Adding to Don's comments; the non-VVT 4.8 and 5.3 GM LSx family engines are becoming plentiful in wrecking yards.
Edelbrock makes carby intake manifolds for them and if you don't want to mess with the programmable MSD box, there is a front-mount distributor drive setup available from GM that makes it look sort of like an older Ford pushrod V8 when installed. I think some other people make distributor setups for them too.
Mike
