8hp45

[hoveringuy]

Better clearance pics. These are probably the best E30-8HP45 pics anywhere, most of my previous information was "it fits, trust me bro..."


The plug area on the right side has a full pencil width. The face is actually on the other side of that bump so it's more than it looks.




On the left it's about the same. It's on the other side of that hump and about a pencil width.



Looking down the top. Solid 1 3/4" everywhere.






So, 8HP45 clears fine and some of those aluminum flanges could even be taken down. 8HP70 is bigger, I believe, so no guarantees there...

[Caperix]

Looking good, it looks like your fill plug is low enough that it will be accessible as long as the exhaust is not too close. How bad is it to get the transmission connector out for service/repair? On the transmission mount did you try the factory mount from a rwd e84 x1? Apparently that mount makes the zf8 drop in to e36/46 cars.

[hoveringuy]

Looking good, it looks like your fill plug is low enough that it will be accessible as long as the exhaust is not too close. How bad is it to get the transmission connector out for service/repair? On the transmission mount did you try the factory mount from a rwd e84 x1? Apparently that mount makes the zf8 drop in to e36/46 cars.

The transmission connector will only come out by removing the the crossbar. How often will that need to be removed/accessed?

I'm doing the pan/filter/fluid today. I don't have a cooler yet so I wont' get terribly anal on the proper fill level, I'll just start it a few times to fill the TC.

This is what RealOEM shows for the E84 X1. I'd need to compare E30 to E36, but I know the one mounting location is completely up in left field on the E30.....

I have not abandoned just using the original 8HP rear attach fitting as shown here, it would work fine but I can't use it until I re-route my exhaust to avoid interfering with where the cross bar would need to go.

[hoveringuy]

Another detail. I have a giant hole where my shifter once sat and I need to mount my auto shifter.

There are about 12 different ways this can be done, anything from paddle shifters to sequential shifters. The coolest ones are the M5 shifters, but this F30 shifter was $50 and will work great until I change my mind.

I added two M6 weld-nuts to the tunnel. There are some stampings in the metal there where it looks like the factory may have had some plastic nuts on some models; I went in the middle of those.

I will probably place the CANTCU directly in front of the shifter and the entire thing will get covered by a new console at some point. (I may even mount this guy in there... https://rmracingelectronics.com/shop...AK2EhQif09fUXd)

There are a TON of cool products coming-out that support the 8HP, and the E30 digital dash would also be a good match.

I'll make some kind of a plug for the hole.

[DesertBMW]

hoveringuy that is amazing, all I got is respect for your work

[hoveringuy]

hoveringuy that is amazing, all I got is respect for your work

Thanks!

Electronic integration!

There were several different ways I could have tackled the integration of the transmission, the two most popular being CANTCU and TurboLamik, as well as MaxxECU. The TurboLamik replaces 100% of the electronics in the TCU with a bridge and controls the solenoids directly, whereas the CANTCU keeps all of the factory electronics in the TCU and just tells them what to do. The CANTCU philosophy is that ZF threw thousands of German engineers at the problem and spent $Billions developing the algorithms and control strategy to make a great transmission, why throw all that away?

The TurboLamik gives you direct control, but that also means that every table and parameter needs to fine-tuned. The CANTCU is more "just tell me when you want to shift...".

So, CANTCU also very recently upgraded their software to the Race+ Beta which very much levels it with the very capable TurboLamik, adding trans brake, NIC, virtual clutch and so on.

My experience with the CANTCU has been great so far. The TCU flasher is built right in so that I didn't have to do anything weird to flash the TCU out of it's EWS-locked factory configuration. It's just a tool in the software and it took 5 minutes. With the MaxxECU, for instance, it's a whole "thing" to get the ECU flashed which usually means mailing it to someone.

The shifter is connected and communicating properly, I also have the proper brake signal to the ECU and that is being transmitted over CAN.

I can start the car on jacks at this point, apply the brake and shift into gears. I haven't broached different modes like ECO, SPORT, SPORT+, etc.

I'll have the driveshaft Monday, then I'll need to install that along with the exhaust and warm the car so I can top the fluid.


The CANTCU sits ingloriously in the glovebox for now. I got the shifter low enough that I no longer want it on the tunnel. I'll properly mount it later.




Shifter is super-solid. I'll figure-out the console later.




This is super-cool....
I was worried about how my ECU would be flashed into "automatic" mode from manual, because it needs to be in automatic mode to do torque cuts, blips and so on.

It just kinda happened, like magic.