I am not sure where to go with my 1960 CJ5

[klx300a6]

I have a 1960 willy's CJ5. It's been in the family for 40+years. I have been torn on what todo. A couple of years ago I tried to get it running again, I replaced the carb, plugs, valve clearance, and checked compression. I believe there was a little difference between the cylinders. The problem is I could never get it to run quite right. It would be hard to start, wouldn't want to idle, or other times it would idle but wouldn't rev up. I am torn right now. One part wants to keep original, another part wants to put a 4.3 chevy v6, and another part wants to convert to diesel.
Another issue I had was the heater box, under the dash, finally rotted loose. Haven't found a replacement kit for that.
The front passenger tire locks ups. Jack it up and it rotates freely, pull it from one place to another and it drags the front wheel.
The thing that makes it tough, is a person wants to make it useable, I don't have the place or money for a collectors item, that's why I keep on thinking diesel or v6 conversion.
Any thought's or suggestions??
Thanks.

[redneckjunkyard]

I might not be much help here, but I'll throw in my (humble) opinion. I just posted my first question as well, I'm in a similar situation. I have a 53 pickup that is all original. I have opted to keep it original until I am compelled to modify it. So far everyone says it's worth more to potential buyers if it's original. I also don't have the proper space, money or time to really fix it up right. So I'm not going to waste any resources with a half-hearted modification. If it turns out that no one is really interested in buying it, or if I decide the money is not right and I just want to keep a toy, then I'll go all-out on mods. After the kids the are out of the house in several years, I'll have more of everything, at least I hope. At that point I would do a 4.3L v6, probably fuel injected, lift kit with big tires, dual exhaust, as much as I could afford. Basically, like me, you need to figure out if you want keep it, if you can afford to keep it, and if it's worth fighting the 'old car' gremlins or not. I have found several old timers with knowledge of these old engines that can tinker on them for little money. Just need to shop around. good luck.