RS6-speed

[Carbonman]

Well another idiot starts the adventure!

Here's a set of pictures from today's action at Imola Motorsports in Minneapolis. We made quite a bit of headway before we got stuck with three broken triple squares trying to take the tone ring off the engine. Some heat and Snap-On should solve that problem on Monday.

Anyhow, we got started about 8:30 and had the engine dropped by 11:00. Took a lunch break until about 1:00, separated the transmission, tried the tone ring and switched to doing some general cleanup.

All I can say is I'm happy I have a beast of a mechanic (Jeff) on my side! This car has more hoses, lines, electrical hooksups, etc. that I've ever seen. Quite the tight fit too.

Here was the sequence (in rough order):

1.) Remove the front bumper, wheel well trim, passenger headlight.
2.) Loosen the radiator assembly.
3.) Start taking lines and electrical fittings off - plenty of them and well baked on.
4.) Remove suspension & half shafts.
5.) Revmove rear exhaust, heat shields, etc.
6.) Remove drive shaft.
7.) Drain oil, pull AC down, remove AC lines.
8.) Place cart under the engine.
9.) Get a bunch of guys and figure out what's going to hit, what lines are still connected.
10.) Raise car off engine.
11.) Admire big lump of steel and aluminum on cart.
12.) Go to Mort's for a pastrami on rye and a business meeting in greasy clothes. Don't get much business done - just talk about cars instead.
13.) Split engine - required removing passenger turboand splitting drivers side from manifold.
14.) Remove ECU from harness so someone can figure the 6-speed programming out.

A couple items that need some attention - valve cover gaskets, cam tensioner seals, a goofy little pump - drivers side. Turbos look great with 90K on them.

Monday's list - Valve covers, plugs, water pipe & seals, get the tone ring off, install flywheel, install adapter ring, install clutch, mate engine and transmission, install pedals in car, install gear selector.

That's about it for now. See the Flickr link below for the pictures and a two minute stop-motion video of the engine pull.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/norcostco/sets/72157626809400109

[4everRS]

very exciting carbonman. Keep us updated!

[MaxRS6]

Wowza!!! Thanks for sharing. Good luck with the continued swap out!

[Carbonman]

Try this for the video - Flickr decided to cut mine short.

http://www.schindlerfamily.com/RS6/enginepull.wmv (http://www.schindlerfamily.com/RS6/enginepull.wmv)

[Aronis]

What a great series of photos!

Who's the guy who spends most of his time leaning on the fender? LOL....Looks like he may be made of Carbon?

Gotta love the mechanic wearing flip flops! Ouch my toe hurts just watching.

Nice to have an experienced mechanic and a great garage to work in!

Keep the clips coming!

Mike

[hahnmgh63]

You had a fairly heavy oil leak there. I'm surprised that so many have had the right valve cover leak and at 67K mine is completely dry. I'm gonna replace both gaskets anyways while the engine's out, hope I don't jinx myself.

[nene]

God-speed!!!!

[Carbonman]

What a great series of photos!

Who's the guy who spends most of his time leaning on the fender? LOL....Looks like he may be made of Carbon?

Gotta love the mechanic wearing flip flops! Ouch my toe hurts just watching.

Nice to have an experienced mechanic and a great garage to work in!

Keep the clips coming!

Mike

That obvious huh? I was just resting for when I could apply my vast skill set - scraping the gunk off dirty parts that Jeff pulls off :hihi: I gotta tell you, it's pretty fun watching a guy like Jeff work - awe inspiring. He had that engine out so fast it made my head spin. It's kind of like being on a dude ranch only with cars....maybe there's a business model hiding in there?

[Aronis]

Yes, a great business model.

Let's see...

"Work With your Mechanic...$extra per hour"

"Garage and Mechanic...$per hour"

"Garage and Guro...$per hour"

That would be great fun! You get expert help, great tools, a lift and still can claim DIY!!!

Great project you are doing, looking forward to video of you driving and SHIFTING!!

Mike

[1sadavant]

Love it, 2.5 hours to pull the engine, yet the book quotes something like 21 hours in and out. So are you and the Imola mechanic doing this together? Discount on labor? Looks like a great project. Besides the transmission swap and VCG's anything else planned while the engine is out?

Interesting he dropped the subframe as opposed to pulling it from the front. I guess it is easier with a lift this way?

[SteveKen]

Looks great Erik. I can't wait to get back into my project as well.

I'm even more amazed at all the guys in the time lapse and not one nut scratched or nose picked. lol.

[ttboost]

I'm even more amazed at all the guys in the time lapse and not one nut scratched or nose picked. lol.

Those were edited out...

[Carbonman]

Monday lunchtime report:

We're making good headway today. New valve cover gaskets went on as well as new cam tensioner seals. We ordered the little coolant reverse flow solenoid valve as it's leaking. That will be here Wednesday - $250, ouch (RS6 tax). We also got the flywheel installed. I'll get pictures tonight.

This afternoon we'll install the clutch and mate the transmission to the engine. We'll also pull the auto gear selector and get the manual gearbox installed. Then we'll be waiting until Wednesday for the pump to show as we can't reinstall the engine until that's here.

[Carbonman]

Well, another day down. A bit shorter today - valve covers, cam tensioner seals, flywheel installed, clutch installed and tranny mated to the engine. We hit a bt of a snag with the starter. There is an oil line and a coolant line that the solenoid interfers with. We'll take a look at it tomorrow and see if we can come up with a resolution. The engine's looking like it should have from the start!

11423
Engine with valve cover off
11421
Tone ring / flywheel
11419
Heating PITA bolts - broke three bits yesterday, came out like butter today?
11424
Ready for flywheel
11418
Installed clutch - Spec Stage 3+
11420
11422
Adapter ring installed
I neglected to take a picture with the engine and tranny mated - I'll get one tomorrow. So far about 13-14 hours into the project. Moving along!

[Matt@ravenms]

Hey Erik

I'm Glad to see my Steel Flywheel worked out perfect for ya. Any pictures of it being installed? That way people can see it the Difference.

If anyone else interested in Steel Flywheel over Aluminum for the Swap. Please email me.

Our car has been together for a couple weeks now and Drives great. Definitely would use Steel over Aluminum as a Daily driver.

BTW if anyone with a RS6 is Interested in driving the Car, It's 100% finished and ready to be test driven. No PRNDS lights on, or issues at all.

Also not to forget, The car made 440whp on a Dynopak, only mods are 91 EPL tune, and Piggies (and Steel flywheel) :)

[ben916]

Hey Erik

I'm Glad to see my Steel Flywheel worked out perfect for ya. Any pictures of it being installed? That way people can see it the Difference.

If anyone else interested in Steel Flywheel over Aluminum for the Swap. Please email me.

Our car has been together for a couple weeks now and Drives great. Definitely would use Steel over Aluminum as a Daily driver.

BTW if anyone with a RS6 is Interested in driving the Car, It's 100% finished and ready to be test driven. No PRNDS lights on, or issues at all.

Also not to forget, The car made 440whp on a Dynopak, only mods are 91 EPL tune, and Piggies (and Steel flywheel) :)

Dennis and I are planning on driving up on Saturday June 18th in the morning for a visit to Raven and OEMPlus...
It will be either 1 or 2 RS6....

Anyone else gonna caravan up?
Brav(Chris)?
born2be(Wade)?
benman(Ben)?
Shawn(Shawn)?
audi5000csqt(John)?

[Aronis]

WOW, your valve train is CLEAN! No Sludge! That's very nice!

Great pics...

Tranny setup looks great!

Mike

[ben916]

WOW, your valve train is CLEAN! No Sludge! That's very nice!

Great pics...

Tranny setup looks great!

Mike

Agreed!! Very clean!!!!
Aces my friend, Aces...

[hahnmgh63]

Just pulled my valve covers too to do the gaskets, they have never leaked in 67K. Valve train looked clean & the cams had no noticeable wear. The plastic / Teflon cam chain guide showed no wear either. I have used Redline 10W-40 since 25K on the car with oil changes at about every 6K miles. I'm also Anal enough at the oil changes to fill my filter with oil before I install it so there isn't the dry startup. I fill it, let it soak into the filtration pleats, then fill it again, then put a plastic sandwich bag over the top to keep dirt out until I maneuver it into place then pull the bag and tilt it on quickly to keep from loosing much oil out of it. See, a little Anal.

[JSRS6]

I thought everybody did that....

[ttboost]

I thought everybody did that....

Me too? Stupid OCD....

[Carbonman]

Tuesday update - quite a bit done today. Starter installed and tested. Had to "massage" a couple lines out of the way, but it fits and turns the motor over nicely. Turbos reinstalled, lines hooked back up, sub-frame back on and gear selector bolted up. Drive train is ready to go back in the car!

