It can be run on stock converter. I ran mine on a stock 4L60e and converter when I had it. Took a little finesse on the tune to make it right, but it's do-able.

 

Do not waste your money on shorty headers, yes they do give you more power than the stock manifolds, but nothing like long tubes. The down side to long tubes is you will need a custom tune to get max efficiency/power out of them. To save some money in the long run I would do the cam/header swap at the same time so you have to pay for only one tune. Run 91-93 octane fuel in order for the tuner to pull more hp out of advancing the timing.

The cams people have listed are great cams for a dd stock drive train. In my cig you can see my upgrades with a cam that is similar to the ones people are mentioning. I chose the 116Lsa for fuel economy and sleeper effect. But vinci cams makes a 210/218 .551/.551 on 112 lsa as well. I think comps 212/218 on 114 lsa is a great cam, but the vinci offers a little more power and fuel millage.

Depending on the millage of the motor 100K+ wouldn't be a bad idea to put new lifters/trays and timing chain for insurance.

I bought a set of stock 862 heads and had them milled .03 and new dual springs installed to make the swap easier/faster.

Just some things to think about good luck.

 

the comp 216/220 on 114lsa sounds dirty and runs like a champion.

To make it sound mean I would have a cut-out they are dirty.
Here's a 4.8 with the 216/220 cam with muffler and cut-out rev
It will run fine with the stock stall, would run better with a 3000, but then again so would the stock cam haha

silverado with aerochamber muffler - YouTube

 

anybody tried the 216/220 with a 5 speed?

i've been considering this one but wanna see other experiences before trying it with 33" tires. i already know i need to swap my 3.73s for 4.10s now, so that will eventually come in time