Thank you all for the advice. Sorry for the long post that follows.
I just have BFG's and open diff for now. Not super sticky. I will have a posi at some point but that is a ways down the road. Hoping the T5 lasts so I can upgrade the diff first. Well first in line after the front
suspension. After rust proofing wheel wells. After getting the engine back in. After carpet. After alternator upgrade... ect ect. Yeah, hopefully it survives for a while.
Engine should be ready to pickup in a few days. Originally I was going to just mock everything up and drive it this summer but Covid19 and the engine coming back out for a rebuild changed those plans. The past couple weeks I've concentrated on the engine bay and chassis between the axles. I want to install the frame ties onto a finished chassis. The gas tank area is not holding up other progress so it's on hold until I pull it at a later date.
I scuffed the bottom, wire brushed the flaky rust. Then used alcohol to clean the chassis. I then applied corroseal. I was not 100% happy with my results. It did a decent job, 95% converted. I probably fudged something up prepping the surface. Even so, I never want to do this again. When I was younger I didn't mind but my body doesn't appreciate crawling around on the ground anymore.
So I did the next logical thing. I started the process over. I scuffed the surface again, hit the remaining rusty areas with the wire brush again. Purchased the $22 por15 kit. I did need a second 4oz can and the top coat. This was enough to get from the torque boxes to the front leaf spring mount. I used their cleaner, metal prep, the por15 then top coated it with their chassis black. It looks beautiful on jack stands. Hopefully it holds up for decades.
My other project was to get the rear sway bar off my doaner II. It has not happend. I hate taking anything off it to start with. It's just wrong to sacrifice her. It sits in my barn which has half concrete and half gravel floor. Anyway I found a bunch of gravel thrown near it. Looked like someone took shovels full of gravel and dug a hole next to it. I get the jack under it and lay down to assess the situation. Bolts are rusted solid. I hear a scraping noise behind me. I turned around to find why the gravel is not under the concrete slab. I have what may be a groundhog sharing my space and he was not happy with me disturbing his peace. lol He has a den under there with pool noodle fragments shredded all about. He is not in the car but right next to it. From what I saw of it he is somewhat bigger then a house cat. I only caught his eyes from inside his den. I don't want to kill him but he did not like me laying on the ground and having eye contact. He isn't hurting anything except my attempts to remove the sway bar. Which is rusted in place.
So, do I drag the car out from its hibernation, remove him or buy a new sway bar? Dragging it out entails needing my boys to come over and help after I get the red one running and out of the way. It's pinned in a corner now. I don't see the point killing a groundhog. I think he may be helping my mouse problem in the barn. If he starts causing problems I may have to remove him but for now he is safe. Being alone in the garage means I am leary of having my back to him, laying on the ground 2 feet away and using a cutoff wheel though.
Has anyone bought the Adcco rear sway bar kit? Anyone find another brand? I already have Stumpys traction bars which have the sway bar mount. Is there an advantage to going new with sway bars? The doaner has 80,000 miles. Is it likely to be worn like old springs? Can I justify getting a new one by saying the old one is worn out? Would I be justifying it or would it actually be an improvement over an ancient stock sway bar?
Ps, When por15 says wear masks and gloves they mean full head to toe tyvek suit if doing this laying on the ground. My wife laughed her ass off as I removed clothing to take a shower afterwards. It soaks through clothing very easily. Then will not come off. My back and arms look like me and the tattoo artist had a bad acid trip getting jail tattoos. My grey beard has dark black areas even with a respirator. On the bright side I dont have to worry about my arms or back rusting for a while.
Thanks again for the help and reading my ramblings.