Tomorrow will be pedals, wiring and engine re-install. Just about there. ECU still has to be sorted, but there's something cooking on that front too. I'm ready to drive it - been almost three months.

11427
Engine and tranny

11426
Starter installed

11429
Started close-up - pretty cozy.

11425
A complete 6-speed RS6 motor

11430
Hi flow pre-cats :hahahehe:

11431
Complete drive train with sub-frame

11428
Scene of the crime.

[Jimmy Joe]

Carbonman, thank you very much for the pictures! It's a royal tour on the engine and trans for those of us that don't have the opportunity to get to know the innards of the Beast. It sure beats the Manual, keep up the good work and the pictures, lots, lots of pictures. BTW, ¿what kind of transmission is that? ¿Did you beefed up the internals? As I said thank you very much.

[terrytcl]

what tranny mounts are you using?

nice progress with the swap! i'm getting itchy too.

perhaps steve can chime in, but is there any way to mount a twin clutch on that flywheel?

[JSRS6]

IIRC, twin plate clutches are of slightly smaller diameter in order to achieve approximately the same pedal feel with increased clamping force. All the ones I've seen have clutch and flywheel as a kit.

[terrytcl]

IIRC, twin plate clutches are of slightly smaller diameter in order to achieve approximately the same pedal feel with increased clamping force. All the ones I've seen have clutch and flywheel as a kit.

i've seen one that was bolt on, but yes, most of them are a kit with flywheel.

is there any way to use a 2.7t twin disk kit on the rs6... custom drilled for 10 bolts? most are custom order, so i assume they can do this. are the dimensions the same for mounting a standard 2.7 flywheel onto the BCY engine except for the 10 holes?

[Matt@ravenms]

i've seen one that was bolt on, but yes, most of them are a kit with flywheel.

is there any way to use a 2.7t twin disk kit on the rs6... custom drilled for 10 bolts? most are custom order, so i assume they can do this. are the dimensions the same for mounting a standard 2.7 flywheel onto the BCY engine except for the 10 holes?

Yes, you can get a Twin Disc. The base of my Flywheel is a B5 S4, just with the correct bolt pattern. So, a Twin Disc is not a Problem. PM Me if interested in having one Made.:0:

[terrytcl]

thanks for the info matt.

i'm looking to order one in the fall. my project won't start until next spring.
i have to rebuild my 01E... straight gear 1st.

[Carbonman]

Sorry - No pictures with this post, but good news. The RS6 is back together, minus a few bits and pieces! Jeff got pulled a lot of directions at the shop yesterday and when I stopped over after work, the engine was still out of the car, but ready to go. Well much to my surprise at around 5:30 Jeff decided to get the engine back in! I thought he was joking, but 40 minutes later, there it was, bolted back in the car. Unreal! Today, he spent most of the day getting everything hooked back up, drive and half shafts back in, pedals installed, etc. At about 4:30, the battery was hooked back up and the car started right up! He buzzed through the gears and it all looks great! No coolant yet, so it was only a very brief run.

Tomorrow will be coolant, misc button up, brake switch (good to have), bumper back on and some other miscellaneous tidy up. I'll get pictures up when I get the chance.

Once that's done, I will have to sort ECU stuff, but EPL has a partial solution and are working a the complete deal. The car will be street ready, but will have CEL and transmission lights on the dash until that's done.

I'd have to say this is the fastest RS6 conversion ever, anywhere, in the world. Imola's got it going.

[MaxRS6]

Congrats and that is on rocket time!!

[4everRS]

Amazing Eric. I can't believe how fast they do it. Good luck with the test drives over the next day or two.

[Carbonman]

It's Friday! Pretty slow day - bumper on, check for leaks, etc and a after lunch exit to beat the cabin crowds. No joy getting the USP stainless line to seal to their slave cylinder. We'll have to drop the rear of the transmission to see if we can get a better wrench on it and get it tighter. Hopefully that will take care of it. Drove the car a little bit which was cool, but it's low on power (limp mode) and with a leaky slave line, the clutch is a bit tricky to manage. Engagement feels really nice (Spec stage 3+).

Good news is with the JHM shifter in the car, the standard carbon fiber surround works! Now I just need to sort a boot and get that to fit.

Monday will be chasing a couple bugs including the speedometer, which is showing an open circuit - probably a broken wire in the harness, which had to be relocated.

That's about it for now. Enjoy the weekend and happy father's day to all you dads!

