Jmantx's Square Body Build

[Jmantx]

I've been a long time lurker who hardly posts on this forum, but I figured I'd start a build thread. I'm a 19 year old guy with a pretty good job, but if rather build something than buy something, so I do all my own work on my cars. Several months ago I purchased a 1985 C10 Silverado in pretty nice shape. It's an original 305 sbc long bed fleetside truck. The goal is to make it fast in a budget minded manner. To kick things off, I picked up an lq4 for a steal. They original plan was to start with heads and a cam, then go fi later. I started tear down, and guess what I found:
Apparently piston 8 decided to quit. It's ok though, as my cost to build the short block will be less than most stock short blocks in my area. I'm going to be building this all myself, with the exception of machine work. Suspension wise, I'll be starting with an axle flip, c notch, drop spindles and springs, shocks, and sway bars. Eventually I would like to change to a 4 link rear end and a front end with better geometry, but I figured this is a start that will get me moving. I will be converting it to a short bed.

Build requirements:
This truck has to stay street legal. It also needs to be able to do truck things, as I'm planning to build a house in a few years. AC is also a requirement, as I live in south Texas, and average summer temperatures are around 100f. I don't expect it to be faster than modern performance cars, but I do want it to be decently fast.