Oil Pan removal to access Piston rod bearings

[tmontague]

Hey guys,

I was looking into a visual write up of replacing piston rings on a Camry engine and noticed that you could easily remove the pistons by removing the piston rod bearing through the oil pan. All 4 were right there.

I just researched an image of a Yaris oil pan removed and there are no piston rods above it. There is the oil pickup screen and then a bunch of metal in the way.

My Q is, has anyone successfully removed the pistons in the 1NZ-FE engine by just pulling the head and removing the oil pan? I want to know if it is possible to do this without pulling the whole engine?

If so I may delve into this in the summer on my fiancee's echo