Starting over... a question.

[kwin]

So I recently lost my 1990 1/2 ton crew cab short box in a major fire , along with it went my 5.3 harness, motor mounts and everything else. Bad year!
The truck was days away from driving with the small block when the fire hit.

So new year time to start anew!

I just made a deal on a nice rust free 1991 suburban, I plan to lower it a little custom wheels interior and a ls.

So here is the question, the truck currently has a rebuilt 700r4 , I keep seeing a lot of questions about the tv cable, is there a gm 5 speed or 6 speed that would do well behind a healthy ls?
I am not huge fan of automatic transmissions and finding a 406le 2wd up here is not easy.
SO is there a manual option that is some what robust and reasonably affordable.

Thanks to all and Happy New Year

Keith