Thanks, man....
And a big cuddly hug thanks for the friendly nudge from from you two.
The morning update:
-Pan is primed all over, rust sealant is applied, seams sealed.
All that remains now is to finish priming the sealant, and the coating on the pan. Truck Bed coating for the top side, and rubber undercoating for the bottom.
Once it's back at home, I do still have to cut an access into the front frame tunnel area to finish the welding up of the clutch tube. What I thought was a problem with the trans actually appears to be the fact that the clutch tube had come completely loose, not just the front end like they usually do. So, you pushed the pedal, and the tube was just moving around in there, not allowing the clutch to fully engage. I figured that anything I do here won't be really affected too bad by that, and I was more worried about the elements causing the rust to come back if I left it unprotected much longer. But, once that little repair job is done, it's body mating time.... I'm super excited.
Please tell me making little sputtering motor noises is a normal thing for everyone...
Of course, the obligatory pics:
