I did a late 80's firebird. As others said, lots of options this way. I retained factory leafs, welded on a set of spring pads for a trailer axle (same leaf width) made a set of lowering blocks, and then a set of lower plates to hold it all together. I had a tremec t5 behind my 235, used an astro van driveshaft and a crossover u-joint. Easy peasy. Also did a disc brake conversion for the front, GM A body brakes and calipers. Corvette dual master, 9" power booster, all went under the floorboards. Retained the factory pedals, stomp starter, etc. Even welded factory shifter from an old 3 speed on to the s10 top loader handle. With the t5, 2.73gears and posi, I was able to leave first and spin the 18" wheels completely into second and still be making power. Freeway speeds were great 65mph @ 2300RPM in 5th. Sold that setup and doing an s10 frame swap. Take a look at my journal in my sig, may have to hunt around (using the numbers on the top and bottom) but you will find it. Works out really slick.