[speedtrapped]

Awesome, and fast work.....congrats!

[Carbonman]

It's Friday! Pretty slow day - bumper on, check for leaks, etc and an after lunch exit to beat the cabin crowds. No joy getting the USP stainless line to seal to their slave cylinder. We'll have to drop the rear of the transmission to see if we can get a better wrench on it and get it tighter. Hopefully that will take care of it. Drove the car a little bit which was cool, but it's low on power (limp mode) and with a leaky slave line, the clutch is a bit tricky to manage. Engagement feels really nice (Spec stage 3+).

Good news is with the JHM shifter in the car, the standard carbon fiber surround works! Now I just need to sort a boot and get that to fit.

Monday will be chasing a couple bugs including the speedometer, which is showing an open circuit - probably a broken wire in the harness, which had to be relocated.

That's about it for now. Enjoy the weekend and happy father's day to all you dads!

[Benman]

Please keep the updates coming!

Ben, sorry I could not make that one. Saturday mornings are spent at work.

[ben916]

Please keep the updates coming!

Ben, sorry I could not make that one. Saturday mornings are spent at work.

No problemo!
Run down of the day and it includes a 6sp RS6...

Dennis and I met at Coffee Bean in Mission Valley and drove up to go to OEMPlus but it was 8:30AM and they were not open, so we headed up to Coffee/Cars Irvine.
Lots of exotics goodies! Barrett of Barrett/Jackson auctions was there. Around 9:30AM, headed to OEMPlus and they had an R8 V8 with a twin turbo set up, then a Stasis R8 V10 Supercharged parked there, then later an R8 V8 Supercharged showed up... Well the main goal of head to Raven was at hand so we proceeded up to Long Beach, Ca to find this C5 RS6 6speed of Ricardo's @ Raven MS. If anyone has driven around Long Beach area, it is industrial and out of nowhere, there where about 30 Audis on the street, we knew we had the place! Unfortunately, Dennis and I were not able to drive Ricardo's 6sp RS6 as there was an issue with the ABS system that was intermittently applying brake pressure. We did talk quite a bit of shop, saw some LOVELY ER Intercoolers (YES I have proof as does Pat).

Issues that HAVEN'T been addressed in this thread:
Rear Diff gear ratio. A6 vs RS6
O2 Sensor bungs.
ECU tunes.

Pictures are soon to arrive...

PS - 1:15minutes from Mission Valley @ 71MPH to Irvine
PSS - 3:45minutes from Raven @ 22MPH to Mission Valley - GOBS of traffic...

[Brav]

Would have totally met up at Raven/OC if I wasnt out of town. Next time.

[Matt@ravenms]

Would have totally met up at Raven/OC if I wasnt out of town. Next time.

You would have enjoyed the Drive, it's much nicer with the new Steel Flywheel. Maybe we could have another meet here later this month. Possible get all Socal RS6's together to Visit the Shop.

[Matt@ravenms]

Unfortunately, Dennis and I were not able to drive Ricardo's 6sp RS6 as there was an issue with the ABS system that was intermittently applying brake pressure. We did talk quite a bit of shop, saw some LOVELY ER Intercoolers (YES I have proof as does Pat).

Issues that HAVEN'T been addressed in this thread:
Rear Diff gear ratio. A6 vs RS6
O2 Sensor bungs.
ECU tunes.

Pictures are soon to arrive...


Hey Ben, you should check with Dennis, he got to drive the 6 Speed Beast. Lucky him ;)

We talk about the Rear diff being a problem when you were here, I did some more research. I think I made a mistake, the Rear RS6 diff can be used, Switching it out as I type this :)

Tmw, We will be installing the ER's into the car, and Getting a New Revision to our EPL tune. Hopefully to make alot more power.

Also, the brakes are working great now, we swapped out a my extra set of RS6 brakes to try out. Hopefully you can drive her around and plan that 6 Speed swap.

[ben916]

You would have enjoyed the Drive, it's much nicer with the new Steel Flywheel. Maybe we could have another meet here later this month. Possible get all Socal RS6's together to Visit the Shop.

at the So Cal Euro Meet!

Off Topic kinda - is Matt/Ricardo coming down this week/next week? If so, I need to let some of the other So Cal RS6 guys know about this - perhaps a C5 meet/greet? I know some of the C5 A6 2.7t guys would like to see the 6speed...

[Carbonman]

Just to confirm what Matt has said, the existing rear diff (4.11 ratio) can be used in the conversion - in fact it should be used as it has additional cooling installed on the unit unlike a standard A6 diff.

