The 46' that follows me around

Now on to my real "first" jeep. When I was 14 my dad realized I couldn't get my head out of 4WOR and I wanted and old jeep as my first vehicle. I had always been a kid who like to tinker and he didn't have the mechanical ability to teach me. He figured an old hunk of junk I could take apart and learn on would be better than me jacking with my transportation, as we lived out in the country and he needed me to be able to get to school. There was an old jeep buried in brush on a ranch and the owner said i could have it if I could pull it out. We went and pulled it out and up onto an old flatbed trailer. 

It was a 46' that had rusted out floors, toolbox, bed etc. some cancer in the rocker. The go devil was still in place but the head was nowhere to be found and I found the pistons under some leaves. As a 14 year old I was very un aware at the time, but the rest of the jeep has revealed it self to be kinda intact and unique. Column shift, tool indents tell me its one of the earlier 46's from my understanding. Data tags were all in place and I removed them and stored them for safe keeping. The frame seems to have a bunch of factory boxing and strapping and it has an intact PTO. 

Over the past 22 years I have been dragging all the parts around and riding waves of excitement to get it going again, that then crash into all the life stuff we battle. No room but time, no money but time, no time but money. I wish I had never messed with it, but I never did any real irreparable damage. It really was pretty rough rust wise, but no dents. My main regret was a few years ago my body shop buddy talked me into cutting out the rust and sandblasting the tub. My dad had thrown ospho(?) on it when we got it to kill the rust or something so it didn't have the best patina. My plan was to paint it red, but now I wish I had left it alone. Oh well, that lesson has taught me to approach this thing with a lot of care and practice self discipline. I get all the crazy ideas following threads on pirate and such and then in my head I'm like "thats not a flatty anymore, so why start with one, much less one that is kinda rare?" So now when I get ideas about 1 tons and stuff like that, I can push those urges on the YJ.

Parts I have gathered:

46 CJ2a w/ basically no motor

kubota v2203 idi

Rolled 1973 CJ5 parts vehicle (t18 but not the granny, 258 inline, manual saginaw steering, dana 30 etc)

Freshly rebuilt SM420

Factory CJ7 smooth steel wheels

What I want out of the Jeep:

A trail built flatty, that is still very much a flattie. Not a restoration by any means but true to the character of an old jeep. Id like to be able to flat tow it. Give me some more room as I am 6'1". Tires size 33x10.5 most likely. Id like to not trim sheetmetal. I always wanted it to be red, but it was a tan stocker so I think I'll probably go with that. I would like to retain the PTO if I can figure out a way to recess it a bit or some protection to not beat it up on the trail coming off a ledge. Kubota v2203 w/ turbo for power plant. I think the Kubota guys have proved this is a great, economical and reliable way to repower flatfenders and retain a lot of the character. Also the fuel mileage will help me keep an underseat tank but still be practical for west Texas where my wife and I camp a lot. Long distances between fuel stops. the I really am at a crossroads concerning the column sh*t. So much of me wants to keep it, but I really think the granny in the SM420 will be a much better choice for the kinda wheeling the jeep will see. I have thought about trying to fix a linkage that would shift a warn overdrive and put that on the column. That might achieve a balance of factory character with practical usage for my application. A v drive belt pullet one the PTO output to run a York. Then I would have a reason for keeping the PTO. A vacuum pump off a powerstroke to supply vaccum for an original style wiper...

Just wanted to get to know everyone and share a bit about my jeep. I am very open to any ideas or criticism that folks have as I do kinda see myself as a keeper of something special and feel a bit of responsibility. I also know, that at the end of the day if I dont build it into something me and my family use it will forever just be a pile of parts. It fell into my lap, and at one time I would have been all about cutting it up and building a buggy, but luckily I never had the means to when the inclination struck. As I have been wheeling more and more, and buying every issue of FAM Im just in love with that style of wheeling. Seeing some of the innovation you guys are doing on these old jeep is so much more fun to me than and the fancy and expensive cutting edge stuff I see at my local off road parks. Anyways, this jeep is pretty special to me as I have been dragging it around forever and at this point I know it'll always be around so I might as wel take the relationship to the next level.