What year of housing is he using now? Early housings such as a '57-'59 Ford and '67-'70 Mustang are worth a fair bit of money. He might come out money ahead to sell this one and pick up a custom housing and axle combo that's ready to go. They're actually pretty reasonable if you shop around.
Or just do like we did it in the old days, jack that sucker up and hang those big wienies under there!