[Carbonman]

Here's an update of the RS6. It's officially a 6-speed car. Drove it most of the day today as part of the clutch - flywheel break in so nothing crazy. Here are my impressions so far:

1.) Clutch - flywheel combo is nice. The clutch is definitely beefy and takes some getting use to. Not too bad though. First and reverse are the touchiest. A little chatter occasionally, but that's a driver issue, not necessarily a hardware problem.

2.) Car is in reduced power. I did some logging and it's never asking more more than about 4-5 psi of boost.

3.) I have a strange speedometer / odometer problem - they don't work! I can monitor speed using the Vagcom so I know the speed sensor and wiring are fine. I'm wondering if there's some strange adaptation issue or if TCU is doing something wonky. Anyone have any ideas on this?

4.) Still reverse and neutral safety switch wiring to complete. Might get a jump on that tonight. Have to see how bad to bugs are in the garage.

5.) Even with essentially no boost, the car feels quick. I can't wait to get the clutch broken in properly and feel what it's really like.

6.) Software - still trying to figure this out. There's a lot of sketchy information floating around and I want to make the correct decision. EPL has / will have a tune but it won't address SAI or the secondary O2 sensors. That's a bummer with gutted cats and a SAI pump and hardware sitting on the ground. Greg at DMTechnik also has a solution, but I don't think his car is running yet and I'd like to hear how that is performing.

7.) The car likes to hold onto engine speed for a couple seconds with the clutch or in neutral. Sometimes it will hunt between 1K-3K as if it's looking for something to match (tranny speed)? Software should address this issue.

That's where things are. If anybody has ideas on the speedometer shoot me a reply, I'm scratching my head.

[Stephencl]

I assume you have pulled the TCU out of the car at this point? I think I read somewhere that you must actually pull the TCU. Not an expert on the subject....just asking.

Stephen

[Carbonman]

Not yet. That's actually one of the things I'll try tomorrow.

I just ran a test on the instrument cluster and it works fine so it's a software gremlin roaming somewhere.

The other thing I'll likely have to do is a recode of the ABS controller for a manual tranny and then a steering angle calibration. More fun for another day.

Just as an experiment, I attempted to code the engine module from 006752 (5 is for the 01L tranny) to 006712 (1 is for 6 speed) and it rejected the code as out of range. I know it's been tried before but sometimes you have to try it yourself.

[ttboost]

[QUOTE=Carbonman;216147Just as an experiment, I attempted to code the engine module from 006752 (5 is for the 01L tranny) to 006712 (1 is for 6 speed) and it rejected the code as out of range. I know it's been tried before but sometimes you have to try it yourself.[/QUOTE]

Maybe because it is trying to match a TCU with a trans that doesn't exist?

[TozoM8]

If you unplugged the TCU, you need to recode the ECU and the cluster. You will need a shop login code to do it. Is the engine speed sensor on the right spot? If the crank signal is not clocked right it will bounce the rpm like that. I had that problem on my old A8 with the 10 bolt crank.

[SteveKen]

you want to use the mounting hole that is closer to the axle and not the one that's closer to 11 o'clock or so.

[Carbonman]

That's the sensor hole we used.

I unplugged the TCU and it's not as nice as the S6 - I don't get the "Press Clutch to start engine" message, but the PRNDS have disappeared and the car is no longer in a reduced power mode. The hanging idle problem has also gone away. I do get a situation where the car will idle at 1080 RPM occasionally - and it drops back down when I clear the engine codes. I'll work on getting rid of those first.

I now also have ABS and ESP warning lights on. I'm sure that's a coding deal. Anyone with instructions on coding clusters and ABS - feel free to chime in!

I do have to say, this car is really fast with the full on boost. Not getting into it much because of clutch break in, but I did a couple third gear pulls for logging and it screams.

No speedo yet....

[Aronis]

wow that's cool that pulling the TCU fixed that list of issues, including the boost!

[v8a6]

7.) The car likes to hold onto engine speed for a couple seconds with the clutch or in neutral. Sometimes it will hunt between 1K-3K as if it's looking for something to match (tranny speed)? Software should address this issue.



I have the EXACT same issue with my 2000 A6 4.2 that I swapped a six speed into. Apparently, the Euro S6 manual code will sort this issue out, but I have yet to update the ECU.

Let me know if you get this issue resolved.

Nice Work!

