Talked to Marc at AMS a few days ago about transplanting the Tip with a 6spd. He says it is very do-able, although a large project. With the Tip as trade-in, he figures it would be about 5K if a small group ( say about 4 to 6 people ) were to approach AMS. The more conversions, the less expensive. Remember that these guys are pros !

949-515-1672

Have you considered selling the tip and buying a manual?

I assume it's the 4.2 V8 since the 2.7T and 2.8 versions can be both had with a manual transmission.. I don't think anyone in his/her right mind would take an existing V6 version in to do the conversion unless it's an A6 Avant..

Considering a new 6-speed for the S4 or A6 costs $12,000 parts/labor. ;)

Was only available for MY 2000.

Will Audi have any warrantee issues and how much faster will the car be (2.7T or 4.2)?

Probably get a couple of takers on the A8 Forum too.

$12,000 for a new transmission?? No wonder why Audi has such awful long term resale value... There are many cars out there regardless of make that require transmission rebuilds at only 75,000 miles..

Domestics trannys don't last? Whoa, better tell BMW, since they use a GM tranny on their 6-cyls. Honestly, among my circle of friends, they have had a lot more trouble with import trannies than domestic.

I seem to recall an A4 (Cameron perhaps) having this done some time back and <b>significant</b> fabrication being needed to install the clutch pedal, master cyl, etc.. Swapping the actual transmissions didn't sound too bad, but the auxiliary work to get good (sometimes any) fit and finish on the controls sounded like the hitch.

IIRC the tuner swore he'd never do another one! Price also seemed like it was 2-3x what AMS is guessing - albeit this was a one-off and may not have included tip trade-in. Some archive searching could probably turn up more accurate details than my aging memory supplied.

Oh, FWIW, S6 not significant enough power increase for <u>me</u> to justify purchase of a new car <b>plus</b> expense of tranny retrofit <b>plus</b> hassle w/my dealer/AoA about every single powertrain-related warranty claim (that's *IF* they'd even touch the powertrain). Heck, reprogrammed ECU with new exhaust and some intake work would net similar gain - and all the same hassles, just without the cost of the new car!

Just my $.02....

and you could get that cost financed along with the rest of the car. If they can do the swap with such little fuss they should contact the dealerships. Would be beneficial for everybody. Sometime in the near future I would be very interested in having a manually shifted 4.2 A6.

My A6 2.7T and the 540iA both use a ZF tranny. ZF is a company, not a particular tranny. So are only some ZFs designed by GM I guess?

Not that I am against having a GM tranny in my car, I just had heard that the 528i used a GM tranny and 540iA didn't. This wouldn't be true if all ZFs are GM.

Many of the E34 E39 E38 V8 owners wish they had the GM designed Tranny, for its reliability and the fact they are not too expensive to rebuild.. The BMW V8's use the ZF designed gearbox, because of the ability to handle the additional torque.. As far as I know most Audi's particularly Turbo models use the ZF tranny.. I hear the maximum torque the GM tranny's can handle is somewhere in the order of 250 pd/ft of torque..

April, Thanks for taking the time to check with AMS.
A few questions--
Would the conversion be done by AMS? Where are they?
Or, could AMS supply a "kit" of prts so I could have the conversion done locally?
Thanks again for taking the initiative!

AMS represents Abt in SoCal. They have prepped numerous Audis and VWs for competition as well as hot street use. They have a very European approach to mods. Eyes open, nothing Mickey-Mouse;-), works-like-stock.

I know they would expect a high intensity engineering situation for the first one, and thus might not release a kit for fear of it not being done correctly. Call them and ask.

2.8 and 1.8T use the 24, 2.7T and 4.2 use the HP 24. Of course, the tranny in question is integrated into the center diff and forward diff to form some kind of super-transaxle.