Hound+Walt beat me to the punch on this one... I too suggest driving it. This comes a little more from the classics crowd (I have a 1948 F-1), there are a TON of people with torn apart basket cases that are years from getting back on the road among those guys... the best advice to anyone "new" car or old, is : If you can drive it as it is today, drive it, get used to it, learn it, learn what it loves, learn what it hates, learn what you like about it and learn what you hate about it. Once you figure out you want to make changes, figure out how to do those very incrementally, don't pull the engine trans, and axle all at once to fix some gear ratio issues you hate... swap axles one weekend and see if that does get you closer, swap transmissions a month or two later when you are dead sure you still want to get the gearing of xyz trans and so on... keep it on the road as much as possible. You will enjoy your time behind the wheel more if you don't walk past it week after week going "damn project".