I have a leak on my oil cooler seal, a big one. can I remove it without dropping the engine or removing the fan shroud?

Yes you can. It can be a PIA, depends upon how small your hands are. George's Tech tips from AutoAtlanta outlines it. I think Pelican Parts might also outline the procedure.

I have done enough practice, I dropped 4 so far, I am good! for some reason the first one was the fastest.
Hey Scott, You went off the map, hopping to see you at Hershey.

Thanks, I am happy to hear that. everything else is nicely set, I would be pissed to drop that engine.

Either these cars are made to drive us nuts or I am seeing things.

It was leaking yesterday about 1 drop every 5 second. for the 10 minutes idle, i think I lost about 1/4 of quart. still on the floor as proof that I am not loco.

This morning I decided to make sure that the oil was not dripping from my pressure switch as suggested here on most threads. There was no sign , pressure switch area is dry.

I wiped the oil, started the car and let it idle for 30 minutes and rev it every now and then, there was no leak.

has anyone experienced this before?

I forgot to mention that the only thing I did between the change ( from leak to no leak ) was setting the dwell to 49 from 68 

Did you top the oil? Maybe you lost too much.
Check that the leak is not from under the dizzy retaining bracket.

hm! I think you sre right, The oil level was very high, I drainned it and change. It was on my to do list for this week anyway..