Cool, about the Ford Cobras.
For the Chevy pickup truck, just know those suspensions/steering are from the early sixties and are some clunky stuff. You'd do better with an '88-up, but if you've got the truck and you're a student anyhow, what's it matter...
The drop spindles are good, then cut the springs so the lower a-arms are about level with the ground (just un-clamp the a-arm inner pivot bars to drop them and pull the springs out). Swaybars are going to be vital, as a practical rule find the biggest front one you can find (maybe a stocker from a heavier truck) then "tune" with the rear, finding junkyard stuff you can adapt in and change until you get neutral handling (front and rear let go at the same time) or whatever it is you prefer. You may need no rear bar at all with your leaf springs and light tail. If it wallows around much, get shocks from a 3/4- or 1-ton at the wrecking yard. There, you've just spent $100 (if that) and you're off to a start. Now have the fattest tires you can pony up for, at least P265-60R15s on 8" wheels. Finally, take it out to a parking lot and drive it like a crazy man, with somebody taking video. When you watch it later, see if the front tires are leaning out too much? (You may need to give in some negative camber or lower it a little more just for the sake of the geometry.) Or anything more. In the pre-video stone age I used to have friends drive by me in my own car so I could watch and see what it was doing.
Turbo motor? Nnnnn... I wouldn't get too far ahead of myself. A season actually out there with everybody, and you'll be in a better position to judge what you need, or just want.
With that, go out and get a good chassis book and learn the basics because it sounds like you're going to need them for this and school. When I was a kid I had a '67 327 Nova which was possibly one of the worst handling cars on the planet. As a solution I bought a book How to Make Your Car Handle by a guy named Fred Puhn, couldn't figure any of it out and none of it seemed to have practical application for me, but it still sounded better than all the bizarre-*$$ advice I was getting. Two years later I knew that book by heart, understood the principals and had one of the faster cars on L.A.'s Mulholland drive (no it was not the Nova). Good handling cars became an endless source of pleasure for me and 30+ years on I still really enjoy the handling (and fabrication) aspects of cars more than any other thing such as engines, and it started with going directly to an expert who took the trouble to accurately lay out the basics for guys like me, I hope he made some good money off it.