That pretty much reflects my attitude towards some of the guns I accumulate (I look at myself as an accumulator rather than a collector)...Some that I find are in poor or inoperable condition, and restoring them to like new status is either too costly, or just plain impossible...So even though it lowers the monetary value, if I can increase the enjoyment value for myself, I do it...The purists who disagree can stew in their own juices......Ben

 

I do understand you as to why you want to improve the vehicle to a usable status.

With the re-power just take care that you do not subject the stock components that you keep installed to much more torque than the poor 1943 gas engine could ever dream of.
I have seen this a lot over here when folks re-powered the Pinzgauer military light truck.
They dried up the entire supply of axles and transfer cases with the 4l Toyota I6 (turbo)diesel.
This gets expensive and frustrating.

 

She won't see much stress or abuse. Excessive speeds on asphalt can result in tracks catching fire! (i've been told) Brief history tidbit: Post WW2, the Israeli"s acquired several thousand halftracks from USA. The first thing they did was remove the engine and replace with a Detroit Diesel 6 cylinder. The Israeli's retired the half tracks only about ten years ago. I think if the Cummins 5.9 was available back in 1943, they would have used it.

 

I bought the Eaton Fuller manual shift 5 speed transmission, model FS5005A. It was behind a Cummins 5.9 in an old school bus. I heeded your advice and decided against an automatic transmission.

 

It would be great to know what happened with this project.