An answer seeker and an introduction

[Figuarus]

Hey everyone! I'm Fig, and I come to you from the Mountainous desert of Utah.

It's my understanding that your guys have lots of information that will help me keep my old girl on the road.

I do want to try to get a few things taken care of here pretty quickly before the snow flies.

I realize this is a pretty tired subject, but I need to confirm for myself what parts I will need exactly, and what I'm looking at cost wise to get some upgrades done.

That being said, The three most pressing items are heat, brakes, and transmission

As far as heat is concerned...

I just recently picked up a Harrison radiator out of a 66 C20, and installed a 195 degree thermostat. The truck definitely runs hotter now, but I am seeing a significant drop in temperature when I open up the heater flap (I have the thrift air option) The temp to the floor never really seems all that hot. It's definitely warm, just not as hot as i'd like.

Also, with the box closed, and the fan off, the temp is running hotter than half on the gauge.

Brakes: I'm deciding on this one...

I picked up my truck from my sister in Los Angeles a few months ago. The brakes work great, no issues, but I want to upgrade them as stopping with drums while on the highway is really sketchy.

From what reading I've done, the most inexpensive way to do this is the following: Swap spindle, ball joints, calipers, rotors, brake hoses, steering linkage, steering gear brake master and booster from a 73-87 2wd truck. In doing so, I will need to get larger wheels since the 15" wheels will not work with my setup. Is this correct?

regarding transmissions, I want to look at a few options. This truck had the 4 spd SM465 originally, but my brother and I swapped in a Th400 out of my father's Monte Carlo. At the moment, the trans drives and shifts just fine, but I want to look at a better option for highway driving, since most of the roads here tend to be longer highways with fewer stoplights (compared to Los Angeles) I was thinking about going to an NV3500 from my S10, but it's a 4wd version. I am also thinking about the 700R4, but am confused about needing a trans computer, and other items. If I look at any other newer transmissions (5 or 6 speed auto) I'll be opening a whole other can of worms.

I do plan on using my truck, so I need a good option for both being able to tow and haul a load of cargo, without being too much on the truck.

Any trans option will be mating to a 283 with camelback heads and a quadrajet.

thanks for the help and info guys!