70 Longbed-Howdy from Houston

[Texasduffer]

I've been reading the boards for a year now and finally decided to join. I've had my 70 Longbed for almost 2 years now and have been slowly developing a plan of attack. I've just finally started putting the plan into action.

Previous owner did a decent job updating the truck although not all the work was as detailed as I would have liked. I bought the truck with the 305,
Electronic ignition, Hooker headers, exhaust pipes, lowered front and back, discs front/drums rear, 15" AR Torq Thrust rims, relocated gas tank, new carpet, Dodge bench seat, new Toyota Sienna Beige paint over rust, running real good, and as reliable as I could have ever imagined.

Recently added: Vintage Air, Frontrunner serpentine belt kit, dual electric radiator fan, CPP four-wheel discs with drilled and slotted rotors (epoxy painted the calipers as well), new rear shocks, and power-steering. Everything's working fine except the air, it needs a little more attention over the next two weeks to get it right.

Parts waiting on install: New/reconditioned white gauge cluster from an eBay seller (if anyone's used one of these I'd love to hear how it turned out), one-piece window conversion, Blaupunkt CD player, kickpanel speakers/amps/subs, side mirrors, tailgate, et al.

I'm kinda waiting to install all the above until I pull together the scratch to get the body work and paint done, which is getting real close. I'm planning on a Flat Black Rat Rod kinda look with some small white/red tribal type pinstriping. I don't need the body real straight, but I would like to beat the rust back into submission which is probably easier said than done. If anyone's got a reasonable body man in the Houston area, I'd love to talk to him. And I'm leaning toward 20" Boyd Raw Dogs, maybe 22's in the rear if someone can talk me into it...

I could go on all night, but I'll save some for later. I'll try to attach some pics but have never done it before so it might take a few attempts. You've got a good group of guys here and I hope I can contribute something to the board in the future. Gig'em...