Making some headway on the front end of this thing. Brought Russ out of retirement to help me pull the motor out of this thing. The frame was littered with remnants of the old ifs brackets from the original solid axle swap. Couple that with a cracked passenger side motor mount and small crack developing below the core support on the driver side, pulling the motor to clean the frame rails was the only way I was going to be happy and confident with the end result of linking this thing.
Got the motor pulled followed by the trans and t cases, everything was pretty well cover in oil from a few power steering mishaps as well as a constant leak from the motor. Separated the trans from the t cases to slide the new to me transmission in. The counter shaft bearings in my current trans were going/gone and I scored a replacement for cheap. did a pretty thorough cleaning and once over of the cases, installed a new push and turn shifter base on the front case to make things a little more serviceable as well as a new seat and socket for the transmission. got the new trans mated to the old cases and the new t case crossmember.
Between Pat, Russ and myself we spent about 8 hours grinding away on the frame rails. removed all the existing motor mounts and ifs mounts, shock hoops, stock t case and fabricated mount that was a install for the dual cases. we debated cutting the frame at the body mounts and building all new but given the rarity of long, consecutive days in the garage, cleaning the stock frame and leaving the auxiliary electrical components in place (fuse box, battery, ignitor coil, resistors, smog equipment) was a better decision. The frame rails are as clean as they could be and ready to be plated. While everything is out I degreased and cleaned the entirety of the engine bay.
With the motor out, it seemed like a good time to install a new clutch and flywheel. Russ spent a good hour degreasing the motor in an attempt to locate the oil leak. initially we thought rear main seal had given out filthy the transmission was but after cleaning everything up and pull the valve cover we found water seeping in. the half moons on either end had not been properly sealed whenever the motor was initially installed and were pushing oil out the anytime it was running.