Throw in your.02 on Torque Converter Suggestion

Checked my chart and it stops at 441xxxx and those were 86 transmissions. Are you sure you got the #'s correct? If so it's newer than 86. Do the input shaft splines go all the way to the end of the shaft or does it have about 1/2" of the front end machined down smooth? If it is machined smooth it's a lockup trans. Here's a picture showing both. The top picture is of a lockup shaft. I should also note that converters don't interchange between lockup and non-lockup.

Sorry to bust your bubble but there's absolutely no possible way it'll make anywhere close to 400 hp. Cam is wayyyyyyy too small, intake and heads won't flow enough air. Maybe 300 hp tops and that's pushing it. If you stop and think of it what you have is a small cubic inch version of a 340 with small valves in the heads. 70 340's were only rated at 275 hp. Not saying it won't be a decent running engine. Just not anywhere close to 400 hp

No bubble to bust here, I got this motor for $400, I don't have the skills to build my own or the time or the space. I read this article

http://www.hotrod.com/howto/113_0304_318_small_block_build/viewall.html

And I looked for a motor with some of the attributes mentioned in the article. There is no way I would ever again have headers on a street only car, and those truck manifolds flow pretty nice and the mod needed to use them on the driver side in a Duster with power steering isn't bad and as a bonus you can change spark plugs with ease.

I have read so many articles about killing already poor compression with sticking 360 heads on a teen, and the local performance shop in my town ( yeah we still have one ) that had nothing to do with this motor, eyeballed the heads and gave it 2 enthusiastic thumbs up.

That shop has a great reputation, so I'm going to run the motor the way I got it.

I feel kinda stupid throwing that number out there now, but common sense tells me now if I want to cam-up, and tweak the intake I can get more out of it if I want....

I'm going to paint the intake and stick a snorkel air cleaner on there and have it look really modest under the hood.

I'd appreciate further comments on the motor set up and converter suggestions.

What does the higher stall converter get me in street performance anyway?