Thanks to some moral support from my buddy James (bigjames4xl), it's back.

We got the Mongrel fired, adjusted the carb and timing, and took it for a ride.

All my worry that I rebuilt the tranny was foolish. It shifts nice and smooth. My cheap-o shifter fix works good. There are even no exhaust leaks. Angie and I think it sounds different, but it must be that there are no exhaust leaks. We've never heard that before!

The clutch needs some adjustment, and I didn't have any anti-freeze so I had to drain the water out. So a trip for a gallon of antifreeze and some tweeks with a 9/16 wrench and it will be right there.

Now to fix the rear leaf springs...