I did a little work last week before having to stop and prep for the camping trip. The focus has been on prepping the transmission and final drive for reinstallation. The speedo output bullet got a new o-ring, and a new seal inside itself. It seems there is a circlip of sorts that holds the seal in its bore, and it's just a friction fit. I hadn't had one of these apart before, and was surprised to find no groove. It's lasted this long, so I suppose it's fine.
The diff cover was heavily pitted, and dented. I also didn't like the whole vented gasket design. I decided to add a proper vent in the cover with a baffle (a 1" freeze plug, though the next size up might have been nice). I added a drain plug while I was at it. Nice, thick weldable bungs make it easier to get a drip-proof weld. If it ever leaks, I guess I'll be coming back with JB. I feel good about these ones though.
I gave the cover a good pounding with a mallet against some wood blocks. The dents came out nicely. As for the pitting, well, it was obvious that paint did a poor job of protecting this from rock chips and rust over the years. I decided to make this my first powder coating project. It's a good item to practice on, since it's not primarily cosmetic in nature.
First came some media blasting, which revealed a fill level and fill angle marking I never knew existed. The thermostat housing came along for the ride as well. I'm still using my old blasting cabinet instead of the new one, much to my chagrin. It's very difficult to see and do a good job. I'm looking forward to the upgrade.
Here's the only pic of the baffle. The upper rim of the freeze plug is welded, so oil won't dribble or flow downward across the vent opening. The lower part of the rim is left open, with about a 1/16" gap half way around. The gap is also raised up off the wall due to the weld fillet below it, which should help keep oil flows moving across the cover from veering inside. Maybe. It vents well, I guess time will tell how good it is at keeping oil out.
And the finished product, complete with powder coating. Obviously the pitting still shines through. I didn't feel like buying Lab Metal so I could smooth it out with a conductive filler. It's just a diff cover, after all. The finish bonded well, both cohesively and adhesively. It feels great--smooth and slick. The fill level stamping still shows up well too.
The thermostat housing taught me some lessons about intricate shapes, narrow gaps, and electric fields. It wasn't a great candidate for powder coating with the equipment I have. It still looks a lot better than it did, and was a valuable experiment.
Then she requested the scat for her slice, haha. 
