Thanks everyone. I will probably retain the TA crank.
[MENTION=20548]JohnDThompson[/MENTION] have you seen the "REK" seat stay before?

Heh. Instead of the 1955 "bugs bunny" half dollar, its the 1979 missing "T" Trek. That half dollar brings back fond memories of my dad's coin collection...

Back OT. Great score on the Trek. The Phil hubs should last longer than all of us with maybe a bearing change or two...

No. I'm surprised it wasn't caught before it landed on a frame.

nice bike man!

I'm building this one back up. I rebuilt the headset yesterday, which is the first I have ever done. I was a bit hesitant as it always sounded difficult, but it went pretty well. It took a few tries, but the steering feels really smooth now. I also discovered a neat tag in the head tube. Many of the components had a "ST" stamp on them - crank arm, crank rings, rear derailleur, hubs, rack and others I am probably forgetting. When I looked down the head tube, I saw a label with the name "Scott Thomas." I assume he was the originally buyer and stamped all the components with his initials. It's pretty neat to know that most of these components have likely been together for nearly 40 years. Maybe the front derailleur was replaced at some point as it does not have the "ST" stamp.

Here's a pic as the bike comes back together. As I mentioned above, this is the first time I am attempting a "build" (although, I'm mostly just taking parts off, cleaning them and putting the back on - not really a build). Any comments or tips would be helpful. I know I need them.

A few things have changed since I received this through ebay. The rear rim was bent. The LBS said it couldn't be saved. The rear hub was 120 mm, but when I measured the rear spacing on the frame it was 124 mm. I thought I wanted to change to 700c wheels from 27" anyway. I had a Campy wheelset from a Trek 700 (too big) that I used. The 710 had short reach Suntour Superbe brakes. The rear reached, but the front did not. That same Trek 700 that donated the wheel set also had a set of long reach Suntour Superbe calipers. I retained the short reach at the rear and the used the long reach on the front (I have another frame that is the exact opposite - long in the rear and short in the front. I got two working sets out of these brakes). So, the 710 has gone from a 27", 120 mm, 5-speed to a 700c, 126 mm, 6-speed. I still have the Phil Wood hubs. I would have liked to keep them with the bike. With 124 mm rear spacing, it would seem to make more sense to go 126 mm than 120 mm?

New cables, housing and bar tape have been added. The cables are installed, but not yet adjusted. This was also my first time taping the bars. I had to unwrap it a couple times. I would say the result is somewhat serviceable, but it could be a lot better. Maybe I'll try re-wrapping them again, but I was ready to move on. I installed new hoods. It took me waaay too long and a youtube search to figure out how to install them. I used rubbing alcohol to lubricate them enough to get over the brakes. That was a hour or so of learning. I could not get the hoods over the brakes without the alcohol.

Here it is so far.

Very nice, I would have never come up with that blue btw but it looks great

Looks great so far.

So glad you kept the t a crank. I have one and a vo knockoff as well. You can go triple but I usually go wide double with them. 26 for your small makes it so you can have a relatively tight cassette/freewheel and still have a great climbing gear. You make me want to revisit 1980.

Sounds like some limit screws need adjusting?

For a slow shift to the smallest cog, I would think that a half turn (or more) of the barrel adjuster would fix that, if it has one. The rubbing problem is probably the high limit screw, as mentioned. When in the small chain ring though, you will (as far as I know) have to trim the front derailer a bit if you're shifting into the smaller cogs.

Edit: Actually, scratch the whole barrel adjuster thing, that's more for indexing. It's probably just the high limit screws on both the rear and front derailers.

The high limit screw is adjusted as much as possible. Any further movement out and the chain jumps off the big ring. There is still chain rub when in the big ring and the two smallest cogs. Could the FD be bent? Is there something else I should check?