Cheers!

[Carbonman]

Here's the status of the car right now:

1.) Last night I decided to pop the rear O2 sensors back into the car to get rid of those related faults. It took about 20 minutes and cleaned a bunch of codes up. Note to people doing the conversion - the driver's side rear O2 hits the side of the transmission on one of the little "fins" or ridges. If I had the exhaust out, the smart play would be to move the O2 location, but I was able loosen the exhaust and get the sensor threaded then move it back into place - not ideal but I don't think it will be a problem.

2.) I tried to get the ABS module recoded but I'm just banging my head on the wall - very frustrating. Here's what I'm trying to do:

1.) Login using 07197 (07 = A6, 1 = PR-1LP brake option, 9 = 6/8 cyl, 7 = Auto tranny
2.) Recode using 06695 (06 = A6, 6 = PR-1LP brake option, 9 = 6/8 cyl, 5 = manual tranny
3.) Steering angle sensor adjustment

The problem is I enter the login code, recode as per above and it returns to the controller screen showing the original code of 06697.

I've also tried the procedure using a login code of 07195, which would be a manual, then recode, but I get the same results. I'm obviously doing something wrong and any guidance from Vag experts would be highly appreciated.

I also have a couple other faults - an idle control system RPM too high (the car likes to idle at 1100 or so) and a fuel trim too lean issue (I'm assuming this is a Revo tuning issue).

I've included the scan log below (I omitted all the other controllers as they're fine).

I'm looking for ideas on what to chase next.


Thursday,23,June,2011,08:50:40:54868
VCDS Version: Release 10.6.4 (x64)
Data version: 20110418


Chassis Type: 4B - Audi A6 C5
Scan: 01 02 03 06 08 15 16 17 18 22 34 35 36 37 45 55 56 57 65 67
75 76 77

VIN: WUAPV64B93N905264
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 01: Engine Labels: 077-907-558-BCY.lbl
Part No: 4D1 907 558 D
Component: 4.2l V8/5VT G 0003
Coding: 0006752
Shop #: WSC 14385 921 468550
VCID: 2F670327C78D

4 Faults Found:
18034 - Powertrain Data Bus: Missing Message from TCU
P1626 - 004 - No Signal/Communication - MIL ON
16891 - Idle Control System RPM: Higher than Expected.
P0507 - 001 - Upper Limit Exceeded - MIL ON
17536 - Fuel Trim; Bank 1 (Mult): System too Lean
P1128 - 001 - Upper Limit Exceeded
17538 - Fuel Trim; Bank 2 (Mult): System too Lean
P1130 - 001 - Upper Limit Exceeded
Readiness: 0010 0101

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 4B0-614-517.lbl
Part No: 4B0 614 517 AD
Component: ESP 5.7 RS 6 2310
Coding: 06697
Shop #: WSC 02195
VCID: 63CFBF17DBC5

1 Fault Found:
18034 - Powertrain Data Bus: Missing Message from TCU
P1626 - 35-00 - -

[Carbonman]

Spent a couple hours today troubleshooting a couple issue. First was a niggling oil leak which was just a loose fitting on the cooler line.

Second issue is the Speedo - I've been able to read speed from the ECU, but not the cluster. It seems that the ECU gets vehicle speed from the ABS module, not the VSS. Figured this when I disconnected the VSS sensor and I could still measure speed from the ECU. Based on that I wrung out the harness, which was fine. Tried to meter the VSS output while the wheel was turned and didn't get anything. I used an inspection mirror to peek down the VSS hole to see if I could spot the tone ring and couldn't see anything while the wheel was moved (although I'm not sure what if should look like or even if you can see it). That means it's one of two things:

1.) Bad VSS
2.) Tone ring was left off the drivers output shaft during the tranny rebuild.

I'm really hoping it's the first. Does anyone know if a VSS reads a resistance when you meter across the connectors? Mine reads open, but I don't know if that's good bad or indifferent.

I'm hoping a new VSS fixes this otherwise we're tearing apart the driver's side - yuck.

I can't get the part until Monday so that's it until then.

[V8weight]

Meter resistance on the VSS while waving a screwdriver across the magnet, this will simulate a square wave. This is a good way to test crank and cam sensors as well, you can actually run a car while waving a pocket screwdriver over a crank sensor...

[TozoM8]

Sounds like a bad VSS. Mine was a plug and play on both of my 6 speed conversions. Many people did this with no problem. You can pull the sensor out easily.