Thanks everyone for following and for the nice comments.
Well thankfully the weather has broken and I have had a chance to be outside more. It has been a busy week with a lot of family stuff getting my attention. I also was lucky enough to get my first covid shot! I had taken my mother and father in-laws to get their shots. I half joking asked the nurse if they didn't thaw out a few extra doses. Eventually she asked for some info and if I had any conditions. I have asthma. She said she would put me on the cancellation list. They call folks on the list if someone cancels so to not waste any doses. This was Thursday. On Friday, my wife and I were driving by and I was wondering how long it might take for a chance. Just then, my phone rang. "Can you get here in 15 minutes? " I can be there in 5! Yea!!!
On to the truck. I took the spindles in to the machine shop on Monday. Well, yesterday I still had not heard back, so I called. After a few moments,bhe said that he didn't have a good reason for them to not have been done, but they were not. They will be ready Monday. It was so nice to not have some lame excuse, just the truth. I wish more places were like that. I also was able to get the new brake hoses at NAPA. I had to go to a store about 25 miles away ad my local store said it was too old for them to look up. It ended up taking 4 trips to get the right ones, but again, I was very glad they were willing to help. It still added up to 200 miles, but that's how it goes.
Kevin and I pulled the rest of the front radiator, grille and radiator support off and began cleaning everything. I removed the manifolds and assessed the crack in the exhaust. I have a friend that I plan to weld it as he has a good amount of experience welding cast iron.
We also started to clean the engine, bell housing, and transmission, and get it ready for paint. We pulled the accessories off, gen, starter, distributor, oil filter etc. I have been working on getting the block and head clean. I plan to paint the engine, then remove the valve cover, tapper cover and oil pan and paint them on the bench. I want to inspect the oil pump screen anyway. I also showed Kevin how to install a distributor with a "disturbed" engine. He wants to learn these things.
When I get the king pins back together, and the new grease seals arrive, we plan to roll the chassis outside and pressure wash the residue on the frame and transmission. I think we have scraped 5 gallons of gunk off these areas. It is pretty clean, and I am going through brakleen like crazy. I now have almost all of the nook and crannies of the engine/transmission pretty well free of 65 years of residue. I scrubbed the engine down with lacquer thinner 3 times and have it very close to clean. There will be lots to keep busy with cleaning up the accessories and detailing them. We can also get the radiator support ready to paint.
So, all in all, progress. I have been working outside with just a short sleeve shirt. 45 degrees feels GREAT!
