4000 rpm's at 60, no 3rd?
The first 727 I put in my Dart was like that, it shifted so hard it finally ate itself one day when the wave ring thing that holds one of the clutch packs cracked from me abusing it too much. I had drive in drive, drive in park, and reverse for just enough time to make it home before it spun out.
When we tore it down the guy had turned up the spring that came in the kit 6 turns and the book said no turns out for street use, 2 turns for drag racing only. I built another one and broke it again eventually so I had one built with a stage one kit and no any speed downshift to save me from myself:snakeman:
It doesn't hit as hard or shift as high but it's been in for 20 years and still works, plus it's safer to drive in the rain as it doesn't hit so hard it kicks the *** out on light throttle like the stage 2 did, and that was with a 318:toothy10:
If I remember right the 318 throttle cable bracket was flat, and the one for the 4bbl was vertical to make up for the offset of the AVS typically found on them. I'm sure the 440 should have similar issues but I'm surprised it isn't close enough with a aftermarket AVS unless the Thermoquad that was typical on is way farther over and forward or something, which would really throw off his setup and cause his issues. I had a hard time finding the right setup 20 years ago when I decided to put a 4bbl on mine, a big block should be way easier to find in some form that should work, or at least be able to be modded to work.