Welcome!! You have a cool old truck. Some of your plans/dreams for it may offend some of the purist among us, but its your truck! Pay them no attention. Enjoy it. Our own Grigg is doing a major re-construction of a 48 Chevy 2-ton, diesel and all. Anything that keeps or gets it on the road is good!
By the way, the engine is a 54 or later 235 full-pressure I would say from the photos and not the original 216... that's a plus if you decide to keep it as-is.
Whatever - have fun Safely!
