As some of you may know my transmission was upgraded by Import Performance Transmissions (IPT). The transmission had a failure due to a damaged support that failed when water was introduced to the transmission. The trans was rebuilt with a high stall tq converter. The K3 and K4 drum was remachined and received more clutch packs, The new clutches are from Exedy and are supposed to handle more tq and heat. The valve-body was also upgraded and will assist in quicker shifts. Below are some pictures of my trans rebuild.

John and Ty are great guys and have taken the time to give me step by step break down of the build. If you are planning to get your tip done or just want a valve job I recommend you give them a call: 1-866-828-7267.

Pump Assembly:







Damaged support:


Various internal components:


Clutch drums K2, B2, K3, K1:



K3 drum, original clutch stack in foreground reprehensive, "unsoaked," clutch friction disk to the right:


K2 upgraded setup on foreground:


K1 upgraded setup in foreground



B1 upgraded setup:


K2 added to assembly:


Geartrain/planetary installed:



Here is a short video of how to take out your valve body with my transmission:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c7pD...=youtube_gdata


As you will see it is a very easy mod to do. If you have your tiptronic/engine out you can also send out your torque converter to get rebuilt with higher stall speed. This will greatly improve your 1/4 mile times.

I cant wait to get my car back together. Tony@EPL is upgrading my TCU. So I will continue to report the progress in this thread.

 

Nice job. Some members are looking for a LSD for the tip, any word on one?

 

Nice Vince. IPT also sent me about 10 pics of my burned up clutches

Here is a link to my first launch using the torque converter...I should have done it on the street asphalt, not parking lot pavement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrmiC0qhEDw

 

This actually makes me wish I got a tip. Nice!

 

Very very nice! Thank you for exploring this alternative for us tippy.

 

Thanks for the pics!

 

No problem can't wait to get my car back together. Next step 3.8 liter upgrade

 

While not looking forward to getting my tip rebuilt it is nice to have another tried potential avenue to take. Id say dont count chickens yet but hope all stays together and holds well. I took a ride with bad107 last night and gota say the TC is sweet for sure and his car runnin pretty strong! Hard to say whether it shifts much faster than my stock tip or not but somethin different for sure.

At least IPT lets us know what they are doing vs the other guyz that wont tell ya what u gettin for 7000$ i think this is the only place doing valve body work. For the same price as a bad *** clutch we gettin some real beef and piece of mind not havin worry about missing gears!

 

I'm sure IPT does a quality rebuild. High stall torque converters on a forced induction engine are great for drag racing. (As much fun as side slipping a clutch at high RPM and not nearly as stressful.) However they compromise several other aspects of the tranny. Higher operating temperatures and shorter fluid life are issues. You should consider an additional tranny cooler. The higher lock up speed causes the engine to rev much higher in daily driving and is counter productive on the track.

 

I will be putting on another cooler I will post pics when I'm done.

 

Just curious how your transmission is holding up? Also what kind of power you putting down? I am looking to upgrade my Tip as well so any input would be great!

 

any update on this? I would love to find out how its holding up...interested in performing these mods to my vehicle-how much hp can it handle after upgrade?

 

I haven't heard from Vince in a while

My IPT trans is holding up just fine though. I have built 3.8L with alpha 3076s.

its the same trans in the Mercedes and Chrysler that can hold a lot of hp when built

 

Nice

 

If anyone is looking to rebuilt their tip, PM me. A good friend of mine has rebuilt several for e55s/s55 amgs, and I believe a handful of 996t tips. They are essentially the same tranny. My friend use to be a mbtech, he now works at a shop but does side work. He is a good friend and knows his amgs inside out (shared transmission)