I hear ya on the cam. It won't be free but pretty cheap. The cheapest LS6 cam I've found locally is $180. This cam I can get for 200$. As for use, it won't be a daily driver. More like a weekend cruiser, short road trips (3 hours) to car shows, maybe a few trips to the track and a whole lot of terrorizing the local import/ricers that drive around annoying the hell out me.
As for the transmission, for the price in going to run it. I just like th idea of being able to shift it when I want, depending on the situation. I've been doing a lot of reading up on it and opinions seem to be split down the middle.....love it or think it's a bad idea/put a manual tranny in like you said. The NV4500 I'm wanting is going to cost me as much as the whole donor Tahoe. That's another grand if have to spend. Here's just one thread on the topic.... There are several
http://ls1tech.com/forums/automatic-...alve-body.html
I'm going to have the local shop go through the tranny and make sure everything is Kosher before I go romping on it. In reality though, as little as I'm going to drive it, I'm not worried about long long term durability.....I may only put another 10,000 miles on it once it's done. If it gives Up the ghost then, I'll either shell out the $2k for a built phoenix tranny or swap in that nv4500. For right now I'm just going to get it on the road with what I've got. Just curious, what do those NV3500s run? I haven't looked. IIRC, they either came stock in some Wranglers or it was a very popular swap into them. I know they were leaps and bounds more reliable than the AX-5 that came behind the 4-banger in my YJ