a th350 would be a good choice as far as prices and builibility go. the three speed is definetly killing your gas mileage. you may wanna hold onto that 3spd so if you ever wanna go to an all drag setup it'll probably do you well. a B&M or Level 10 tranny would be a good choice. if you have the money, get an allison unit. As far as parts like reuter and blasphemous stated, check out what good cam, stall, gear and tire combo's work well and then do it. we sell traction bars @ autozone for like $50. install is like $20-30 bucks. good luck with the truck, i wanted to do something like that with my old 84, but got my SHO instead.