Originally Posted by turbohunter

I hear you.
I'm not a six cylinder guy so I would go with an eight cylinder unless it is a cherry truck worth keeping as is.
Electronic ignition is a great start.
I'm only familiar with the Pertronix stuff which I have used a couple times.
It works great.
As far as tranny stuff goes. That's a whole world of what ifs. Lots of revs at 60 mph sucks on the road. Local driving not bad.
On alternators I tend to go high output so that I can add on later. That would be the only thing I care about.
Disc brakes are great however I didn't go that way on my truck. I stayed with the drums and added a new master cylinder and power assist for two reasons. The drums work great and stop on a dime plus with all the other work I was doing on my truck I didn't want to spend the money unnecessarily. My truck does have the big drums though so yours is probably different since you have a six.
One more thought. You said you are OK with the armstrong steering. I thought I was too. But after a while it gets a bit tedious, especially in the tiny little parking spaces we have to deal with these days.
Cheers