74 power wagon dream truck...

A Ford dealership I worked at in the late 80's had a cartoon at the technician's parts counter. Basically, a $10,000 car was built with $42,000 worth of dealership priced parts.

If you try to replace every stock functional part with spiffy new (pronounced "shiny") parts, you at least triple the cost of your project (without gaining any additional functionality). I must agree with your decision to reuse stock parts that work, but may not pass concours-restoration judging.