I'm new to the mini truck game but i have a 1983 truck. already pulled the engine and bought a 350 sbc with a th400. plans for the truck are to have 350 in the from as far back in the engine bay as i can. cage and rear mount radiator with a 15-20 gal rear fuel tank. ford 9" or 8.8 narrowed to fi the truck. 295-305 tires in the rear and at least 255 in the front. trying to run 17"-18" rims. i have an idea about getting around the handling characteristics in the rear of the truck but i was wondering if anyone has done anything to the front that would favor weight and handling. again its for auto crossing so handling means more than power for me. but i expect to push 400hp out of the 350 when its done being built.

 

don't those Chevys have the distributor on the rear of the block? Seems like being right up against the firewall will provide it's own challenges.

That aside, you're going to want to upgrade the front torsion bar springs. Sway a Way re-released the 1626 torsion bar upgrades recently, so that would be adviseable. Much stiffer than stock. Upgrade the shocks if you're still running stockers.

In the rear, you're going to need some weight, for balance. Something like 2-300 lbs is probably adviseable to keep the ass from swinging around. It could be higher, probably not lower. Test with sandbags and some kind of netting to keep them in place, and once you arrive at the happy number, have some thick steel plates that weigh equivalently bolted back there to the frame, underneath in place of the spare tire that's probably rotted, for lower center of gravity. You could also move the gas tank to the back, but make sure it's baffled or the fuel slosh will fuck up cornering.

Sway bars are highly adviseable. Getting fronts is harder than rears, but as long as you do your research, you should be fine. Supposedly the Toyota RVs are a great source for these, though I've seen some aftermarket options as well..

The SBC will probably lower the front end, so depending on stance and rake of truck, the Belltech lowering leafs might be worth picking up to level your truck out. My '82 dropped about 3" in the back with them, which leveled it out rather nicely (until I felt it wasn't low enough and did more stuff). Stiffer than stock, but not ridiculous.

Keep in mind, I'm no expert, just an old AF keyboard warrior with a handful of interesting nuggets. Research will trump anything some old troll will post anyday