A little help please?

[RonWT]

We have a 1969 CST10 that is equipped with a automatic transmission, no power steering, no power brakes and no AC. The pickup is a Gem and I want to add all of the things listed. For the folks who have gone down these paths, I have a few questions??

1) When i go with an option for adding power steering and brakes, disks on front, factory drums on the back. Do I need to worry about adding AC later on? or should I plan on it being a part of the conversions at the same time as steering and brakes?

2) Should I go with a vacume booster set up or a Hydrovac that is powered by the power steering pump?

3) on the rotors when being installed on the fronts will I be able to run 15" wheels or are the kits out there bigger in diameter and will require bigger wheels?

Thanks for any help offered or advise.

RonWT

[kwmech]

Easiest thing is to go with factory designed parts. Don't have to go with AC at the same time, but locating the complete pulley system will help down the road. I'd stick with the vacuum booster. Keep it simple. Going to AC down the road will be a little bit of a challenge as the firewall is different. A lot of this info is already on this site as there a a bunch of guys that have done the conversions on stripped down trucks. Pick one at a time and work it that way

[NGN]

This is all me, just my opinion my skills. Adding PDB and PS to me are the easier of the three, A/C for me to try myself will be my challenge one day but most likely I'll have that done by a shop. Are you keeping it six lug or changing too five lug on all four. I by luck found a 72 donor truck, with all the parts to make most all my swaps too my 67 and that was great for me at the time, five lug gave you more options for different wheel styles not sure now days how much that changed for more option styles six lug these days. If I knew then I would of like the six lug truck rallies and or ten inch deep steelies I would of just keep it all four six lug and got the six lug disk conversion kit up front and with that I believe you can keep most if not all of your front suspension 69 stock, besides brake lines. I have five lug Chevy truck rallies wheels (73-87 style) my son has the six lug rallies. While they both look great on our trucks, I tell my son how much better I like his wheels. Side by side my wheel look tuxedo jacket while his look leather jacket. I write back my opinion with P/S its really not hard, one thing when you get the pullies for P/S might as well get A/C pulley ready set up for that one day. Got to go the kids waiting, cars shows.
NGN
Nick

[truckster]

As KW mentioned; factory parts for PS and PB. You might want to consider aftermarket AC, as you would need to cut and weld your firewall to install the factory unit. I don't think your dash has the center vent, either, so you would need to cut that, too.

[dmjlambert]

I recommend pick one thing at a time and tackle it, so you don't have a lot of down time for your truck. But that is just the way I approach things and I want to keep my daily driver driving. For me the priority was A/C, then brakes.

My journey on A/C was a little different because I had an A/C cab with non-working A/C, but I think you will find information here on the forum useful, such as my thread on the subject. On yours you will need to add some cab cuts on the firewall and dash and you can search here on the forum for information on that. I included one link below. I recommend a factory A/C setup, and in your case you would probably need to go to a parts swap and/or post a want-to-buy ad here on the forum to get the parts that are not reproduced, and get them in restorable condition and work on them. In the case of A/C that would be the evaporator housing that goes in the engine compartment, and the heater core housing that goes in the cab. It is also possible to use a conversion kit for non-A/C trucks from manufacturer's like Vintage Air, but in my case I did not consider it because all kit-type add-on A/Cs end up with pretty much no useful glove box, and having a spacious factory glove box was a priority for me. And I wanted to keep the factory look.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ad.php?t=78378

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=790246

For brakes you will need to have some conversion parts, but not many. If you go with 5 lug, the only conversion part you will need is rear axle shafts. If you go with 6 lugs you leave the differential alone and just need conversion front rotors.

I recommend 5 lug, because 5 lug wheels are more commonly available and you won't have to search for more expensive 6-lug disc compatible wheels. Factory steel 6-lug wheels for 67-70 having the 3 hubcap nubs will not work with the disc brakes, you would need to search for 4x4 later model 6-lug wheels with 4 hubcap nubs. Factory steel 5-lug wheels from 71+ will work and so will the 2 wheel drive later model wheels such as rally wheels.

I recommend manual disc brakes, in my opinion there is just no need for a booster on a 1/2 ton truck. I have been watching this forum for a long while and there sure are a lot of posts from people having trouble with their power brakes, and not many problems that I can find with manual brakes. Plus the feel of manual brakes is just superior.

Here is my journey. In this thread there are interesting tidbits of lesser-known information, such as discussion of conversion-type brake hoses vs. putting hard lines in the 71-72 position (thanks and using regular hoses, and if you buy new conversion spindles for 69 they will use your 69 steering center link, while if you use 71-72 spindles you will need to use a conversion tie rod pieces or use a 71-72 center link. I opted for 71-72 spindles, center link, and tie rods. Also manual brake tidbits are in there and that stuff is lesser known because the C-10 world is crazy about power brakes and also crazy about using whatever fits for a master cylinder and proportioning valve instead of GM-engineered parts. I'm a rebel I guess for sticking with (what I consider) a properly engineered system. There's a lot of great expertise on this forum, thanks to all and especially to pjmoreland, Accelo, lolife99, 54blackhornet. MikeB, HO455.

https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=824884

I recommend searching the forum and gather information, and ask plenty of questions here.