New to Pot Bellies

i decided to get rid of the leader coal stove that was in my garage when I bought the house, I could never get it to burn right and its way too big. I picked up this new north pot belly for 20 bucks. Its in pretty bad shape but its just going in my garage. Besides the big cracks in the belly, there are alot of gaps and openings into the ash area. It has a damper on the ash door which seems useless because of all the other openings. should I take this thing to the scrap yard....I was going to tie this into the existing homemade chimney but to do so I would have to put a 90 right out of the top of the stove with about a 3 foot horizontal run, is this going to draft ok

I don't know much about the pot belly stoves but it seems like most pics ive seen are sealed units with no openings except the dampers. I think im going to have trouble controlling the burn with this one and worried it will be smoky. any input would be great

That thing in the center two pictures makes a great wood stove

ive tried burning just wood in it, it throws alot of heat but uses way too much wood

but everybody tells me


"Wood is Free!"

i'll have to keep an eye out for the free wood lol.....just the gas to split the stuff costs 50 per log lol