There is a running joke with my brother and his friend whom I bought my truck from in 1974 where they were 18 or so working on it and my brother was trying to make it run putting the motor back together while his friend only cared about getting his new 8 track and speakers.
Yeah, stick with your goal to get it running, it's a good to have a goal. I wish I could get mine running this next December for the 40th anniversary of owning it, that would be so damn cool. But I am looking at driving it more like the 42nd or 43rd anniversary at best.
Brian