Help me spend some money.....

[allthrtl]

I'm sure these questions have been asked many times before, but i haven't found the answers I'm looking for yet...

Santa came early this year, in the form of a $6k Christmas bonus, dam glad my wife didn't quit that job.... Anyway, she has given me the go ahead to make some much needed upgrades to the old truck, unfortunately I don't get the whole amount, but I'm not complaining... Here's exactly were I'm at....



Has new motor, 1000 miles ago....350 4 bolt, flat tops,xe268h cam, Eddy manifold and carb, stock ignition, stock heads with z28 springs-new heads down the road, headers with 2 1/2" pips, hooker aero chambers dumping at the axle.

700R4-have a 95 S10 torque converter waiting for me to put in-couldn't afford it when I did the motor, so now it's waiting for me to feel like dropping the tranny....

Currently the right rear axle is leaking oil into the brake drum, so the first thing I need to do is get that fixed. While I'm at it, I want to ditch the 2.73's for something like 3.73's....Anyone see a problem with this set up?? Don't care too much about mileage, just want to make sure that with a 3.06 first gear in the tranny that the 3.73 wouldn't be overkill or a big PTA in wet weather????
Any idea what labor would run to have this done??? Or a good DIY website???

After that, the next upgrade will be wheels and tires. At some point someone installed 215/75/15's and as you can tell, look a little small. I would love to go with 17's or 18's, but I'm trying to keep the wheel and tire budget under $1k, so I'm thinking I'll probably have to stick with 15's.... I'd like to go with 50's on the back and 60's or 70's on the front. What would be a good suggestion for BS and widths????? (wife is really partial to Outlaw II's like I had on my 82-I'd really like to go a different way, any suggestions?? gotta keep her happy )

Next need is front end work, which will most likely go before or at the same time as wheels and tires.... Suggestions on good kits, like Performance Suspension kits???? This also brings me to lowering the truck. It seems that the previous owner was a very large fellow, seat springs are history and it seems that the left front coil spring is somewhat collapsed, front left corner lower than the rest....So I will need to replace the springs..... I want to lower it enough to close the gap between the top of the tire and the fender....would a 3/5 drop do the trick??? And, since I have to buy springs anyway, what would be the suggested path for getting it there???? Also, spindles, springs, ball joints, CA bushings are all things that I have no desire to replace myself, any clues to what labor would run??? I'll price it all locally, just wanting a ball park to compare to...

This is probably all I'll be able to swing for now...I'd really like to try my hand at Mike's guage install, but I've been waiting to see if someone comes up with something easier that looks even close to as good....

Lemme know what you all think....