[JuniorB]

This is great stuff you guys are doing, especially for the display and the tighter shifts. Is there anyone running this, and do you plan on launching this with the tune or separately?

[rjahl]

Originally Posted by JuniorB

This is great stuff you guys are doing, especially for the display and the tighter shifts. Is there anyone running this, and do you plan on launching this with the tune or separately?

Right now I only have two transmissions running any type of tune. Mine and one test subject. For my transmission the tune is nearly finished. This morning's trip to work was really neat, fast shifts and almost all of the harsh shifting removed with planned torque reduction from the engine. Most of the really fun stuff has been done to the sport and manual modes, keeping D closer to stock. No shift points in D were adjusted.

The other test subject is another matter all together. He wanted all of the improvements in D mode and I created a "dirt track" style shift map for him. If he chooses to chime in, I think he'll say he had way too much fun with it over the week end.

We have some distribution issues to resolve but I'd like to create two or three different different "tunes" or levels for this transmission before calling it quits.

[hassmaschine]

Would be fun to flash back to a stock engine/trans tune and do a side by side comparison video.

[hassmaschine]

I think if you flash the 0da in comfort mode it should automatically find it for your car?

As long as you don't flash over the 0pa, it shouldn't matter.

[Terraphantm]

I've found that as long as you have the "force program programming in comfort mode" box unchecked, it won't flash over the program if the tune doesn't need a new one

[rjahl]

Originally Posted by BimmerGeeks

I plan on making a video of the stock tune beside the current tune I'm running to show comparisons of the AMAZING work rjahl is doing.

As he mentioned, my request was unique & he's done an amazing job of getting the tune where I want it based purely on feedback without physically being here.

It's aggressive indeed, but with light throttle can be economical as well. Drive(D) is much better than the stock sport mode ever was with anything over 65% throttle, Sport mode is simply insane.

As mentioned the comparison video is the only thing that can do it justice because my trying to explain the characteristics would make this post insanely long.

For auto guys running tunes, I'm seeing now the trans tuning is the whole other side of the story that really brings the car to life. I put this tune right alongside my original 3im install & initial 325->330 tune upgrade.

I really want to see these videos. I've been staring at your shift maps too long, the real thing would be much more fun to watch.

[rjahl]

While we wait for Videos,

Someone prompted me to look into the GKE191 (First Gen ZF 6HP26) files. doing so, we have learned a few things about the RSA and file format for those gearboxes.

Digging around I found an Aplina file for that transmission. While the file is not as complicated as the next generation Alpina versions, it certainly designed to manage more torque. I've dug through this shift pressures and they are clearly pumped to manage the extra torque. Toque reduction for up-shifts and downshifts are amended as well.

This gives me more to study while building the tunes for the smaller GKE211.

Check out the torque from the Aplina V8. If I could only get close to that in my E85

[rjahl]

Moving into a new PC today and while watching hard disks spin around, I started to take a better look at the Torque Converter Maps.

My understand may not be complete but the following are the torque converter closing maps for gear 1 and gear 2. There are opening maps as well. For clarity, I did not show them.

Notice how the TCC does not appear to close at all in 1st gear. It's not until 96% throttle that it starts to clamp down and a really low engine RPM.

Seems to me that this prohibits the TCC from multiplying torque under full throttle. Granted once the Turbine achieves its "stall speed" it pretty locked up anyways. From the maps, I am guess stall speed is around 2,500.

You see a similar trend in the other gears, the TCC locks up under full throttle.

Another surprise for me was the spread between the start and end of the closing. There is probably a map the quantifies what's happening in the middle of the spread but I have not seen it yet.

Another interesting tidbit, These maps hardly change between different engines on the E85. This along with most everything else I've seen in these files tells me BMW did very little to optimize the experience provided by the Automatic Transmissions. It's little wonder why so many people hate them.

[N52UNED]

Originally Posted by rjahl

... ... ...
It's little wonder why so many people hate them.

