Okay, just to be clear, you can remove the hoses to clean them without separating the cans, no need to soak the whole reg in bleach. In fact, if you have not done that, I'd do it right away so you can get a sense of the state of the duckbill.
Out of curiosity, you said there's a odd smell/taste in the hoses. Have you hooked it up to a tank and breathed through it? How is it? One other question, do you have a hookah port on it? If so, there's a simple adapter that turns that into a LP port. Actually, I forgot to add that part to my list of stuff I bought just to get the reg going. I needed it so I could check the IP. If yours has the adapter already, you can just put a LP inflator hose on it and clip an IP gauge in. That will tell you alot about the condition of the reg.
Since you're getting the phoenix upgrade, it almost doesn't matter and I wouldn't spend money on the hookah port adapter, unless you think you want to dive it stock someday. The great thing about the phoenix is that it solves many problems; SPG connection, alternate 2nd and LP inflator, and it balances the 1st stage which will almost certainly let you tune the reg better. I'm sure you already know all about this or you wouldn't be spending the money on it.
Having said that, I'm diving mine stock for a while. I want to get a feel for the vintage reg as it was built (sort of) and I was actually really pleased with the way it breathed after I finished the rebuild. I even just bought a LP72 to dive it with, and someone sent me an old, extremely grungy plastic BP and horsecollar. That horsecollar will never see water again unless it rains at the dump, but I'll use the backpack.
