I believe i would also look for a set of 1.76 planataries while you got it down. They are considerable stronger and if money is available i would go to the straight cuts. Even the 1.82's with a welded gurddle are not as strong as a 1.76 set.
I too am surprised that you didn't break the stock shaft. There are 4 essentials to making a glide live, good pump,good input shaft, and good planataries, good clutches and drums/hubs. I too use the TSI valve bodies, in fact i use the electric shift valve body which works off the msd unit.
I saw an ad for straight cut 1.80's for $795.00 on RJ.
We run 1.76's with 3,000 lb cars and get 200/300 passes without pulling them down. My friend Jimmy smith (who logs every run) had over 350 passes on his last trans, before going thru it. We have a friend in Greenwood Ms.(a 72 yr. old mud racer with a trans shop) who builds them for about $1,000.00 with our core. I've got the same one in my car for over 5 yrs., changed the fluid 2 times.
just my 2 cents
Zip.