My first 47 Thriftmaster!

[Devs47Chevy]

Hey guys, this is my first post on the forum and I am brand new to the world of old chevy pickups. I have a few cj7's and a 70 plymouth duster 340 but nothing this old!

Here's a little background of the trucks:
My girlfriend sent me a picture from California when she was out there for her clinical for college of an old truck she really likes. That weekend I showed it to my old man who just laughed and said "A buddy of mine just offered me 2 of those but I don't want them! Go tell him you do!"

So off to Tommy's house I went and sure enough there they were! We talked for a bit and he said "Well Devin whenever you want them they are yours to take!" I was ecstatic!





The first one has a 9 foot bed and was driven in there. Just needs a battery and will run and drive. No dents or rot. The seat isnt even ripped!! That's the one I'll be using. Has a few broken windows

The second one is a 5 window truck that has some dents in the bed and is missing the interior with some broken windows. Other then that its all there. I'll probably be selling this one!

So now that there's a little background here are my questoins/thoughts/ and what im gonna do with it:

The 3.5 straight six 216 ci engine still runs and drives. I want to make it reliable for Lisa to just get in and drive it so I'll probably throw a tbi 350/700r4 in it. But does that standard trans in it back then still use the same bell housing pattern as the gen 1 small blocks if I keep it standard?

She really doesn't like the long bed so I'm gonna shorten the bed and frame from 9 feet to about 5 or 6.

How is the braking/steering systems on these old trucks? If I just rebuild the brakes will they be okay? I have a set of 10/12 bolt axles I can throw under it too as an option to have front discs of need be. Or is there a cheapish DIY front disc conversion for that truck? The steering seemed pretty easy to turn with whatever ratio is in the box so that will probably stay.

I know I know I'm sorry that I'm cutting up a pretty much perfect old pickup to make a hotrod-ish rig out of but its what she wants and I have 0 money into them.

Thanks in advance!!