the plot thickens...
Before we unloaded the Pack Rat from the trailer (where it will sit for the next 8 months
) we took the rig to the car wash to give the interior a good cleaning. When we unbolted the seat we found ANOTHER f'ing pack rat and 3 more babies! I couldn't believe they survived the trip. My buddy wanted to kill 'em, but I turned them loose into an empty field across the street. If they fought that hard to stick around - I couldn't kill them.
Anyway, the interior seems to be not as bad as I first thought. We've blasted out all of the crap (literally, there was probably 50 lbs of rat crap in there) we got down to the floor boards and to my surprise - they're not that bad! There are some spots where the toe board and floor board meet that are rusted through, but those spots are pretty small. The crusty crap on the dash seems to have really loosened up after a full bottle of cleaner/degreaser. I think either a very stiff nylon brush, or a soft wire brush and some more degreaser will really help clean up that dash. As for the rest of the interior, I'll probably just have it media blasted - it's pretty gross throughout and I think I'd rather pay someone else to deal with it
This will probably be it for the updates for a while. The truck is parked in my condo parking lot (no garage) so I'm limited on what I can do. Good news is we will be buying a house within the next year, then it's on!