Thank you all for the sentiments.

DJ, if you could be the new guinea, that would be great. I don't see the dust settling on this issue for at least a month... No sense delaying such an awesome project

And the coin is still being flipped (multiple times) regarding the transmission. As much as I love rowing the gears, I know the paddle-shift mod and the multiple TCU mods make the auto shift much faster (and smoother) than I can. In the end, it's all about speed and the ability to put power down smoothly.

A minor issue, but an issue, is the fact that Kim is terrified of the manual (doesn't want to break anything). In the rare event that her car would be down for repair, it would be nice knowing that I wouldn't be responsible for ALL driving duties. The auto is tame enough for her, and, with a few tweaks, should be fast enough for me. I'll miss the third pedal, but I'll welcome the leisure of being able to cruise much more smoothly in traffic.

As I said in the other thread, if the perfect car came along with a manual, we'll just have to give Kim more lessons.

One concern I have with the manual is not the gearbox itself, but all supporting hardware. Will the clutch be able to handle 340+ flywheel horsepower? We have no aftermarket option. Replacing with stock parts is an expensive temporary fix to a problem that will resurface.

I also noticed some wear & tear in the synchros... the 5th gear synchro in my car was going out, and any entry into 5th under hard acceleration was nasty. It's a moot point now, but I'm sure the repair bill would have been nasty. Gears 1-3 have multiple synchros... 4th gear has two, and the final two gears have one each.

The auto-box is tried and true to handle even the fastest SRT's on the spray... So I know it will be good for the Limiteds w/ turbo.