Two steps forward, one step back ... Assembly

I started today by pulling the skid plate and the gas tank.  Penetrating spray is your friend on bolts like these.

These tank straps don't do what I want them to do.  they suspend the tank off the skid plate, which is good, but they don't hold the tank DOWN, which is more important on a wheeler.  I'll be fixing that at some point.

And then I turned my attention to the front window frame and found more rot to patch.

Decided to reuse the mechanical fan that came in the project parts pile.  Had to clean it up a bit before it could see paint.

I wanted to do the same to the transmission tunnel cover.

Permatex Rust Treatment finger painting all over the skid plate.  I like how tough the final polymer coat is, so I won't do anything more to the skid plate after this.

This is a shot of the backside of the rear bumper.  Bent but not corroded/rotted.

The skid plate bolts to these two brackets, which are quite heavy duty and will work for the time being, especially since this thing isn't going to be rock bouncer.

When I pulled the corroded sending unit that was hanging out in the tank, one of the little bolts broke off, so I drilled it out and tapped the hole to match the others.  Worked surprisingly well.

 I chased the other threads as well.