This is my first BMW ... coming from an auto A3 for the past 5 years; I am surprised how unrefined they are. My 7.3l diesel Ford has smoother transitions ... gunned or just cruising.

[rjahl]

Originally Posted by N52UNED

This is my first BMW ... coming from an auto A3 for the past 5 years; I am surprised how unrefined they are. My 7.3l diesel Ford has smoother transitions ... gunned or just cruising.

Bimmergeaks

I'm working with a guy that's running an E60 diesel GKE 191 and the gear display byte causes an error in the Kombi. Both my tune and the Alpina cause the same error. Manual and D work but Sport mode causes a red gear. No error stored in the TCU and no limp mode.

Any ideas?

Did the Alpina run a different Oda file in the Kombi? Hardware?

[rjahl]

OK, I'll send you the information tonight.

Been working on the TCU tune for our transmissions a little more, I should have an update by the end of the week. I've learned a few things in the last week or two.

[rjahl]

I finally took the time to review the Calibration file for the 325 vs the 330.

Based on what I was seeing with the E85 Files, I expected this to be a lengthily comparison but in fact there is very little to tell.

Except for the Torque converter values, primarily the Power absorption and other related maps. the 325 and 330 calibration files are very similar.

Shift pressures, times and torque reduction values are all the same. Which surprised me, the E85 files have tweaks for each engine package. Probably the wrong forum to discuss those changes, particularly considering you can not run stock E85 files on an E90.

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what the torque converter power absorption maps does. I have found some references calling this a power dampening map, If I am correct, even "locked" the torque converter clutch allows slippage to soften power surges from sudden throttle changes. You can see this by given the throttle a slight "blip" at highway speed and watch your Tach. The RPMs will jump 100 RPMs or so with little no change in vehicle speed. I guess I should tweak some of the values and test.

Yes, there are some shift point changes between the two files, nothing earth shaking and difficult to compare against each other. Shift points are governed by transmission output shaft speed and throttle input and this gets messy when you try to compare cars with different final drive ratios. I can post screen shots if there is interest.

I have found and modified countless other maps that control the shift timing at different points in the shift, shift pressures and recently learned how to remove the delay in the active gear display.

[rjahl]

Here is another example of what the BMW engineers had in mind when the set up the calibration files for the automatics.

Below is the deceleration time map for the 2>1 down shift in manual and sport mode. Deceleration is the time allocated for the oncoming clutch to slowly clamp and bring the engine and gearbox to the same RPM's. The map on the left if the stock 330 file, while the middle is the stock Z4 3.0SI value and the right is my current values. Axis is RPM, torque (Nm) and value is milliseconds.

Keep in mind that this is only ONE phase of the shift. A list of phases:

1. Pre-fill and stabilization; time allocated to pre-fill the oncoming clutch. 20 milliseconds for this shift
2. Zeit 2, Time used to switch the engine torque from the off going clutch to the oncoming clutch. About 200 milliseconds for this shift
3. Deceleration, time allocated for the engine and gearbox to synchronize speeds. This is also about the same period the TCU will request a reduction in torque output from the engine via the CAN bus.
4. Zeit 3. Just a soft ramp for the final closing of the oncoming clutch

So if you have a 330 auto, you push the paddle to downshift into 1st and you get to wait over one full second to complete the downshift. Yawn.

The calibration files are full of setting designed to keep things SMOOTH and have very little to do with performance or sportiness. Sure you need to be careful as you can easily push too much torque through the gearbox but so far I have not had to move any of the torque limiters to achieve really great results.

[rjahl]

One more comparison

Same set of maps but for a 2>3 up-shift in sport/manual mode

Left is stock 330, middle stock 3.0SI and the right is my current setting.

Yes, I had to reduce the engine torque through the shift to keep the shift smooth. I get a kick but a soft kick.

