The previous owner of my car had the cooling fan powder coated. They did a very nice job, but looking at the beautifully refinished fans on this forum, I really wanted that more 'correct' look. So, I contacted FlyingJay here and was very fortunate that he had an already-refinished 3.2 fan on hand. When it arrived, I wanted to get it installed but was pretty terrified at the prospect of having to remove the entire housing, and yadda, yadda, yadda just to get the new fan swapped for the old.
On a recent trip to Ed Mayo's place, I asked Tom Petrushka if it was possible to change the fan without removing the housing. He said "sure," adding that the only challenge he could foresee was that the fan may be stuck on the shaft and we discussed how to deal with that.
Anyway, fast forward to actually doing something: I removed the fan/alternator belt and A/C best, and just kind of wiggled the fan mostly to see if it was, indeed, stuck to the shaft. Much to my delight, the fan actually seemed to be free, so, I just pulled it away from the alternator and the fan was off in about 10 seconds! Yay, Tom was right. I retrieved the new fan from inside the house and the new fan was on the shaft in about 10 seconds. Yay again!
So, if you are considering replacing the fan on your 3.2 fear not. It can be done with the housing in place. Maybe other models/years too, but my experience base is just one car.
