Nice pics...Glad you hung in there and hope all works well for you in the end.
But just my opinion...your 18" wheels didn't kill your transmission. It was your style of driving. My car had 18s on it when I bought it, and the guy ran them for years (4+) like that. And I still have the original trans with no problems. So while 18s may put more stress on a transmission, it is ultimetly the style of driving (burnouts, powerjacking, hard shifts, etc) that will kill a tranny.