Thanks Brad.

Briefly, I'm pleased w/operation of my oil switch... behaving just as it should. Truck runs like a top... couldn't be happier.

Still 2 do is install vacuum guage, per your excellent article here on what that can tell us. I will be installing oil pressure/coolant temp guages as well. I'll re-torque head bolts @ +/- 500 miles after this head replacement.

I'm running Valvoline full synthetic: motor has just over 6k after complete rebuild. Ran Valvoline conventional until pouring in syn this time.

FWIW, when I was restoring SAAB's did a pretty thorough investigation into motor oils. Some very very good, thorough testing done out there I was surprised to find. Of the conventional, Castrol proved the best... Valvoline a very close 2nd. NAPA's house brand is Valvoline, and I always stocked up when they ran sales every few months... can get if about 1/2 price.

I was very convincingly persuaded then (when I researched oil) that, accounting for all the things people debate forever on one side or another, good quality synthetic in well rebuilt (or new) motor after break-in is the way to go.

...

This last repair cost considerably more then I planned... with head work, gaskets/head bolts/wiring & fittings, and having to eat 1st elec. fuel pump I bought (was incompatable: RockAuto would not take a return) I spent about $900. With orginal R & R motor rebuild a couple years ago and everything I had to do to fix his shoddy work, total is somewhere around $2800. Or, a lot more then it should have cost or could have.

A lot of that was my bad: I didn't research/get to know this truck under the hood before that... didn't check up on builder like I should have (was just too busy then)... this kind'a thing just happens whrn I turn this level of work over to someone who I haven't verified to my satisfaction.

So w/that said... given attention to detail I gave this last round of repairs, performance of the truck w/the Weber properly installed, replacement of all the driveline/suspension parts I did, I'm pretty confident this little truck is going to be solid/reliable for a long time. In the long run, having spent an extra $1k more then I should have... not all that big a deal. Couldn't get another similar truck, in this kind of shape... anywhere close to that.

Paint is badly faded, but body is actually in very good shape... nothing worse then surface scratches. Only "crunch" is on front/passenger side fender.

Will probably pull motor/give it the paint job it deserves this summer.

Still a couple (unrelated to latest work) minor things that need fixing:

- just before I parked it 2 years ago, horn stopped working. Traced it back to steering well (where you press to activate horn) and pulled that assembly apart. Before I could get it fixed (days), the head gasket blew and it got parked. I twiddled with replacing contacts and reassembling, but getting that together looks like a puzzle at the moment. If anyone's done that appreciate being pointed to the how-to.

- "Brake" light is stuck on. I re-did brakes just before motor rebuild couple years ago... brakes are essentially new. Double checked 'em after last big test drive, brakes are fine. Most be a bad sensor and/or switch somewhere, but I haven't looked into this yet.

Other then that, truck's as close to perfect as I could have imagined... mechanically, turned out better then my most optimistic hope.

Put in new radiator at motor rebuild, am confident of cooling (you mention over heating problems). If there's one thing I would have done different, it would have been replacing the head w/a new non-jet-valve-machine head rather then "plugging" jet valves on the original.