Progress for June 2005.

After cleaning up the head and block, I measured the cylinder boars. While they are all in spec… some are borderline. I haven't done valves or rings before, so I don't have some of the tools (valve spring compressor, ring compressor, cylinder wall honing tool, etc). More importantly, I don't have the experience to feel comfortable doing even a basic ring job and valve lap, so I decided to live with the low-ish compression and save my pennies for a proper rebuild.

So I got back to taking it down to the frame for stripping and paint. I had the front clip removed, and managed to take the headlights and blackout lights off the front fenders without breaking the studs. Then I moved on to the bed. Keaton worked with me to straighten the bent side rails using a couple pieces of angle iron, C-clamps, and heat. They came out ok… not perfect, but close enough.

Then we cut out rusted spots on the front toolboxes and tried to pull a dent in the rear driver's side corner. I welded a bolt threaded to fit my slide hammer directly to the buckled edge, applied heat, and blows from the slide hammer, repeated a number of times.
This pulled the dent for the most part, but the edge itself was beyond my skills to save, so I cut it out and cut a piece of new steel to fit. I haven't welded it in yet, figuring the opening may come in handy during sand blasting.