I spent about four hours in the garage today. The big goal was to get the remaining bell housing bolts out -- the two top ones and the middle drivers side.
Before I did that, though, I wanted to feel like I could get something tangible done so I spent a few minutes on the interior. I started taking apart the center console and also removed the broken sill plates (both were cracked in multiple places).
While doing that, I had one good surprise: while cleaning up the broken plastic bits of sill plate from the back seat carpet, I came across the plastic handle that had broken off from the locking cargo cover. This is one of those small parts that absolutely nobody will ever reproduce, so I was really happy to find it in the car. The handle was in one piece and had broken off clean (the other part of it is still screwed into the lid itself) so I just need to glue it back together and it'll be good to go. Sure, it wouldn't pass judging on a 100-point restoration, but that's not my goal.
With that bit of luck, it was time to go after the last three bell housing bolts. Everyone I've talked and every thing I've read has said to drop the tail end of the tranny to make the bolts easier to get at, so that was the plan of attack.
I'd already taken off the distributor cap and a few weeks ago a buddy of mine had cut me a nice block of wood to use with my other floor jack, so I stuck the wood on the cradle and under the tranny mount and un-did the mount bolts. I lowered the jack a few inches and went after the drivers side middle bolt first. Even with various extensions and wobbles, I still wasn't able to get a socket flush on the bolt, but I was able to get at it well enough to back it the rest of the way out. 1 down, 2 to go.
Next up was the upper drivers side bolt. I could easily see this one from the top side once I got some of the wiring out of the way and was able to get a box wrench on it to break it free. After what seemed like an eternity of making 1/4 turns with the open end, I went back underneath and found that I could actually see the bolt head from under the car. Using a bunch of extensions, I was able to back the top drivers side bolt out the rest of the way. 2 down, 1 to go.
The last bolt is the upper, passenger side bolt. I couldn't this one from either the top or bottom and between finding my broken cargo lid handle and getting two of three remaining bolts out, I decided to call it a day.
My next time I can work on the car I'll focus on getting that last bolt out and I should be good get the cherry picker, pull the mount bolt and finally get the engine out and on the floor.