Needing advice on replacing 115 front cover gaskets

[Marcus Alley <alley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Howdy,

The joys of owning a 25 year old car are never ending.  I have a '74
115 Berlina that is turning out to be quite the leaky little guy.  The
first thing I had to do was replace the head gasket, which did wonders
for stopping most of the flow.  But then I noticed that I would get a
small coolant drip from the front cover, driver's side, third stud
down.  Why don't I just tighten that nut, sez I, and see if that
doesn't help.  Quickly, it became apparent that the nut was not
getting tighter, and sure enough, snap, here comes the nut along with
the head of the stud.  So now I have some major coolant flow from this
spot, and it seems like I should do something about this.

Several questions:
1) What do I have to do to get the front cover off?  My manual makes
   it sound like this can be done without removing the engine, but it
   does not look like a fun project.

2) Can I get by with lifting the head 1/4" off the block?  I have the
   head removal tool from AR Ricambi, which consists of two plates and
   two thru-bolts.  This does a nice job of lifting the head up enough
   to almost get your fingers between the head and block.  Since the
   head gasket only has 300 miles on it, it would sure be nice if I
   didn't have to replace it again...

3) As far as the front cover goes, how hard is it to get the crank
   pulley off?  Any other traps that I should be aware of?

4) Can I get the upper oil pan off without removing the lower pan?

5) Besides the front cover gaskets, and upper oil pan gasket, what
   else should be replaced for preventative maintenance purposes?
   Should I replace the crank bushing, etc.?

I guess I'm looking for any bits of general advice/horror stories,
just so I'm well prepared...

Thanks for the advice/help.
Marc

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