98 Beetle Starter Question

Hi, I was a lurker here for a long time, but faded away as I seemed to not
have any real problems with my 98 Beetle,,,,, until now.

Sorry if this has been beaten to death, but I'm bombing out on keyword
searches for this.

My plan is to remove the starter and have it serviced or replaced, but holey
moley it's buried in there as if it was not meant to be removed.

The car is a 2.0 liter with a manual transmission.

Looking up from the bottom gets you to one nut, but you don't seem to be
able to see or reach anything else.

Do I have to remove the entire battery tray assembly etc. just to tunnel
down to the starter? I've read some post somewhere that the engine will need
supported during this procedure, or is that only for the TDI?

I'm assuming that someone like myself who has worked on my other various
VW's could easily figure this one out at a glance, but on the other hand,
the others have certainly had more room in there.

Thanks in advance for any advice or shortcuts or warnings.

James