He has a 5-spd not an auto and he's looking for engine mods. The cam,springs,tune sounds good.

 

NOS you can get a nice system for 800-1000

 

1) Diablo programmer, underdrive pullleys and a mini-spool. That's all you'll need for a very noticeable difference. LS6 cam if you feel froggy and are engine oriented.
2) Not faster than a 5.3 with an automatic. 9 times out of 10 an auto is faster to shift than the human hand. Especially in the 1/8th because of the stupid low first in the 4L60E.

 

Ok, it shouldn't be faster, but there was one at the track just like mine that actually pulled a 10.3 also. I didn't know if this was true for all of them or if this one was just weak. So the best bet is a tune, who's got the best one??

 

Your 4.8 with a manual will be faster than a stock tune 5.3 since you can shift it higher but a nelson tune will help greatly after cam swap the man knows his stuff and really got my truck running good. You definately need a mposi that right there will drop you a couple of tenths since you spun so much. Get the cam springs and pushrods so you can shift it in the mid 6000s. The stock pushrods get kind of weak after 6000 and you take the chance of floating the valves and that is not good. E-fans are not hard to install. They will increase your gas mileage and give you 5-10 hp. The flex-a-lite 292's are the ones that fit our trucks and they run about 300 bucks I beleive. Nelson can tune the fans to turn on whenever you want them to and you can buy his harness for 80 bucks i beleive that will control them. I would do that if I were you. Dont get a spool you will not like the way it drives on the street your turning radius will suck and the tires will squal when going throught turns. If you are that worried about gas mileage dont do the gears. You probably have 3.42's I would go to 3.73's with oem gears if you did do the gear option. Get a nelson tune do the cam springs and pushrods and get the fans you will drop a second atleast with those and a posi.