First Jeep project 1946 CJ2A Father and sons

New member here. Just picked up a 1946 CJ2A this past Sunday. I came looking on here that evening for a tub and had a response within 12hrs! Very nice person only about an hour and a half away. This is a great forum. I will need some help for sure and this looks like the place to get some help.

So I struck a deal with a fella a few hours away - we connected through craigslist. The pics look like someone started rebuilding the tub but they did not really follow the old parts - the seller cautioned me that the tub may be unusable due to the way it had been worked on. It was in a school for a year or so and the students learned metal techniques on it - more about process than perfect parts. They learned to braze, weld, ect on it. Buy the sellers description if the students part was close they beat it in and moved on. He did let the students get the engine running, they changed the oil, installed a new oil filter, installed a new gas tank, along with a electric fuel pump. The teacher then drove it out into the lot just after the students confirmed the trans would shift and the clutch seemed to work. Then they moved on to body work. It did not get finished.

Then the teacher retired and took his jeep back home with him. It was moved into a barn and has sat there since - roughly 2 years. 

We picked it up on Sunday. Got home - it was cold - and we worked to get it in the garage. That was enough cold fun for one day.

Next night I placed a battery on a charger, removed the spark plugs, sprayed some deep creep penetrating oil in each cylinder and reinstalled the plugs. 

Tonight, even though the boys were both under the weather we snuck out and proceeded to turn the engine over with a breaker bar, then we hooked up the battery, shot some starting fluid in the carb and putt putt putt - she talked to us! 

We will most likely be replacing the existing tub with one that needs some patch work. 

The oil on the dip stick is clean - like new clean - however when I opened the oil filter housing and dropped the washer in the housing - i came back up with black gunk. 

I suppose the next step will be to drain the oil, drop the pan, clean out the bottom of the pan, clean out the sump on the oil filter and refill with clean oil. 

Then we will acquire tubes or some kind of tires for the front and probably also attempt to move it out of the garage and back in. From there we will decide which way we head. I am leaning towards body removal so we can attack the frame and drive line - the boys may have a different plan - they are excited about welding so we may work on the replacement tub next. The concept of this project for me is to get them away from the brain melting video games, spend some great time together, mom has stated that she used to help her grandpa and can turn a wrench too! Hands on experience with tools and the like will be good for them. I am looking forward to greasy hand prints on the walls and tools I cant find (I kind of have both problems already but up until now I could not really blame them!) 

So thats it - wish us luck

Keep us posted please - and we'll share Q & A

Jim