an engineering faux pas. The inaccessibility of the PS combined with living under a water source was almost negligent. My G5 reminds me of my Volvo 240, which was masterfully engineered, save for the heating blower motor location. The running joke is that they built the entire car around this one part, ergo: very expensive labor to replace a relatively inexpensive part. It is a good analogy to the G5 power supply location. The Volvo, though, is utterly irremediable. You just can't cut through the firewall to access it from behind.
      Now, In the case of the G5, there are 4 screws going up though the aluminum base holding the power supply down until such time as you pretty well nigh gut the machine to remove it from above. This is a daunting task for the do-it-your-selfer even, if like me, one happens to have the Apple service manual for the machine. The major risk in gutting the machine is destroying the processors whether by bending pins coming out( or more likely going back in) and/or destroying them by tilting them in the process thus creating later leakage by stressing the block seal. Even with the service manual at hand, there is no hint of how to stow the processors while continuing to burrow done to pull the PS. The only thing I can think of is the techs must have some kind of processor caddy that they can hang the dually on. That way the pins are not in contact with anything below and the whole unit hangs perfectly upright. In the end game, of course, even when you do it right, you still have to bring it in to an Apple store for them to run their thermal re-calibration ute.
       So here is the crazy idea. Why not Dremel (or angle grind) out a lower trap door. You would have to cut around the screws and also make it large enough to drop the PS out. As far as I can tell from the Service manual there is nothing else of note that could be destroyed by the blade back walking too deep into the cavity. The PS is already known dead after all. The other danger, naturally, would be contaminating the board with aluminum dust/fragments. but that could be obviated by having a strong debreiding suction hose moving along with the cut. Naturally, once the cut was complete you could follow up with air cleaning the bottom of the logic board. and then do the same for the top side. Aluminum, even in dust form, is non ferrous so it would not take much air pressure to clean from PVC, solder, and all other board components. So, once the rectangle is cut, the screws removed, and the PS cable unmounted from its board receptacle(if I remember this is accessible because it is forward of the processors). You would next just have to remove the air baffle and front fan assembly. So you could then pull the PS down through the hole and replace with new. The artistic part of this would lie in artfully geometrical cuts(wouldn't it be nice to have access to an industrial laser) and by leaving enough intact floor outside of the cut to attach two interior hinges( exterior if need be because of PS clearance) On the opposite side a little exterior hook latch might be the final touch.
           Overall, the amount of labor involved would be equal to but less risky for a homebody. It could be used as many times as needed until the whole computer broke down in other ways. Thermal re-calibration would also not be needed so it would obviate the need for the trip to the Apple store when all was all said and done. You could also remove PS and clean thoroughly to avoid the catastrophic failures and/or replace when periodic rail checks show signs of the PS aging. Too many G5's are going to continue to bite the dust unless something is done.    The catastrophic failures of PS/S will often take the board and/or other components with it.
         So does anyone see a stopper for the concept in general and/or know of anyone else who may have tried this and documented the attempt?

Answer : Problem: Location of G5 tower PS

Dang, all that great speculative writing on my part only to find out it was all a waste of time. I have discovered the answer to be no. This cannot be done. The PS, now that I have tackled it the hard way, is seen to be almost as wide as the entire machine. I was imagining a narrow mdd part but this sucker is too wide by a long shot shot for my idea to work. I am just going to have to consider selling my quad a week before Apple care runs out and buy a Macpro. Sigh