Time for an update. After getting the engine installed, I focused on doing the engine wiring. Afterwards, I did a quick post in the electrical bay to verify what I had done was correct. It was. I really wanted to fire up the engine, but was advised to get the whole electrical system completed before adding a battery and starting the engine. So, I moved on and installed the new electric wiper motor, sticking with the electrical theme. That is done now, so it's time to move on to more of the hard stuff. Today, I removed the sheet metal that a previous owner had installed in the bed. It was a slapdash install, most likely to just make it functional again. The sheet metal was not large enough to cover the entire bed, so they used 2 sheets and pop riveted them to something that kinda looks like the metal edge pieces of the bed, but I think are really just angle iron.... So, the sheet metal is now gone (see the attached pic).
The plan moving forward is to remove the strips of wood, clean the underlying metal (frame, bed cross members, etc) and get some paint on them. I was originally going to remove the bed to work on the cab corners, but am not sure now. Also, while I have the access, I'll change out the shocks, replace the bushings on the leaf springs and finalize the exhaust mounting. Then I'll see If I can do the cab corners without taking the bed off of the frame. If I have to take it off, then I will. Once all that is done and its time to add bed material, I'll switch from the sheet metal to an original style wood bed. I've already got the wood and metal strips. The wood has been stained black and coated with outdoor polyurethane. The wood looks really nice and I'm excited to get it into the truck.
So, I find myself at the bottom of yet another mountain looking up. Lots to keep me busy.
