I've never tried doing a water burnout with a regular full automatic valve body
You might want to apply the front brakes and start the burn out in low gear at very light throttle pressure so the RPM do not get above 3000 rpm before shifting into second or high gear
Once it shifts out of low gear shoot for between 5000 RPM and 6500 RPM to get the tire speed up to make heat
I start my burnouts in 2nd gear and shift it into high on all my race 727 trannys with manual valve bodies, I try to keep the rpm below 6500 RPM also but I have seen the tach at or near 7300 RPM before I let up on the throttle to get the RPM down
What do you mean about "playing wit it in high gear" ?