Burned up my AOD... Now what?

[90'5.0 Conv]

I burned up my AOD the other day as I went to drop it into low to pass some traffic. I dropped it down to 1 instead of D and stomped it. It was unusual because they were never any signs of wear. The rpms went sky high and the tranny just burned up I guess. It smelled like it and now it makes noise when I drive it. With my gears in it now(4.10's), I'm doing 4500 rpms going about 35 and then the transmission loses it and slips completely. At first, I thought it was maybe the TV cable but I guess I'm not so lucky. Maybe it was that one little slip up.

Anyway, now its time to look at the future. I don't know exactly what to do and figured you guys could probably help. Obviously, I don't want to tear up another tranny after just one year of drag racing. My car ran 9.20's (in the 1/8th) before it broke and my mods are listed below. I felt like that the transmission that was in there should have lasted a bit longer(Just over 100,000 miles but always kept up), Afterall, I am running a basically stock mustang.

I've been all over the web checking out transmissions and I just can't decide on what to do. I found out some interesting stuff about stuffing the AOD-E guts in the AOD housing. It seems like a good idea and theres a guy here in town that will do it for about 1500.00 and stuff another transgo shift kit in there. I want a street/strip car but I've been thinking about the stage 3 shift kit. I don't know if the stage 2 kit was the problem or not but I only had it in about 5-6 months. Probably more of my fault. Since that shift incident, I'm thinking of an aftermarket shifter seriously(ideas)? I've been looking at it all, even the AOD to 5 speed swap which would be alot of fun but seems to get expensive quickly. I have a c-4 out of a ford fairmont sitting in my yard now that was behind a 302 but I'm thinking of leaving it for my eventual all out race car(project sleeper). Anyways a 3 spd auto and 4.10's wouldn't coincide to well with any reasonable gas mileage.

I hope I gave you enough information on my dilemna. I really appreciate the help. Tax returns are coming back here in a few weeks and I think my wife will let me spend anywhere up to 1600 or so. Thanks for your replies.

Later, James