Hellraiser---It sounds to me like you are trying to go 47 different directions at once. Slow down. You are young--the cars will still be around when you are 5 years older, with hopefully a good education, some wage earning capability, and a bit of wisdom that comes with age. I recomend that you listen to your dad, put the 48 on the back burner for now, concentrate your resources on one thing at a time. Fix up the truck to be dependable transportation, and when that is looked after properly and completely, move on to the next thing. As far as brakes are concerned, you should have no problems running Camaro front brakes with Ford rear brakes, either discs or drums. Do some proper research on this---there are literally thousands of rod magazine articles available to tell you what you need in terms of proportioning valves, residual pressure valves etcetera. Any reputable supplier who sells aftermarket hotrod brake parts will have tons of information on this. The subject is simply too broad to be covered in a discussion forum. My thoughts on rearends is this---if you cut one down, it costs a pile of money, your parts become special parts, so that if you ever break down a long way from home, your screwed, and with the hundreds of good rearends available in wrecking yards that will come close to matching the width of your stocker, why bother. You know Hellraiser, with enough time and money, anyone can do anything, but to do something difficult, expensive, and unneccesery is just plain dumb. All of us old time rodders who have built a number of cars, and actually finished them and drove them, know that "if it aint broke don't fix it", and don't go out of your way to make work and trouble for yourself.There, thats all the advice I can manage for one day.