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The Maxx also uses the stock BMW TCU and firmware, which has pressure limitations for reliability and warranty. Which means reduced torque capacity. I believe they can be reflashed with different firmware (E90 M3 GTS?) but unsure if it gets you all the way to maximum like the HTG can.
Word, yeah I kenw about the lack of upgradability but given the power delivery of a rotary vs modern BMWs I'm less inclined to believe its a requirement off the hop.
Yeah. It's fine for an FD. There is one running that tracks all the time. The problem is the gear ratio. Buying haltech, then a transmission controller on top of it is the main downside. Wish haltech or fuel tech would build transmission control into the ecu.
Indycar turbos installed....was hoping for a nice bellmouth snout!
Lol, no room. I do have enclosed air filters for each turbo that's ducted to the foglight holes on my front bumper. I have an FC, so no stock cooler pods to worry about. My IATs are phenomenal and I saw a noticeable increase in required fuel after plumbing proper cold air.
those clutch kits aren’t cheap, but offer some serious capacity
would like to understand more about the tuning process if/when you have time.
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The GCU has like 50 different tables that all do something combined to effect shift quality and how the car drives.
Put simply, there are maps that effect "takeup" and a whole host of maps that effect upshifts and downshifts.
Takeup has a main map that is TPS vs RPM and is full of arbitrary numbers that kind of simulate your clutch pedal when leaving from a stop.
There are other maps for takeup like temperature modifiers for when the gear box is cold, multipliers to change the main takeup map by gear (first and reverse are different ratios, can also start in 2nd if you had to).
The shifting tables include things like how long the shift takes, what the clutch pressure should be once the shift is completed. Most of these maps are 3D maps with engine load on Y axis and gear on X, because each gear behaves differently and you want smoother shifts at low load and fast, crisp shifts at higher load.
There are also maps for "prefill" pressure that effect how smoothly the trans completes the shift. Without prefill pressure, you're basically banging the next gear 0-100 as soon as the GCU says go.
If one of these tables is off, the trans can flare RPM between shifts (slipping the clutches), or be harsh and bang the next gear. If not tuned properly, the trans can hit HARD.
I've been playing with the GCU for maybe 2 months and I'm to the point where 1/2 to 3/4 of the shifts are pretty reasonable. I still have some oddball up and downshifts that are harsher than I like.
Today was literally the last driving day of the season (salt is officially on the roads), and I'm getting the throttle blips correct on downshifts. It's super fun and motorsports-sounding.
Here's another video of me banging 2nd-5th on some cold roads. Only on 7psi and roughly 500-550wtq.
Ambient temps were 42F and the R888Rs were pretty well dead cold. Traction isn't great, but it still accelerates while spinning its nuts off. https://imgur.com/lklpdSF
Sorry to dig up an old thread. It looks like we are finally finished. @m33performance Manual Iron + Custom Top mount Starter + E92 DCT Trans tunnel Dampened support
Looking good, friend! Hope you get some good success w the kits. The more conversions, the better the HTG drivability tuning should get.
Im using the MaxxECU. While they utilize factory parameters, they continue to unlock more and more and update the software freely. But yes, I hope the HTG option gets smoothed out fully as it opens up more transmission options as well as opens up different ecu combinations.
^^^^Surprised the kit availability hasn't been mentioned in recent days?
One of the guys down here developed another option for gearbox control to avoid the hassles seen elsewhere....chip shortage seems to have stymied a product launch that was scheduled for this year though. https://www.mectricmse.com/index.php...rol/ptc-detail Probably a tiny market, but with Haltech sold, maybe some possibility of investment in this area as well?
there is quite a bit of cost variance between kits and also between variants of the used DCT market. You really have to look into it well to understand how they stack up to each other in the final useable form.
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Correct. And the nicest DCT gearbox (from F80/82) has gone from $1600 to $4500 in the used market since this all started. Deals can still be had but nothing like it was. Now the cheaper boxes are going up in price too (E92). The main issue is that the cheaper boxes have low gear ratio (1:1 in 7th gear which is equivalent to 4th in the stock FD 5 speed). This is not an issue when upgrading your diff to 8.8 because there are lots of options (3.1). But if sticking with stock diff (3.9 minimum), not great for cruising.
