Hey there,
The 440T4 will certainly work as long as you are not "extremely heavy" on the foot. It's only rated for about 235lbs/ft of torque which is a bit better than the TH-125 - 200lb/ft rating. It's a pretty strong trans but won't take a ton of abuse. Search 4T60 and 440T4 for some info. Since most of those early ones have a vac modulator etc, they work well with a good old carbed V8 (and nothing wrong with a carbed v8 either...)
You can also try IPT in NJ for some Hi-perf parts for the 4T60/440T4 (The 440T4/4T60 is the same by the way), GM made a mod in the designations for the trans at some point. Some parts for the -E trans (4T60-E, 65-E, 80-E and the GM F-7 which is kind of a beefed up 4T80 only found in the Caddy Allante) may interchange and they do have different valve bodies / shift kits for the 4T60/440T4's as well. IPT can tell you how to beef up the trans if you want to go a bit more crazy with the SBC.
You could also try paddle shifting a 4T65-E or 4T80-E like others have discussed but I'm not really not familiar with the feasibility of that. (Not really into paddle shifting...seems a bit annoying to me)..
Try here:
http://www.importperformanc....com/gmautofwd.shtmlAlso try here for the torque info:
http://www.gnttype.org/tech...sion/transtutor.html------------------
I'm not driving too fast, . . . I'm flying too low.
[This message has been edited by 3084me (edited 01-09-2008).]