Can the oil pump be removed with the engine in place? looks like the engine support bar may have to be removed while placing a temporary support under the engine.

i doubt it. i don't think you can remove fan and impellor with engine in the car. so no access to the oil pump. but i could be wrong.

I think the fan shroud has to be removed. That would take about 4 hrs with engine in car if its even possible. Even longer to reinstall it. It would be a knuckle busting job too. Engine can removed in 2 hours with 4 beer breaks. 45 minutes if you've done it a few times. I know what I would do.

How about a partial drop, lower the engine leaving the tranny supports connected -- perhaps loosened to allow tilt?

Don't think so. Trans mounts won't allow that much movement

I watched McMark do it in his shop. Look down and see the Wizard.

So why do you need to remove the pump?

I have added a large oil filter and remote oil cooler system. When the oil is at 180 F my idiot light comes on at idle 1000rpm. This after a fresh engine rebuild. Pressure at 2500rpm is 30psi also at 180F.

I just read the oil pump repair article in Pelican Parts tech section, where I copy the following from:"By now, Bee Jay was getting proficient at dropping the front of the engine and removing the fan housing. He pulled the oil pump, and I slid under the car to have a look." Thus it appears that lowering the front of the engine is doable (I will make sure I don't damage the tranny support -- including significant loosening), and that the fan housing needs to be removed to remove the pump. Further comments will be most welcome.

It can be done ,its not terribly hard but if memory serves me I believe i had to remove the studs to do it. I don't think we dropped the motor at all. My son thinks we only took out the lower studs but its been like 10 years. Good luck! I'm sure we didn't take any fan housing off.

Id just drop the whole motor.
leaving the trans hung in the car will make everything harder.

Yes, leaning toward dropping whole power train to change the oil pump.