Days 4, 5 and 6. 

Last week the body came off and since then I've made a lot of progress in a short space of time. The sight of the chassis sans body means that I've now officially gone too far to be able to sell the thing without losing my shirt, so no going back now. Next up, removing the gearbox. First I removed the exhaust to be able to drop the gearbox down. Then drained the oil and jacked up the box slightly to support it while I unbolted all the brackets, handbrake cable etc, then the prop shaft...

I'll be honest it was a struggle. Getting spanners and adjustable spanners and sockets into places was a challenge but finally with some patience (making its debut here) the thing came free. 

But then came a surprise. And not a good surprise. It seems the rear axle is not the one fitted at the factory in 1970 but one from something called a Ford Falcon circa 1967. Apparently it's a 7.25" Ford unit with an approximate ratio of 3.4:1 (discerned by rotating the wheels and counting the turns of the prop). 

Here she is... (if anyone knows the exact stock ratio I'd be grateful to learn it). 

Now the problem is whoever fitted this axle and for whatever reason did so with flagrant disregard for the preservation of chassis originality. See in the second picture above how some brute has cut out a piece of the chassis cross member (which should be one piece), welded a new piece underneath the existing chassis then cruelly hacked into that to make room for the prop, which has still been rubbing on the aforementioned new additional piece. Overall a complete mess. The prop leaves the diff too low, hence the butchering. Also I had to join the Ford Falcon group of facebook to find out what the stock gear ratios would be, but still no luck. So it's an ongoing investigation. 

Here are some more photos for those with strong stomachs. 

So a decision must be made as to what to do. Whether to keep this Falcon or to search for a 3.09 or 3.22 Capri Atlas axle that would have been original to the car but that are now extremely hard to find. I think I'll take it to someone and let them decide on its condition, then perhaps replace the seals and whatnot and then decide what to use. I hate surprises.  

Anyway to end on a positive (which I've heard is a good thing) I bought a very good 1 ton engine hoist or 'shop crane' from Harbor Freight here in Los Angeles for $129 reduced from $179 and in no time at all managed to remove the engine. 

It came out without too much resistance. I drained the oil, removed the distributor, starter motor, belt, plug leads, fan, carbs, intake manifold, and anything that looked like it would be in the way, then strapped the old B30 up with two 2 ton towing straps that have a big warning sign on saying not for lifting, then lifted it out. Good progress in the last few days. Now I can remove the enigmatic rear axle and all the steering and suspension parts then think about sand blasting the chassis to see exactly what needs replacing. I'm definitely looking forward to being able to screw nice shiny new parts back on to a freshly restored chassis rather than wrestle with rust and grease.

Thanks for reading and please feel free to comment.