[pimple]

Originally Posted by 805beemer

Instead of swapping parts would the whole 335d tranny bolt up to an n54? Would it just be the tcu thats the hard part?

I believe the TCU is integrated in the transmission in the E90s.

[rismo]

Originally Posted by pimple

I believe the TCU is integrated in the transmission in the E90s.

Yep... TCU is located in the bottom part of the box... same reason why a standalone TCU would be hard to fit....

[Fred_Boosted]

I would throw a manual in there if my AT is gone.

But it just me though.

Good luck, hope you can solve it.

[rismo]

After everything, I still hate my BMW sales that he told me to get an AT.
More re-sell value.... yeah...
But now I have a good deal, more or less 2 boxes for the price of one....
If I would not have had that I would maybe have ordered an MT... but I think that might be even less simple then it sounds...
Software, coding, gearing...

[bv1]

Any pictures to share? I'm very excited about this upgrade.

[shonuff]

any updates?

[Wedge1967]

Funny... I can understand Burger and Cobb not doing anything because they are just not in the game today... But Vishnu is all over the AT code. Keep your eyes open with the new single turbo AT development. According to Shiv they have a solution to allow the AT to putting down 500 ft/lbs and still shift smooth. Although Shiv did say it will take a lot more testing / tuning, but if anyone can do it Shiv and FFTEC can make it happen.

Originally Posted by tofu-

not sure why none of the top vendors (burger, vishnu, cobb) have looked into tcu flashing. it certainly will be something no one has done before...

[tofu-]

Originally Posted by Wedge1967

Funny... I can understand Burger and Cobb not doing anything because they are just not in the game today...

wat

[Wedge1967]

Please, you know Shiv will turn the AT car inside out to find a solution and only then the others will follow...

Originally Posted by tofu-

wat

[enrita]

Originally Posted by Wedge1967

Funny... I can understand Burger and Cobb not doing anything because they are just not in the game today... But Vishnu is all over the AT code. Keep your eyes open with the new single turbo AT development. According to Shiv they have a solution to allow the AT to putting down 500 ft/lbs and still shift smooth. Although Shiv did say it will take a lot more testing / tuning, but if anyone can do it Shiv and FFTEC can make it happen.

you have no clue

[Morpheus]

Originally Posted by ZTUNER

Agree with him about level 10. They just use higher friction clutch packs that they price at 10x the price. Its a worthless company with a gift for gab. Hope the zf engineer figures out better alternatives.

Harry

Me too. When I had my tranny from another vehicle rebuilt with their "bulletproof" kit the rebuild tech told me the same. Plus he told me he could not warranty anything since they were not his parts. He said he could have built a better kit and warrantied it. End result, it broke. But I did abuse it. That was long ago. I had hoped that they had improved. After all-how does a company that sells junk stay in business for so long?

[Orb]

There are few companies out there doing something to improve the transmission like http://www.sonnax.com who do have zip valve kit for aging transmission. The do a few line boost kits with springs and valves. ZF did make this transmission with convertors that fully lock up at 1200 RPM which did not come with the BMW version possibility.

[Wedge1967]

The fact that you make a reply without any supporting evidence can mean a few things. One you are making a childish attempt to discredit me or two you are defensive in the fact the other tuners aren't actually doing anything with regard to the high torque issues with the AT. Don't get me wrong, Burger and Cobb have great products in their own. The main players in tuning the e90 (Burger, Vishnu, and Cobb) have really stepped up to the plate this year with some really great tunes. But between FFTEC and Vishnu, some of the best coders are at work finding a solutions to allow them to make changes to how the AT addresses the increased power. Shiv is not one to publicly make statements if he doesn't actually have an answer. I rode in Shiv's car with the single turbo at FFTEC last week. I can tell you the single turbo is truly in a world of it's own. It's only a matter of time before I have my car upgraded to a single and I hope they have a solution to keep my AT happy without having to spend a lot of money on upgrading it.

Originally Posted by enrita

you have no clue

[drewmeyer87]

Originally Posted by Wedge1967

The fact that you make a reply without any supporting evidence can mean a few things. One you are making a childish attempt to discredit me or two you are defensive in the fact the other tuners aren't actually doing anything with regard to the high torque issues with the AT. Don't get me wrong, Burger and Cobb have great products in their own. The main players in tuning the e90 (Burger, Vishnu, and Cobb) have really stepped up to the plate this year with some really great tunes. But between FFTEC and Vishnu, some of the best coders are at work finding a solutions to allow them to make changes to how the AT addresses the increased power. Shiv is not one to publicly make statements if he doesn't actually have an answer. I rode in Shiv's car with the single turbo at FFTEC last week. I can tell you the single turbo is truly in a world of it's own. It's only a matter of time before I have my car upgraded to a single and I hope they have a solution to keep my AT happy without having to spend a lot of money on upgrading it.

