2000 Chevy 3500 454 essential mods?

[nikwho]

Hey guys, I am new to this section, as I am typically in the '47-'59 or '67-'72 sections. Anyhow, I am looking at buying a super clean 2000 C3500 dually. It is a factory short bed crew cab dually. It's mechanically stock, with 8,000 miles on rebuilt engine and 4l80e transmission. I won't be towing anything super heavy. Mostly just my '59 or old Land Cruiser on a car hauler, perhaps would look at a 24-25' toy hauler in the future. I would plan on adding an aftermarket transmission cooler. I would like to add a performance exhaust and considering other mild performance mods. What have you guys done that have yielded good results? Tuner? Camshaft swap? Intake or injector work? I'd be up for a couple of grand worth of parts. Just thinking that there may be relatively inexpensive modifications to uncork that big block, that could help performance a bit.

Thanks for any tips,
Nik