Two questions for the price of one.
 

I removed the alternator/fan in order to bead blast, clear coat the fan and anodize the hardware.

First....is there a way to remove the hold down strap from the engine? without removing the distributor?

Second, whilst peering into the shroud I noticed that where one of the heads mates to the case there is some "tar" like substance around the top mating surface. Otherwise everything is spotless. Any ideas? The car runs great and does not seem to have any issues.


Thanks,
Mike

I've never done it but removing the strap with the distributor removed is a pain - I can't imagine trying it w/o removing the distributor.

No, but removal and reinstall of the dizzy is pretty easy on that car.
Tar like is a very minute amount of oil that has been baked on with other junk. I would not worry about it.

Mike,

Yes it can be done, but it's ALOT of work. The best advise I got was greasethe strap. It just takes alot of muscle, bending and patience.
I had the gunk on my intakes as well, no leaks so I wasn't worried.
Good luck

People remove the strap to clean it up and then mark it all up reinstalling! I just polished mine w/o removing and it looks good.