well now that i have the slicks it hooks really well but it has shown me that my converter falls way short of what i need. pulls real strong about 3500 rpms so is that what i should shoot for? i need one with a anti ballooning plate for the bottle too dont I?

ATI treemaster, call Charlie plott, he'll tell you which one he recommends for your ride.

i dont really want to spend 800.400 is about my my price range.

The believe the sale at ATI is over.
Be prepared to drop your drawers :(

$600 for a 10" ATI...you get what you pay for.

If not ATI then continental, one of the local racers whose opinion i respect likes the continental converter he uses, or used to. He swapped motors this year.

Id look at a BTE...Steve O (been200mph) is a stand up guy. He can get you a great deal. He even shipped one "free" to a guy to see if it out performed the ATI he has in his car....this was last year though..havent heard the verdict yet

Everyone I know with an ATI converter swears by them. I've never heard a bad thing about 'em. I also hear good things about Coan. As said above, you get what you pay for when you buy a converter. In my opinion I would even skimp on a few engine parts just so I could buy a top quality converter. Sure, B&M and other off-the-shelfers will work alright but no where near as good as a custom made one.

Oh yeah, another thing. I'd keep far away from TCI. They're oldschool technology and very ineffecient. A friend of mine bought a TCI Super Street Fighter and only got like 6mpg driving around town! He switched to an ATI and not only did his gas milage double, he went A LOT faster in the 1/4.

I've heard great things about Continental converters. They run between 300-500$

http://www.ctconverters.com/

Well, to dispel an old myth about "custom made" converters....there is almost no such thing as one that is so unique that it can be called "custom". There are only so many stators and versions of them, along with only so many fin angles that can be used. Thus, a smart company has a variety of these common combinations on the shelf and ready to go. Many companies only sell one version of their street converters in a particular size. Others will have the ability to fine tune them as needs dictate. I have been working a lot with BTE lately doing just this. Their street.strip 10" has a general area of 3400-3800 for stall speed, but it can be tweaked up and down a few hundred rpms with stator and fin angle changes. I just sold a 10" to a guy who wanted it to later be used with more power, so for now I had it made with an uncut stator, and a tighter fin angle, so it will stall under 3K now, yet later it will cost him far less to have the converter loosened up to well over 3K than to buy a new one again. The key is to get one that stalls right about at your peak torque point for a street car. The 12" ones ($165) generally will be in the 2200-2500 area; the 11" ones ($255) are in the 2500-2800 range; the 10" ones ($355) 3400-3800; while the 9.5"'s ($375) are 4000-4500. I have been happy with the BTE stuff. All of these converters have dual anti-ballooning plates, new Torringtons, good hub, are pressure tested and balanced, and have a full one-year warranty on the sprag and stator. And, any of them can be bumped up or down a bit as I talked about earlier. IMO for their cost they are a great value! I am curious as to the statement about TCI being "old school technology". Just wondering where you have received this information? As one who has used them, and sold them since the early 80's, I beg to differ with you. Any converter can be a turd if you select the wrong one. I put a Saturday Night Special into my younger brother's Nova years ago, behind a mild 350" with a TH-350 I built for him, and 3.73 gears in a 10-bolt with a posi I set up too. It ran in the high 12's, and was very streetable. And the TCI SNS is no high-end converter either, lol. Put too much negative fin angle and the wrong stator behind any motor and watch performance and mileage suffer through poor efficiency! Oh, and thanks for the order 300hp, keep everyone here posted how you like your BTE converter! ;)