440 and doing the rear main. Question is can I take off the main bearing cap in front of the seal retainer? I need to clean off RVT from old retainer where it sits in the retainer channel in the block. Main cap blocks access into this area. Especially upper area where the halves meet.

The rear main seal retainer needs to be shove backwards with that cap loose enough to allow enough clearance between the rear main cap and the rear main seal holder I would remove it altogether and leave the rear main cap in place instead