Sorry for not updating.
With the engine out and on a stand I pulled the intake and heads.
Removed the freeze plugs and cleaned out the block passageways with compressed air.
Reinstalled freeze plugs.
The original head gaskets were installed.
Pulled the valves and cleaned them and replaced the seals.
No machining was done.
New felpro head gaskets were installed along with ARP head bolts.
The gaskets blocked the top front water thru the head. Felpro states improved cooling. We will see. Re installed intake.
Pulled oil pan cleaned installed new gasket.
The engine was not painted. It would make the rest of the truck look bad if it was painted.

Installed motor by its self. Then installed transmission.

Things were on a roll.

I had two weeks vacation starting the week of Christmas. Two days before I came down with the flu. It hit me hard, I don't do the flu shots. No one else in the family got sick. After 5 days of not sleeping and not eating my fever broke. I drank a lot of water so not to become dehydrated. Then I think because of my fever I had open sores in my moth and throat. This was called a virus at the doc in the box around the corner. Another five days of not eating.
So I made my self go out and work on the truck before the weather changed.

I finished installing the radiator hoses and such. Corrected some vacuum lines. I left off the air pump and blocked the ports on the manifolds. I plan on keeping the EGR system in place.

All this work out in the cold barn kinda made me not recover so much, didn't feel energized.

Took a break.

I still need to:
Weld up some pipe to connect the Y-pipe to the muffler.
Fill fluids.
Install grill.
Test temperature gauge -have a home made deal wanting to try out.
Fire up

Plan on using a temp gun to check for hot cold spots in the radiator at start up.

Sorry for the late update. Maybe I will get to work on things tomorrow.