Welp, I've come to a "fork in the road"...or as I'm more affectionately going to call it: a "F&&K-in-the-road"
GOOD NEWS: I've been doing a lot of researching online, and car-part.com: The solution is to put the two-piece driveshaft from an F-250 into my truck! BAD NEWS: The only cost-effective way of doing that is through used/JY parts, which still will cost me at least a couple hundred dollhairs in the end.
SooooooOOOOOOOOOOOO...I've come to the conclusion that the T18 is a little more trouble than it's worth for now. I don't want to piddle about for the next month trying to jury rig a driveshaft. No doubt the T18 is a beefy unit, but it's not worth driving 150+ miles to get used parts. Honestly, my gut feels good on this one. CR, do I...
1) Continue moving forward with the T18 - It's worth another month or so off-the-road to try and find the pieces/$$$$$ to make a driveshaft work.
2) Swap in the stock 3spd for now - Cheap, Easy, Drivable by the weekend! Not the best tranny, but it'll do for now.
3) Try to sell the T18 (and 3spd) for a 4spd SROD - bolt-in for crossmember, driveshaft, get's an OD gear for the highway (though with a 2.47 rear gear I'm not too worried about final drive ratios). Plus, I can still swap in the 3speed for now while I search for a 4speed: the truck stays drivable!
PLEASE KEEP IN MIND: This Cleetus will be a light-duty hauler. No towing, or if so it'll be less than a ton. It's more of a cruiser. I'm trying to - aside from the engine rebuild - stick in a budget...