tonkpils555666sas

agreed, intake and tune as well as gears should be the first... there isnt anything wrong with also getting a torque converter, but I would atleast get the gears, intake and tune, run the car a few times at the track to see how it does, then go from there based on what you want to see improvements in... if you plan on supercharging the car, dont buy little things like the cmcv delete plates and the under drive pulley kits...

vashthe3rd

It sounds like you need to do some research on seriously modding these cars.
Stroke + install will be 4-6K$ depending, + F/I 4-6K$
Auto has very little effect on your speed, it just means you lose a little extra power through the driveline, and you can't control gears as easily in turns, if road-course racing is your thing. Torque converters make it so you can rev up to reach your peak torque at launch.
Autos on the 1/4 actually run extremely well, they shift predictably, and faster than 99% of anybody driving a stick. Turbos and autos work together in a very magical pairing.
A CAI and tune will give you a great boost for the cost. Then gears and maybe a chargemotion delete.

JimsGT

CAI/tune that changes your transmission shift points/ line pressures, and don't waste your time w/ 3.73 gears....go 4.10's 3.31's to 3.73 is barely noticable. And if yoou have more money, a 3,000 or 3,500 stall converter

Stkjock

the 5r55s auto is a great unit, in most cases for the strip faster then the stick cars

there are guys running 10s on the stock auto (TC added) with blower set ups

vashthe3rd

**UNRELATED**
Is the safe limit on the 5R55S tranny 550 rwhp?
For some reason I'm not sure but I think I've heard that figure before

stealth_GT

heck yeah, no boost drop between shifts!

(-:

tonkpils555666sas

550 to the wheels? wouldnt that be fairly harsh through the shifts on the tranny?