Torque converter question......am I crazy?

Here is the deal. Last year I threw together the drivetrain in my car, here are the specs. 55 Dodge weighs 4000 lbs. Ford 8.8 with 3.73 gears. I run a 26" tall slick at the track. Engine is a smog era 440 with strip dominator (single plane) intake, holley 750 vac sec, full length tube headers and 2 1/2 duals. The cam is probably too big...... .536/.540 lift, 238/244 duration at .050. When i put it together I used an old and well used converter of unknown make and origin. Not sure if it is 9 or 10", it stalled at 3500 or higher. The converter packed it in at the end of last summer and filled the trans with crap.

Presently I am swapping on some closed chamber big valve heads with some port work by a good head guy, hoping to have 8.5:1 comp with the smog pistons, rebuilding the trans with a shift kit (will remain auto), bolt in sprag etc. and governor weights so it should shift at 5400 at wide open throttle.

I hope to have 400 to 450 horse?

I try to do things on a budget and putting two kids through university there are not a lot of extra funds. The drivetrain was put together on a dime.

I have a fresh TCI 143500 8" converter......supposed to stall up to 5000 or higher. If I used it what could I expect. Am I crazy? Bear in mind I like raunchy cars and dont mind a loose converter.....but dont want to be cruising around at 5000 rpm all the time. I drive the car as much as possible in the summer and bracket race as well.

My theory is that my low hp smogger engine will not be able to stall the converter as high as a 600 or 700 hp engine.

Thoughts?