I can probably push this a little more but frankly this is really time consuming. Nothing like tuning a DME. Think about it, The TCU has something like 18 shift maps to control when it shifts. Then you have up shifts and downshifts in D mode plus Sport/manual mode for each gear. Each shift has 2 main timing maps with matching pressure and torque reduction maps. Each tuned to torque and RPM.

And that's not even discussing the Torque Converter Lock Up clutch maps, All 14 of them. The Diesel guys are really interested in those.

[rjahl]

Originally Posted by BimmerGeeks

Are there different final drive ratios between the Z4i vs iS?

That could explain while there are a few more tweaks on that side.

No, the Z4 has the same final drive options as the 3 series.

3.64 for the 255hp
3.73 for the 215Hp

[CobraMarty]

I saw this on another forum. IDK if it is the same, but maybe seeing what someone else did will help.
http://www.***********.com/showthrea...t-points-flash

[rjahl]

I would expect Xhp stuff should to showing up just about everywhere now. I think they are or have released a version that support the 335i. To date they have been focused on the Turbo diesels and N54 cars. All of them use the second generation of the 6HP19.

That project started from these forums.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1125073

This group of guys worked on the transmission remap for a very long time before bringing in outside assistance who helped them break into the bootloader and eventually develop the commercial application now known as Xhp.

If your car is supported, the Xhp application allows you to purchase different tunes and even build your own transmission tune using a very basic Tunerpro definition file. Similar to the Openflash tablet concept, except any Android tablet will work. Much of what you read on the other forums is from people trying to control more than what the public XDF file provides.

An example, Brad has been trying to manage how the torque is reintroduced to the engine after a shift. If the TCU releases the torque reduction too quickly the load management system on the turbo DMEs' cut timing.

[CobraMarty]

The 'trans' language you and others speak and the work you and others have done is so impressive. Most of the time I don't understand what you are talking about but I enjoy reading it all.

[JohnG7]

Originally Posted by CobraMarty

The 'trans' language you and others speak and the work you and others have done is so impressive. Most of the time I don't understand what you are talking about but I enjoy reading it all.

This!

Much to think about, the work is appreciated...

[rjahl]

I thought my transmission tune was nearly 100%, Carefully making small adjustments and driving for a week or so before making additional changes until the tune felt really good. I have driven several thousand miles developing this tune while commuting to work.

Then, this week end I changed transmission fluid and it all changed again. In a good way but this sets me back a few weeks as the transmission is shifting harder than I wanted. I have to decide if I want to slow down the timers or the shift pressures.

I'm thinking that my shift pressures were high enough to activate the shift time control in a few places but others areas the shift pressures still controlled the shift speeds. With the new fluid, the clutches are grabbing quicker and I need to reset some of those ranges.

Not really a big deal and I'll end up with a better tune at the end of the process, just something I did not expect.

For those of you with more than 50,000 miles on your transmission fluid, I advise you to change fluid now.

This could be why one of the test subjects pulled an error on the latest tune. His car has a newly rebuilt magatronics unit and fresh fluid while I was testing on a car with 190,000 miles and 50,000 miles on the fluid.

I'm pretty sure the ZF fluid has a friction modifier that wears out with use and or time.

[rjahl]

So I've finally started to mess with the TCC maps,

Moved the 6th gear lockup from the 2,505 RPMS to 2,200. This will will have the TCC locked up for a much higher percentage of my daily commute. It will be interesting to see how this affects my fuel consumption.

I've also activated the TCC on through out first gear. While I don't use 1st gear very much it's a strange feeling to have the TCC active in 1st, makes it feel like a manual. Wheel spin becomes an issue, way easier to get the nagging traction control light on the Kombi.

I'll drive it like this for a while and if I like how this feels, I will modify some of the second gear TCC maps.

[Jacks60r]

Great works guys!
I'd really like to get involved with this. I've got a 2005 euro rhd 535d with a 6hp26.
What do I need to get involved?