After many months (March), the mule is rolling again on its own power.
I finished mounting the seats and my homemade console. Console came out OK for function. If/when I ever got to an automatic I'll get something nicer.
Went to go start the thing and, nothing! Check and it appears I had a bad HEI module. Luckily I had another one and after swapping it out, the mule fired to life.
The new shifter works great. Very smooth, no jamming, and lordy is it a short throw. It's going to take some time getting use to that throw, but I really like it.
Gonna have to give the ole girl a bath so she can cruise properly. I want to redo the HEI module as I had almost no dielectric grease when I installed it, but that is the next story. Time to rest in the A/C.