The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 51 GMC longbed questions

I have only been on the stovebolt for a month or two but I have already learned tons from the site and the other stovebolters. I have just finished searching the archives and I still have some questions that I hope someone can answer. I'll put a picture if I can after the questions to let you see what I am talking about.
First of all, I have asked about frame cleaning before and I have recently cleaned part of the frame with a wire wheel attachment on an angle grinder. It took hours just to get this far and I think I will take it to be sandblasted because I don't think I can reach all the crevices and I don't really have the time to clean it all up meticulously. Would it be stupid to take all the rivets out and disassemble the frame, clean it, then later reassemble it with gr. 8 hardware?
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I think I will also have the cab sandblasted too and then have a body shop install the new patch panels (floor pan, inner to outer cowl panel, inner and outer rear cab corners). By the way does anybody know if these panels are the correct gauge as the original, or are they thin and cheap?

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I also asked about the bed panels and here is a picture of the only rusted area of the bed. Does it look like it could be fixed by a body shop pretty easily with a new stake pocket. It is about the same on the other side.
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Also, I am going to the 3.55 gears and I need to know what parts I have to save from the old pinion. I just took it off the driveshaft today.
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Does anybody know how much wear is allowed on the brake drums and what is the measurement? If it is still within tolerances, can I wirebrush the drum and reuse it or does it take more than that to recondition them?
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What is typically done to the transmission in a restoration. I don't want to take it all apart because I would probably get in over my head and I don't have all the special tools. Is it necessary to replace the bearings or could I probably get by with a gasket and seal change, which I could probably do myself?
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Also, how hard is it to find heater cores for the original heater? And how can you find out if yours is good or not?

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I just started working on the springs today and noticed that most of them are worn beyond the bushing. Should I just buy a new spring or can they be fixed somehow. Also, how do you remove those clamps so that all the springs can be separated? Should I just have them professionally done if it is too much for an amateur to do?
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I just took apart the distributor today and it was a pain. Should the shaft rotate freely in the distributor? I had to really crank on it with a wrench at the top just to get it to move. I took off the gear and had to crank on it that way for several minutes just to get it out of the housing. Is there something that is causing it to bind? I didn't notice anything obvious, but maybe there is something I overlooked.
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A response to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated. This is my first automobile restoration. I am a Junior in high school and I just finished an old tractor several months ago after about a year's work.
Thanks for reading.

My shop that I built myself
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Justin,
welcome to the Stovebolt. That is a nice bunch of photos and it is a good looking project. I will comment on your frame question. It would not be wise to take the frame apart. Usually if something has to be removed, the new piece is mounted using bolts instead of rivets. Rivets however were used in the original design and they are better in that they fill the hole voids completely and they provide support in the shear axis.

OK, I'll help you on some of them.

Frame: Have it sand blasted. Don't take it apart. Sure there'll be places the sand blaster won't get to but there's no sense fretting them.

Cab: Don't have it sand blasted. It will warp the metal. There's going to be a dozen people post after me saying I'm wrong on this but I wouldn't chance it on my truck. Acid dipping is the way to go. It will cost a little more but your panels won't be warped.

Patch panels: They are close to the correct gauge and most of them are close to fitting but they'll all need some tweaking to get them right.

Save all parts of everything on the truck until you are done. By the way, take lots of pictures of disassembly, video if possible.

Brake drums: the machine shop will tell you if they are turnable.

Springs: Have them re-arched at a spring shop.

Distributor: Sounds like hardened greased. Clean it up and try again with fresh grease.

If you haven't done it already, get a reprint of the shop manual.

For GMC specific stuff, go to oldgmctrucks.com

About the pinion, I was wondering what parts I would actually have to use on the new pinion from the old pinion. I have a reprint of the shop manual, but I haven't found anything related to brake drum thickness or how to remove the spring clips.

Will a body shop or sandblasting shop generally have access to acid dipping? I live in a rural area in New Mexico and there aren't too many shops around.

A sand blaster might be able to tell where you can get chemical stripping done.

As far as parts from your old pinion, I really don't understand what you're are getting at. The pinion is one part, there are no parts to it. To mount it you need pinion shims, pinion bearings, a pinion nut and an oil seal. These should be replaced with new parts.

I thought you had to use the nut and shims again, but I must have been mistaken. I tried to follow Chris Sweet's gear swap, but I didn't get that part.