First, remove the battery (& unplug anything of course). Next, there are a good number of screws on the back you will need to remove: - 1 on RAM access panel (marked with 1 dot) - 2 on HDD access panel (marked with 2 dots) - 2 retaining optical drive (marked with 3 dots), remove optical drive as well, slides out. - 2 retaining HDD, accessible with HDD access panel removed, remove HDD as well. - 4 under battery - 3 under optical drive - 11 around case (6 near hinges, 1 forward of battery, 1 near RAM, 1 near VGA port, 1 near S400 port, 1 under rubber cap near SD card reader). Once battery, all screws, HDD, & optical drive are removed, pull bottom shell off carefully. Start from the optical drive side & pull up. There are clips on the front edge near the SD card reader. As you lift, pull the front edge of the panel forward lightly to release from the laptop. Once this releases, you'll need to slide the panel off of the VGA & HDMI connectors. This will give you direct access to the fan & heatsink You should be...

To answer your other question, no, a standard SATA III SSD will not fit. ASUS used a proprietary adapter for their SSD, & only theirs will fit directly. There is an adapter available for M.2 drives, but you will likely have to modify the bottom of the case for it to fit. The one I used was too tall, & we had to basically give it a hood scoop to fit.

Sorry for the slow response. My boss modified the case during Christmas vacation. I haven't seen the work myself, but he said he cut a u-shaped slit in the case near the SSD. He then bent that section out & then flat again so that it would be parallel to the rest of the case but slightly further out. He said he plans to tack weld it into place later & seal with JB Weld, but is just closing it with tape for now. I haven't seen the results myself, but he seems to be happy with it. The bent piece still sits close enough that it doesn't touch when the laptop is on a table, but apparently the clearance is minimal. In his words, had he known this would be the solution from the beginning, he would have settled for the OEM 256GB SSD, but having already purchased the drive & adapter, he is happy with the result. UPDATE: It appears to be a Phillips or similar. I think I just used a driver from a watch repair kit. It wasn't installed tightly enough for me to worry too much about stripping it out.