Yeah, we just rebuilt the gas engine. It was even cracked between cylinders but a little "pinging" and it was all good. Nothing extraordinary needed, but the carb was in horrible shape too. Just pull it apart as far as you can and let is soak in a can of carb cleaner, you'll get all the parts needed to redo it in a good carb kit and they really are easy, but I just find carbs to be simple. Though I would definitely do the water pump and rebuild the distributor. You can convert to 12 volt right away, or keep the 6 volt. I went with the 12 volt simply because it was easy to replace and add lights, battery options are many, and it's easy to convert from points to electronic ignition that way. I liked the points setup so I kept it, though I may go with electronic in the future.
It's been AGES since the overhaul so I don't think I have any pictures of it recently taken. But I will look. At the time we redid it all, we had new paint and graphics. It did look pretty nice. I'll see what I can find.
Though around here, we have a lot of the old Farmalls that have been converted to short block Chevys, so to see something different would be really interesting and a breath of fresh air! I definitely think a diesel is the way to go... If you go with the 4.3, just do yourself a favor and if the head gaskets are questionable, change them right away. Run a while, and retorque the heads. They are by no means as picky as the Olds 5.7 diesel was or as ******* head gaskets, but they can be a great combination since the tractors are designed and built around engines that don't put out gobs of power but still have a great power range. I am pretty cheesed up about a diesel conversion and would love to see it!
