Now that the truck was starting to look decent, I then finally bothered to check on the condition of the 235 that I had previously purchased and found out that it was shot. I pulled it out before the truck ever drove under its own power and replaced it with a rebuilt 261. The 261 ran great and was the engine that I drove the truck with once I got it on the road. I recently replaced the 261 with an engine that will be slightly more fun. More on this later..
I found out that it is a lot harder to install an engine, especially a long inline 6 with the front sheet metal still on the truck.
The original 3 on the tree shifter was wore out and had so much slop in it that it would get stuck between gears, I replaced it with a Hurst truck shifter on the original 3 speed transmission.