Just thought I'd offer an update. . .
The cracked pan is off, cleaned and waiting on the bench for welding when I get home from work tonight. I made a custom 5mm allen wrench and with all the patience I could muster, slowly turned out the two bolts between the transmission and the back of the block. As it turns out, the flywheel has a ring that protrudes away from its back-face towards the block and essentially covers up bolt access. The only way I could have avoided this when I put the engine together would have required milling two slots through that ring (aligned with the bolts) - and another set of slots at 180 to keep it balanced. IOW, the tin was not the issue. The only other solution was to remove the flywheel (NOT).
For the record, most of the engine to transmission mounting bolts were loose

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except the one going to the pan) - easy now to see why it cracked. I will be using loctite on all of them when I get to putting the pan back on and possibly leave out the ones going to the pan. I suppose I'm glad the pan cracked - could have been a lot worse out on the road. While I have the pan off, I will also inspect the squirters for sealant underneath each. I have heard they need it or could leak a bit - lowering oil pressure in the system.
Now I will be able to remove the brass plug I used in the PO's turbo drain port and weld it shut. I may even add some more aluminum around the new port I made and re-tap the flange mount holes as the casting is actually quite thin.
Goal is to be running by Saturday afternoon. My last project will be rigging a catch can and something to replace the hockey puck. I'm not returning the vent to the intake so no worries on "running away".
If anyone has any other suggestions of things to check while the pan is off (or want to diss me for what I have mentioned) - please speak up

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By the way - I really miss libby and 8-V