Holy smokes.... Are you going to try and extract that out of the 360?? Probably wanna consider a stroker motor... bump it up to 408, or even 426 cubes. (as large as you can go before it starts getting truly stupidly expensive..... but, even so, still lookin' at several thousand dollars, just for the short block.)

Independent suspension? Just in front? Or both ends? That's gonna be fun starting out with solid axles. If that's the route you wanna take, you would be much better off starting out with a 2wd truck...... just make this one into a bulletproof off-roader.

 

I have a line on a 493ci crate motor that's been sitting in an old man's garage intended for his drag car but never followed through with. so if I can wheel and deal him a bit I may be going 2 wheel anyway. but until such time I want to build my 360 ( a little ) I really am just building a shiny turd presently the true path of this truck can't truly take place until I move back to Arizona

 

Fix the plenum.
Quality high flow air filter.
Replace timing chain and gears. (good double roller timing set please.)
Harland Sharp 1.7 Ratio roller rockers.
Shorty headers, and a good free flowing exhaust system.
A tuner.

That will give you a nice bump in power, and make the truck fun to drive.

If you can find one, an M1 two barrel would complement the setup quite nicely.

 

by 2 barrel are u saying carb?

 

Nope. The manifold comes in two flavors. Two, or Four barrel. Your throttle body is a 2 barrel, so, to use the 4 barrel manifold, you would need an adapter. With the 2 barrel, ya don't.

 

OK I see. gotcha