Yep, I've been in your position too with previous RV's, and the folks who bought them after me got better deals than I did, meaning when I sold them they were solid and fully functional. I too enjoy the projects in a weird way, and my current 1990 Vacationeer is screaming for a roof tear off and cabover rebuild at this point. I know I'm sleeping with mold and rot under me every time I go out.
I had to have the cooling unit rebuilt on my fridge. The fridge in my camper would not fit out any opening in the camper (unlike yours now) so the only option for me was to seperate the cooling unit from the back of the fridge box inside the camper and then have it rebuilt. The inside of the fridge was in real good shape. I wanted my fridge to run on gas so it was important to me and worth the $600 to have it rebuilt and function as new again.
All the best with your project, I'm subscribing to your thread. Hans