Positive about the older low ratio trans is that the Maxxecu can control it, so you save the expense of having a separate transmission controller. But if you already have a haltech or something on your car, you probably need to buy the HTG transmission controller anyway unless you want to swap engine ECUs.
And the adapter kits themselves are at different price points.
There are lots of costs and combinations one needs to plan out when determining their their conversion.
^^^^Surprised the kit availability hasn't been mentioned in recent days?
One of the guys down here developed another option for gearbox control to avoid the hassles seen elsewhere....chip shortage seems to have stymied a product launch that was scheduled for this year though. https://www.mectricmse.com/index.php...rol/ptc-detail Probably a tiny market, but with Haltech sold, maybe some possibility of investment in this area as well?
*wink wink* *nudge nudge* (I have to be careful not to be blatantly advertising, even though this is one of those projects that will be lucky to break even unless it takes off)
Correct. And the nicest DCT gearbox (from F80/82) has gone from $1600 to $4500 in the used market since this all started. Deals can still be had but nothing like it was. Now the cheaper boxes are going up in price too (E92). The main issue is that the cheaper boxes have low gear ratio (1:1 in 7th gear which is equivalent to 4th in the stock FD 5 speed). This is not an issue when upgrading your diff to 8.8 because there are lots of options (3.1). But if sticking with stock diff (3.9 minimum), not great for cruising.
Positive about the older low ratio trans is that the Maxxecu can control it, so you save the expense of having a separate transmission controller. But if you already have a haltech or something on your car, you probably need to buy the HTG transmission controller anyway unless you want to swap engine ECUs.
And the adapter kits themselves are at different price points.
There are lots of costs and combinations one needs to plan out when determining their their conversion.
Great post! Don't forget the custom driveshaft too. Pretty common for most all transmission swaps but often forgotten until the end when we are staring at a tail shaft and a diff flange going... hmmmmmm.
Another big difference currently between the kits out there is if one has the manual rear iron or an auto rear iron.
Here are the finished kits for the manual rear iron. There are a few options for the shifter plate now: blank, centered (without the park cable), and slightly offset to the right (for those keeping the parking cable). Designed to not even need to cut the plastic ring inside the shift boot. Kit 1 Kit 2 Starter, comes pre-mounted and assembled. Labelled Hardware packaging correlating to instructions 1 Labelled Hardware packaging correlating to instructions 2 Centered (without parking cable) Slightly offset to the right (retains parking cable)
I like the sprung center hub and kit overall; lot’s of quality, just am unsure if a top mount starter arrangement is going to clear on an RX8 chassis since the engine sits back further under the firewall.
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*wink wink* *nudge nudge* (I have to be careful not to be blatantly advertising, even though this is one of those projects that will be lucky to break even unless it takes off)
Yeah, don't think you get rich off a tiny market niche product like this, haha! Certainly looks like a quality bit of kit - and every detail accounted for there.
Yeah, don't think you get rich off a tiny market niche product like this, haha! Certainly looks like a quality bit of kit - and every detail accounted for there.
Very true. We just wanted to come up with a solution no one else had accomplished. Now we are hoping to get it out there so we can try more.
Just an unsolicited update - I've been driving my DCT swapped FC all spring with no real issues. There are still some shifts that could be tweaked to be smoother. It's not really priority since the car is running and driving, and I don't really want to mess with it since HTG keeps promising they're about to release closed-loop DCT tuning. HTG keeps hinting that they want people to use their "DBW MOD" feature, which intercepts the PPS (rather than ECU seeing the pedal) and outputs their modified PPS to the ECU. I don't particularly like the idea of them modifying the PPS, since it's a redundant safety device. HTG's software isn't nearly as robust or user-friendly IMO either.
I have spent some time dialing in throttle blips and shift cut and turned the boost up around ~600whp. No issues so far and the stock clutches seem to take it just fine. I'm probably close to 550wtq or more.
The car is a blast to drive. It's a ton more planted and traction is improved with the DCT. I don't run it in Auto mode, so it drives more like a clutch-less sequential that doesn't make you deaf lol.
Just started my DCT swap.. I’m using Neal’s kit so far its straight forward.
I picked my F80 before they doubled in price. It’s crazy what they are asking now.
Steve
Last edited by estevan62274; Jun 10, 2022 at 09:27 AM.
