Finally bucked up my courage and took apart the front end today.
In general I was really pleased. I didn't come across anything that made me think I was in big trouble. Especially with the cab, the vent pieces behind the fender actually don't look bad at all. A little bit of funk inside the right hand side vent area where all the leaves and dirt were, but not horrible. I only broke one bolt taking all the stuff off so I thought that was a real win.
The final tally of long lost extra parts that fell out after getting all these parts off: 16 washers, 6 nuts, 4 bolts, 1 screwdriver
I started sanding with the DA and 60. Boy, that's gonna take a long time to get through this white, probably not automotive paint much less to get it to bare metal.
Questions for today:
Do I really need to go to bare metal?
If so is there a better way to do it?
Can I get away with just sanding all of this with 60 then 120 and then epoxy?
Again, just a driver that will last a while, not a show truck or anything.
Thanks guys! Long road ahead, but at least I've started.