As far as I can remember, tx_v is not only the transaction: the bitcoin client adds some data (the transaction of its inputs if the client has them in its blockchain)
So depending on what you're trying to do you can use it directly or parse it to put it in the newer client
Also, I make all dependencies optional: currently you can use pywallet even if you don't have twisted+zope, you just won't be able to use the WUI. Same for ecdsa package and signature/verifications
The new pywallet would follow this rule as well