Shade tree mechanics'

I bought my son the classic truck you see in the above picture.  This is an 87 Dodge D-150 with the very fast (just kidding) 225 single barrel slant six engine.  The truck drove ok and some work has been done to it before i bought it.  This is more of a hands on teaching vehicle for my son and he also is into the "country" look and feel of life and wanted a truck to accent this life style.  The engine runs decent but there are issues with the power steering drive belt and also the valve cover leaks oil like a sponge.

Here is how the engine looked the day I brought it home.  looks clean from far away but everyone knows the joys of a leaky valve cover gasket and all the sludge under the top view.  We have been spending quality father and son time working on this project.  He turns 16 in December, so not a  real hurry to get it daily driving.  We are taking our time and doing alot of learning.

Here is a picture of the valve cover after we spent an hour or so just getting the main parts of caked on oil off of it.  As a young man, my father and I rebuilt the engine and transmission on my 82 Mazda B-2000 truck.  I have been diabetic since the ripe age of 13.  When we rebuilt the engine on the B-2000 I don't remember having any issues with oil, dirt, and grime on my hands.  I had been diabetic for only 5 years at that time so I but the "honeymoon" phase, and being a young man I did not notice if my hands were covered in grease or not.  The Mazda was my graduation gift from high school at the ripe age of 18.  So this project with my son is only 19 years after my last engine rebuild.

My only issue so far with my diabetes is how to get my hands clean after we work on the engine.  I of course bought some GOJO hand cleaner.  The GOJO works Ok but it does not get the oil out of my dead skin where I prick my fingers nor does it get all the grime from under my finger nails.  I am woried now about false test readings if the leftover oil gets the blood contaminated.  The grungy hand look also does not bode well for an accountant.

Wow, look at that engine bay now.  My son is so proud of the work he has done and I see him working hard to get this truck to being a daily driver for him.  Now only if I can get him to do all the dirty work and I won't have to stress about dirty hands.  Maybe those mechanics gloves might help.