First 66 truck, need a little advice..

[JesseSimon]

Guys I picked up an awesome 66 longbed last week in a trade. I've been working on a 69 pickup for a few months now but this came along and I had to jump on it. I was told it is numbers matching, original but I haven't verified that. I'll post pics as soon as I get a chance.

My questions are as follows:

How do you guys feel about the 283 motor? I want to get some balls out of this truck but if it isn't broke I dont want to try to fix it. In other words how much power can you expect from a 283 after a fresh rebuild and maybe a few upgrades? Can it hang with a 350 in terms of performance?

Additionally, the trans has some issues. It will go reverse all day long but I won't go forward. It is a 2 speed powerglide. I have bought a "high performance" rebuild kit to install in it and assume it will be fine once thats done. Are these transmission any good? My experience is all with TH400 and 700R4 transmissions....how does the powerglide perform?

Thanks for your input