Hello All,
I am looking for a little advise on upgrading the tip in my 996 TT. I am wondering about programming, better (quicker) shifting ect. The car is running pretty much stock power now but I am looking to upgrade power and feel for street driving, while keeping the reliability and comfort.
I have heard some vague information on TCU upgrades but have not really been able to track anything solid down. The stock shifting seems pretty soft, I would like some Constructive Advise and Experiences.
I would like to see this thread that not digress into a bunch of "TIP bashing". Comments like " trade it in and get a manual" or " I would not know because I would never drive a Tip, I am too much of a real enthusiast (real man) " are not what I am looking for. Okay, I get it .... you are better .... now can the rest of us discuss this?

 

There is a VERY short list of people who have modified the tip, in terms of performance or power handling... I am thinking 3 people I know of, blackhorseturbo, bad107, pumptech,...

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...on-thread.html

As always, the amount of information you will get by searching will surpass the amount you collect with a new post...although a new post is invaluable for updating the record with new data points...

GL

A

 

I think a tip is great buy. I bought one after driving my friends 996 tt stick in LA traffic what a sh$%#ty experience. After that I was convinced a tip was for me.

 

I know you can have the TIP rebuilt stronger by a few companys, some people say the TCU can be reflashed to shift harder.. but some others say it doesnt work.. guess you have to find someone that had it done for the truth... I would like to know myself, being a TIP owner.. I have put off upgrading my turbo's for the same reason.. some say this.. some say that...

 

very few people have upgraded their 996 trannys...pumptech and blackhorseturbo never upgraded theirs...and most people that have don't post about it for some reason.

as far as I know, only IPT Transmission, Renntech, MKB and Motorwerks (in houston) have upgraded a 996 tiptronic...yes I know they are very similar, but the fact remains that only Renntech, IPT, MKB and motorwerks have upgraded a 996 tiptronic.

Switzer, whiteknight, vivid have only done 997s to my knowledge.

In my opinion, Motorwerks only makes sense if you are local (high cost and takes a long time). IPT costs a bit (~$8k), but includes rebuilding the valve body, blue top solenoids, high stall torque converter and a few other things. Renntech is only like $4k. MKB is like $8-$10k including shipping and includes the TCU.

007-911 (Vince) and myself sent our trannys to IPT. My car puts out ~630 tq to the wheels and I have done at least 50+ runs with no issues so far.

As far as shifting fast...you are really SOL.

The 996 tcu is inferior to the 997 tcu...even though its the same transmission, the 997 tcu communicates much better with the 997 dme.

as far as flashing the TCU...I flashed my 2001 turbo and it did NOTHING. Having said that, BHT flashed his 2004 turbo and he notice improvements. I just tried to replace TCU with the latest part number, but the used part I bought did not work

There is a member on here that says his shift time went from 0.3 seconds to 0.2 seconds when he moved to the newest version TCU and had it flashed.

flashing can supposedly increase rev limiter, raise torque limits and increase line pressure...the latter being hard to prove/see a difference.

 

I believe I was probably the 1st person who had a TCU flash on a 996TT. If you are looking for faster up shifting speed, get a PDK (not a manual ).

The TCU flash can only improve in these areas:

• 7k rpm, give you a good pop when gear change; remember, you'll also need to flash your ECU to 7k to take the advantage. You hp can actually go a little higher if your power-curve is continuoussly going up.
• hold on lower gear at slow speed. This is not perfect, but you do get a better feel at slow speed. The stock TCU shifts to higher gear too soon and leaves you at "I'm on the wrong gear" feeling. The TCU flash does a better job in that area.
• down shift is very quick, even at high rpm. When I'm driving aggressively in manual mode, this comes in very handy.

 

I would only get the TCU flash if you had the latest TCU (part number ending in .04).

I sent my first year turbo (2001) TCU to evo to get tuned and it did not even shift at 7,000 RPM (I confirmed numerous times my ECU was set to 7200RPM). Getting a refund from evo was a long and painful process.

 

Great Information !!
It is too bad that the 997 tcu did not work for you, I would be good to know if that would make a difference.
After trolling as many threads as I could find on this forum, I have been wondering about much of this. I may be missing something but it seems that there is much speculation (in general) and very little hard answers. Not being a real tranny guy I would like to lay out some specific questions and hope that there are specific answers about the valve bodies, clutch packs, torque converter, TCU Ect.
Now I just need to collect all of my thoughts on this and put forward as sensible questions. Or maybe just wait until winter, rip the bugger out and ship to a builder. My preference would be to find the parts that have proven to work, a master rebuild kit and have a local guy build it for me.

 

997 tcu will never work with a 996...it won't communicate with the DME

I tried the latest version of the 996TT TCU

you do need to know a lot to work on these trannies...i would just rip it out and send it to renntech...cheapest option and it has been fully tested.

 

also, good luck trying to find out details...tranny guys don't want to give them out

Dan@vivid has a thread in the 997 forum of a tiptronic build that has the most details provided to date

 

There is plenty that can be done if the demand was high enough. Costume/after market TCU and so on. Who here would lay their car up and pay for all the time that is needed to make it work? The market is just too small to recoop the time and money that is needed to make it work. GL

Tim

 

Its all about money. As you add power, you'll eventually have to repair the tranny. My tranny gave up around the 550whp level and I rebult it to stock specs. I wanted more from (power) it, but was unwilling to throw any more money at the tranny to keep up with the power. If you are like me or many of us for that matter, you will never be satisfied with the power your car makes. You will find the tip very frustrating as it is the weak link. Good luck, maybe you have better self control and will power to NOT push the tranny too far.

 

do you think k16/16 billet's would be too much for a stock tip to handle?

 

Are you serious? I slipped my tip with tiny 16/16gs.

 

My car is putting down over 600awtq. My tranny felt fine until I got water in it and it failed. I would just enjoy the car and when the tranny does blow build it then. Just have the money on the side. As Bad107 stated we sent ours out to IPT. The car is kind of "laggy" now off the line. Thats because of the high stall TC. However, when I do want to dragrace off the line I can now raise the rpm up to 3000rpms but all the car does is spin all 4 wheels. Keeping the rpms at 2600 rpms gives me the best launch. The shifts to feel much firmer in my car after the upgrade. Tony@EPL will being tuning my car with AMS on August 8. I was running 1.3bar peaking to 1.4. Tony said he will be raising it now because of the built trans.