this second gen L is much heavier than the first gen L and made a lot of people unhappy, but they got a blower motor from teh factory.

as for a t56 in a 4700 lbs truck (add my 220 lbs ass in there and it is close to 5K lbs) and you will have NO traction + hell on clutches. sure al does it, but lets see him do it at 5K lbs. he is at 3300 lbs give or take. i enjoy the fact that the 4r100 tranny is damn strong and has a hard hitting convertor from the factory. 2.0 str stock!

i would say absolutely NO to a manual tranny. the L is all about handling and 1/4 mile. make it handle better is easy. to make it hook well on a t56 and bit tq? tough!