+1, I'm pretty confident Shiv and his team would not have posted up ANYTHING related to the 6AT Single turbo if they didn't have a clear understanding of what they can do to resolve any conflicts with stock hardware.

Let's not argue any more though, haters gonna hate

[rismo]

Originally Posted by drewmeyer87

+1, I'm pretty confident Shiv and his team would not have posted up ANYTHING related to the 6AT Single turbo if they didn't have a clear understanding of what they can do to resolve any conflicts with stock hardware.

Let's not argue any more though, haters gonna hate

I see my thread has changed in to a little upcoming riot ;-) LOL (Joking)

Anyway, time for an update:

So I have learned sofar:

1) Use only the ZF certified oils.
2) The gearbox oil pump is oversized and able to handle increased torque levels
3) Torque convertor seems to be to hold up for now
4) Clutch plates seem to be the weak spot of the AT
5) Nobody outside of BMW and ZF have access to the AT box software (Besides Alpina!) at this moment.
6) Do not re-adapt the gearbox (to often) it increases wear! The reason is that it has to figure out again the adaption and state of the different internals and up to full adaption the box might under of overdue certain activities, so do not push the box after an adaption reset! (Take 100km and it only starts after 70degrees celcius)
7) There are no out of the box replacements parts for this box.
8) Without access to the software, upgrading is going to be trial and error
9) While most piggies send stock torque numbers to the box, it would be better to send higher then the real torque numbers, in that case the box migth take more "care" whils shifting for example; But this is not possible without software access as the torque limit will interfere.
10) The fact that the clutches burned out, makes them the weakest point BUT it does not mean that other parts are able increased torque. The trick to build would be to carefully increase strenght for all relevant parts but keeping the balance in tact
11) The gearbox temps seems to be fine; my box did 150k km /95k miles and only spended 1 hour above 110 degrees celcius while beeing beaten on a dailey base and at least 20 track days (No drag racing) (110 degrees celcius is the upper limit for the operational temps, above that it affects the box health)
12) The gearbox is in normal operational mode when it hits 80 degreas celcius, monitoring gearbox temps indicated that when the engine is around 90 degrees during warm up, the gearbox is 10-20 degrees celcius behind -> so the gearbox needs more time to be on the right operational temps then the engine itself!
13) Use only ZF certified oils for this box
14) Use only ZF certfifed oils for this box


My build situation is that we are going to inspect the wear on my new box in 3 months and then in 6 months... based on that we will continue our rebuild plan.

[Wedge1967]

Good info...

I can't wait to see what Shiv is doing also because my e92 AT is my daily driver. I plan to have the single turbo upgrade done the next time I go to India for a month. I'll be in Germany in June, but I don't think he'll be able to fit me into his schedule and I'm only gone for two weeks.

[reiss91]

I chose the jb4 over the proceed for a number of reasons. However a while ago I suggested that the jb4 tap into other modules in the car like the transfer case and the transmission and I was told that not the direction terry wanted to go with it.

If shiv develops this code for the AT I would buy it in a heart beat. The stock program for the transmission isn't so good with the increase of torque.

[tofu-]

Originally Posted by reiss91

I chose the jb4 over the proceed for a number of reasons. However a while ago I suggested that the jb4 tap into other modules in the car like the transfer case and the transmission and I was told that not the direction terry wanted to go with it.

If shiv develops this code for the AT I would but it in a heart beat. The stock program for the transmission isn't so good with the increase of torque.

other tuners will be forced to make developments if they wish to stay current

i wouldn't worry

[bv1]

Hey rismo123,

About the clutches, is it the material that is the weakness? Or is it design of the box, i'm referring to the surface area / depth of the friction area's (number of clutches). I've done a bit of research on this area and found that Borg Warner actually makes the the friction materials for the new zf 8 speed as well as the current zf 6 speeds. Borg Warner friction materials are well respected in the hot rod community from what I've read. I'm just not sure what friction formulation they've made for zf in our transmission?

[335okc]

Originally Posted by rismo123

6) Do not re-adapt the gearbox (to often) it increases wear! The reason is that it has to figure out again the adaption and state of the different internals and up to full adaption the box might under of overdue certain activities, so do not push the box after an adaption reset! (Take 100km and it only starts after 70degrees celcius)

interesting. on rare occasion i had to do this to get it to shift OK again.
maybe i'm pushing it too hard right after reset? or maybe not enough...

[Bleep]

Fantastic info. It seems like 200F/95C is near ideal operating temp for our cars. Best not to open up until then.

[cstmx_ryder]

How do you know when the AT transmission is starting to slip? Like while going WOT, what did it feel like? And did it give you any SES or limp mode?

TIA