Yes its great when it all starts to go back together. I've probally got 50 or 60 hrs of cabinet blasting time, and another 10 or so of outside blasting time. After while its like, no not another load of stuff to blast. In going back on, you always seem to find some little part you missed the first time around. Doors seem to be the worst for this. The only part of this truck not removed was the rear axil and springs, other than that every other assembly was removed, cleaned, checked for defects, and repainted. Some parts look ok at the start, but later you relise that they are worn, bent or have some other problem. Its also been amazing how many repo parts fit poorly or not at all. Some times you can alter them and some times you can't. Repo door parts seem to be the worst. Not sure if this is because of the 47 model, or that they just arent right.
As we found a very good engine, it saved me the trouble of having to rebuild one. I did however pull the pan, dist, and replaced the oil pump. This is a good thing to do, as it elimiates the worry of pump failure, or low pressure later after the engines in the frame. We cleaned the engine using many cans of brake parts cleaner, wire brushes, even a drill and a set of taps, for nice clean holes. I then painted it with high heat paint, mounted it in the frame, on new mounts, and hooked up some cheap gauges for test firing and adjustment. We also mounted the tranny up at this time. Test firing in just the frame is easy, as you really only need the battery and the radiator in place. A hose in my lawnmower can was the fuel tank. I ran a wire from the battery to the coil, for my power, and unhooking it killed the engine. We ran it for about an hour total, stopping it once in a while to check out little things, do some timing adjustments, some carb adjustments, and retop the radiator.After that we took all the stuff off, like the gen, starter, carb,etc and touched up the paint.We found at this time, a problem with the water pump, and replaced it. You always seem to miss some spots. After you get the frame, brakes and the motor going good, you can mount the key to the whole truck,,,its cab.
