Getting by with a little help from my friends

I've been picking a bit since the last update.

In order for me to pull the fenders, first I had to remove the hood. Not fun. Not fun because I hate calling my wife to help me. No I wasn't wearing steel toes. No I wasn't wearing even shoes. I was wearing slippers. I was off work, still in my semi-nice cloths. I slipped off my work shoes and slipped on my slippers. I did not want to call my wife to help me. She didn't know that I did not put on solid soled shoes. I know for most slippers isn't that big a deal, but we're talking about my wife. We are both in health and safety, mind you, and she's better than me. I knew that she would spot my slippers so fast. Not so fast, though because I figured a way to use my extensive automotive experience to prop up the hood.

I opened the hood and assessed the bolts that would have to be removed. I had 4 bolts on each side - 2 for the coiled spring which assists the lifting and 2 for the hinge. The hood propped open and removed 2 bolts. Okay, easy part done now on to the other 2 bolts.

I slide a 2x4 across the open bay. A 1x6 goes on top of the 2x4. Of course I don't secure the boards together or secure them to the engine bay. In hindsight, I could've used a series of zip ties to keep them together and in place. Naw, takes too long. On top of the 1x6 I place a couple 2 ton jack stands, fully extended. I removed the hood prop then lowered the hood on the jack stands. Oh yea, those stands were secure., they weren't going anywhere.

Alright, one side completely removed with no problems. At this point I'm thinking how in the hell am I going to remove the last 2 bolts without the hood shifting off the jack stands and slamming onto my sturdy boards and potentially crushing my hand which was not attempting to hold the hood steady. Oh and the fact that I'm wearing slippers is starting to seem like a bad idea. I start removing the first of the two remaining bolts and the hood shifts. No, in case you were wondering, now was not the time to call the wife to help hold the other side to balance the load. My Popeye-like, strong arm was not enough to steady the hood and a jack stand falls to the concrete ground.

I repositioned it to face the garage to give the
cherry picker some room.

That ringing sound wasn't the stand hitting the concrete it was my diminished manhood. Each time that stand bounced on the concrete I could feel my barrel chested, busted knuckle pride ring away. Oh and I was wearing slippers. Lucky for me, I pulled the grill, bumper, and headlight trim, so the jack didn't break anything, but it did call my wife from her ignorant, tv-watching slumber. The door cracked. I think she opened the door so slowly on purpose.

Yup, she helped out. Nope, the hood wasn't too heavy for her to steady as I removed the last bolt. Yup, she noticed the slippers. She held the door for me as I sheepishly carried the hood to the basement.

The lighting was horrible even with the flash,
so I went black/white.

On Sunday, I had a buddy drop by to help me wrench for a bit. I got off the driver side fender off before he got to the house. It was nice having someone help out. I was, admittedly, a bit concerned that he would mess up my labeling and bolt bagging method. Thankfully, I was wrong. If anything, he merely reassured me that I was doing a good job keeping track of everything. We ended up getting off the passenger side fender and inner fender before we knocked off for the day.

I got the motor and transmission posted on the forum that I frequent. I'm afraid that I'm asking too much. I put as much information as I could in the post. I posted photos and a few video links with it running. After 2 days I have yet to even get one question about it. I think I'm asking too much, which I absolutely hate. I think it's worth more to get it sold quickly, so I can keep the project going and perhaps not get top dollar than hanging on to it for months and getting a bit more. I priced it based off my mechanic's recommendation, but I think he was propping up my ego.

My plan is to keep the motor/transmission/radiator in the truck until I get it sold. I've got some space in the garage, but not enough to pull everything out and I don't want to have to keep everything straight. We'll see how it goes, but as of now my plan is to leave it in until it's sold. Geez, I hope I set the price right.