My goals for the car are bolt-ons, exhaust and Tune. The plan is for was road track and auto-x. I really like it and would like to keep it for a while.
I don't have the specifics of what exactly is wrong but the car wont go over 45 mph and revs pretty high for me to be going so slow.

The options I've come across are...
*I could buy a used low miles trans on ebay for around $400.
*One thought was to get a LvL10 Tq Converter ($500), IPT valve Body upgrade ($790), a Z1 oil spacer ($130) and a trans cooler ($100).
*Another option I saw was something about a Q60 Red Sport VR trans swap but I don't know much about it.
*Sorry, Can't justify dropping $5k on a full level 10 bulletproof.

Thoughts?

 

Diagnose before spending money. It might not be the transmission.

 

So it took a while but the diagnosis is the transmission is dead. Finger pointed at the valve body.

So this is what I'm looking at
*I buy a used low miles trans on ebay for around $400.
*One thought was to get a LvL10 Tq Converter ($500), IPT valve Body upgrade ($790), a Z1 oil spacer ($130) and a trans cooler ($100).

My question is will any 2013 7 spd AWD trans work or is there something in particular that I should be looking for?

 

why not level10 for both or IPT for both?

pretty much any year auto should work, you want to transfer TCM to new one, if doing VB swap it only adds 2 minutes. An awd with tailhousing/xfer case would make it simpler as well.

if you’re in WA i got a 14’ 7spd complete awd w/ tailhousing/xfer case 42k miles.

 

Sorry for the delay. Life got in the way. Car is still down but I have a 2 clear targets now. Funny enough I was in WA just last month but my immobile auto resides in VA.

1. VR Transmission - I see a lot of love for the swap online and it seems really tempting but there are some nuances (drilling new tap, new drive shaft, etc) that I am not really interested in taking on.
2. VQ Transmission - I talked to John @ IPT and am confident in his ability to do a VB and TQ upgrade. For me this would essentially be plug and play and solve a good deal of the VQ headaches.

I don't plan on boost in the near future and will mainly use the car as DD, auto-x, track days.
For me Option 2 looks to be the best way forward.

 

you will also want a flexplate as that is probably the most prone to failure.

I did vr30 swap and if you can pull a trans (which you’ll have to do for Torque Converter Upgrade) you can do the swap. Hole saw and a 7/8” driveshaft spacer is all you need, or take the opportunity to get a stronger 1pc shaft. Easiest swap you can do in your life though.

I got a IPT VB and Converter upgrade while I did VR30 swap with FI flexplate and custom 1pc steel shaft. I also made 65a Poly trans mount out of the oem VR30 mount. Basically just sealed one side and poured the poly. Worked fantastically.

 

Just asking this mainly for curiosity but also for future inevitability:

What is the feasibility for swapping in the Red Sport 7AT to those of us who have the "old" 5AT's? While there is nothing wrong with mine currently at 15 years and 116k miles, at some point it will start showing its age.

 

I'm following everything you're saying so thank you for the input. Where did you get the new drive shaft?

 

There are probably some places you can find locally, and tons of places online that do custom driveshafts
Some placers are cheaper than this one, but
I chose to go with Full Torque Driveshafts - (3" x .083" Steel Slip/Spline Flange to Flange Driveshaft) build quality looks fantastic
I've gone 130mph with zero NVH from the 1pc shaft, which I've heard plenty of horror stories of a lot of custom shafts not balanced properly and vibrate at 110+
but that's not to say a cheaper shop couldn't or doesn't make one just as good.

on my 14' Q60 (G37 Coupe) AWD Sport
This is what I ordered

3" x .083" Steel Slip/Spline Flange to Flange Driveshaft
Trans Flange: 3102-69
Diff Flange: T35-ALFY-07
Trans flange face to rear diff flange face is
49.765” with 1 degree slope down from trans to diff.

The slip spline allows for approx 1" of length shorter/longer but I got my measurement pretty exact to be perfect.

You will have to compare your car to see as RWD/AWD, Sedan/Coupe and possibly year and/or sport/non sport may change what rear diff/trans flanges you have and length of shaft.
but if you have same flanges, and are awd coupe, then you could probably order that exact shaft. would be wise to triple check everything though.