Well I upgraded the drive to the UJ812.
I used this guide to find all the screws and open the case:
http://www.siliconpopculture.com/review/37_0_2_0_M12/
I used this guide to swap drive hardware:
http://web.njit.edu/~rg24/TRUpgrades/TR1AP DVD-RW Upgrade.htm
Thanks to everyone who answered my questions.
Its not actually that hard if you do it carefully and never force anything. I am not a hardware guy so if I can, pretty well anyone can. Sony did build it for repair so the parts come apart easily and re-install easily. The one thing i did was print out the pictures and everytime I took a screw off, I taped it on the picture where it was shown.
The hardest part was actually removing the bezel. Just do it real carefully.
I was much relieved to see it power up and identify the drive. !!
