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Wow, thanks for the replies and encouragement. I will ask a couple of questions. Mr. Carpenter, if I understand correctly, you used stock ball joints for a square body in stock '60 to '66 control arms? Both upper and lower '73 to '87 ball joints will fit into my original '66 control arms? Then a '73 to 87 spindle can be used which will give me 5 lug disc rotors? I did not know the ball joints would go into my earlier control arms. I could use the spindles/rotors/calipers/steering/etc. from my donor '87 model. That may be the way to go here because I could replace the ball joints and have new ones and save some time. I want the disc brake and power steering upgrades for sure. That is the main objective at this time.

The carburetor on the original straight six is a minor problem right now. I could find a good used one for parts and fix mine or buy a rebuilt unit. I prefer to do my own carb work and do not like rebuilt ones from the parts house. They sometimes do stupid things to carbs that are difficult to "undo" if you need to. They make you buy another one from them if your rebuilt one needs future repairs. I think I am rambling now.

Mr. Joesscamaro and Mr. Stanger, I appreciate your comments. You both hint to options that I need to consider. I want to get away from the single circuit brake system as that has been a lot of folk's problems in the past. I want the newer, modern and arguably the safer, two circuit brake system with front disc and power assist. If my wife wants to drive it, I feel better knowing it has better brakes. The donor has everything I need to convert the brakes, including vacuum booster, master cylinder, proportioning valve, etc. I just thought I had to change the entire crossmember to achieve this but it now it appears I may not have to.

Mr. Stanger, you have really hit on some very good points. I currently have too many toys that I really don't have time to use. But.... I hope to retire in a few years and then.... well, you get the idea. I kinda know what I want from the truck, a street cruiser with a lopey cam that'll smoke a tire at a stop light. That's pretty much it. I won't drag race it, I have a nova for that. It's strictly drag race only, not street legal. I also have a '96 firebird formula convertible that's all cammed out and wicked sounding that the wife likes to take out on the weekends with the kids and burn up all the gas in it and bring me the keys and ask me to fill it back up... I'm rambling again. It's still got the fuel injection, A/C, all the amenities that she likes including a power convertible top. That's the fun, weekend car to cruise down the beach and intimidate the young guys in their street cars.

The truck is mine. It'll be for me to take to the parts house on Saturday morning, with the window down, my elbow sticking out, cruising down the road with my left turn signal perpetually on. Yep, I'm gonna be "THAT GUY". Just the old dude with his turn signal on. I would like to put a V8 in it that has enough power to do a decent burn out. The 305 will do it and any cam I buy now could be used in a future 350. I pretty much have everything to freshen up the 305 except new, standard piston rings and two head gaskets. Those are cheap enough and will get me some burn out power for now. To be honest though, if that 305 ends up in that truck, it'll probably stay there and no 350 will ever replace it. If anything, I will most probably, eventually LS swap it. I'm a fan of LS stuff and its getting more affordable. It's easy to get some serious horsepower from them and are very reliable.

So good brakes, power steering and some decent horsepower would do for now. Auto trans and A/C would be nice but not necessary. I really don't need a paint job either but I'll probably fix the rust and paint it. That'll be later too, after I get it back on the road. I think I can do these initial upgrades on a pretty reasonable budget too, thanks to the donor square body and 30+ years of collecting chevy parts. I'll try to keep this updated but please offer any comments. They really do help folks like me so I welcome them.