Removing sheet metal shroud to access fan on the front of the engine without removing the engine? Is it possible? Thanks

The fan is accessable without removing any sheetmetal. What are you trying to do?

I have just rebuilt the engine and there is an oil leak that is dripping in the area of the alternator air intake. I have checked all possible sources upper and lower and need to start removing pieces to chase it down . The only thing that is even close to the leak would be the front crankshaft seal so I may have to get to that.

Just my .02 but I think you should drop the engine. The time you spend trying to deal with that seal in-place will probably be equal to or greater than the time it takes to drop and reinstall. Plus you’ll have a much better sense of exactly where the leak is coming from. Also, with a fresh engine rebuild, you’ll more easily be able to check head bolt torque and do a valve adjustment

It can be done.

But as noted above, all the futzing and working around stuff will be frustrating as hell, and in the end you may not save much time. I almost feel it's better to drop the engine just to replace the alternator!

I have the car on a car hoist so access under is easy. No need to do a torque check or valve adjust as it has 20 miles on it. Stay on topic is it possible?

Yes it can be done....
You will have to drop the nose of the engine, to do this you are more than half way to removing the engine and trans as a unit. You have to remove the clutch and speedo cables the shift rod, heat cables etc and drop the nose with a trans jack or onto tall safety stands.

So yes it is possible, but I bought a lift so I could drop an engine faster than mess around like this. Drop the engine and transmission as a unit on a table cart. BTW you don't have to take the exhaust off for this.

As said by others . . . drop the engine. If you're going to play with mid-engine cars, it is part of the game.

The beauty of mid-engine is how quickly the whole drivetrain can be removed and reinstalled as a unit.

I've dropped engines in a dirt field with nothing more than a sheet of plywood and a rinky dink 2 ton K-mart jack.

Even easier with a hoist.

Even easier with a host + a table as Mark posted.

Or . . . you can do it the hard way.

I built a box on casters to hold engine and trans, rolled under car (on lift) and had it all in under one hour. Best, MarkClick to view attachment Click to view attachmentClick to view attachment