I'll take a bit of a contrarian position and get on Carl's bandwagon and say I'd pretty much leave it alone. It looks just about perfect to me. It's supposed to sound like it does. That said, the engine noise isn't due to bad stuff, it due to the mechanical fan (and lack of sound damping insulation).
Temporarily add a tachometer, see how fast you're going at say 2600 rpm. My bet is it'll be an acceptable speed for the steering and brakes but will sound like you're going much faster. That's something you can learn to live with, it's just the nature of the beast (confession, before I quieted my '51 down, I'd slip in a set of earplugs when making longish drives).
If, the need for speed becomes too great, look into changing the transmission to one with overdrive. Lots of options to consider. In the USA the Borg Warner/Tremec T5 (5 speed) found in '80s/90's Chevrolet S10 trucks is the transmission of choice. That transmission was used in many other vehicles and when you look at the world market there might be one in your vicinity. It'd likely require a adapter and quite a bit of research and conversation but "may" be a viable option.
When I changed my '51s transmission out to a T5, I bought a correct looking shifter (actually was from a Ford Model A) at a car show/swap meet and after tweaking it slightly, welded it to the T5 shifter stub. I've never shared this info before and it's never been mentioned by judges at any car show including concours type shows. A lot of old timers who drove these trucks new haven't noticed this major, yet near invisible change.
Again, NICE truck!
RonR
