You can cut the crossmember out with a sawzall and the vendors sell a replacement one that bolts in and is removable. I did mine with the engine in the car.
What sort of oil pan do you currently have? For any type of spirited driving where there is cornering I recommend and upgrade to the fully baffled Aviaid or Armando pans to ensure the oil pick up cannot run dry.
quote:are Aussie 2V heads that much better than orig 4V heads I have?
As Paul said they are better for low end torque than 4V closed chamber heads, in turn the 4V CC's are significantly better than open chamber 4V heads. Which 4V style do you have at a present?
What to go for depends what you can obtain locally, shipping cast heads gets expensive.
There are now many good 351C Aluminum head choices, that offer the best of all the performance attributes, plus weight saving (on the car & shipping!). For some shipping is thrown in e.g. CHI heads price includes shipping from Australia, so its pays to do the comparison including cost of getting them to you.