It's 100 percent worth it!

 

I didn't read the whole thread. But recently installed a 8hp behind a 5.7hemi using the controller from Russel Drake at Sound German in Bellevue WA. It was honestly plug and play. The transmission controller is completely stand alone and could be ran with any ECU, it just uses the standard inputs like any TCU. Support is out standing. Russell was easy to get ahold of and we will use his stuff in the future.

It didn't require any hardware changes to the transmission.

 

I looked heavily at that controller, but you're limited to whatever stock tunes there are unless you know someone with HP tuners that knows how to tune an 8hp

 

Small update, you can display speed, gear, and trans temp on the 3.5" display(for those of us waiting to get a holley dash)!

 

For someone who is looking into paddle shift options for a purely road race car, this thread is great. Andrew's work is fantastic.

Question: If I only wanted a purely manual shift setup with the ZF8HP (no automatic mode) does that significantly simplify the programming process and/or the amount of controller hardware required? The shifting would be electronic switch controlled (like DIY paddle shifters).

Background: I have a heavily track prepared road-racing Miata (not much Miata left) with a LS swap and a dog box T56. I have campaigned it in NASA ST/TT. Going to a pure paddle shift option would be very attractive, and I can handle all of the mechanical and wiring work. The big unknown for me is the transmission controller programming, and I have no desire to go down that rabbit hole; I have enough to do as it is.

Right now the car is using a EFILive flashed GM PCM to control the motor; however I am about to upgrade to a Haltech R3 which has a can bus that is NOT proprietary (like a Holley is from what I understand).

I saw the comments about direct control with the MaxxECU but I was not clear on whether the TurboLamik was still required or not. Also since MaxxECU is new in the game, I would feel much better with a Haltech.

Thanks

 

Question: If I only wanted a purely manual shift setup with the ZF8HP (no automatic mode) does that significantly simplify the programming process and/or the amount of controller hardware required? The shifting would be electronic switch controlled (like DIY paddle shifters).

You could do that--it actually won't change very much--there are 8(or 9) settings in which you can select different drive modes and P8 is all manual(although it does downshift automatically, that is something you could turn off).

My DCT is just microswitches that ground to make the shift.

If you have MAXXECU you do not need turbolamik

I am unsure how the haltech would work. Holley is now fully functional with turbolamik(firmware was just released like 3 days ago too!)

 

Maxxecu will control the engine and trans, no other controllers required. They have been in the game for 15 years. Contact Brett Willett, he is a very knowledgeable MaxxEcu dealer out of Kansas City.

 

Thanks. I have seen Maxxecu mentioned here and there so I will check it out.

On your first point, are you saying these are modes in the Turbolamik?

On your second point, are you saying that within the context of the ZF8 or are you referring to a BMW DCT? If you are just talking about paddle shifter controls in general, yes that part is pretty simple.

 

Maxx 8HP control is in beta testing:
https://www.maxxecu.com/webhelp/advanced-8hp.html

The Maxx strategy is different than other options on the market. They retain the stock TCU, but they flash it with their own firmware. In order to change the transmission settings you need software called MTune. People read stuff on the internet and spread claims without fully understanding the details. Details matter.

The TurboLamik has 9 shift modes that can be accessed on the fly using the rotary dial that is on the harness.

I am obviously biased towards Holley EFI, and I can honestly say that what I have done with TurboLamik works very well. I have no doubt that Haltech and Maxx systems work well, but getting support is the most important part of any system. I have made it my business to be the GO TO person for both Holley EFI and TurboLamik tuning.

Andrew

 

100%, and thanks for establishing so many.

So there are at least two paths covered here for the 8HP:
- MaxxECU for ECU and TCU, no additional TCU needed, but the transmission control is in Beta (possibly sketchy?).
- Holley EFI and TurboLamik TCU with established tuning (?) but considerably more $ for hardware.

This leads me more toward keeping my existing T56 dog box and waiting for the 8HP path to become more established and hopefully less expensive (hardware + trans + adapters + trans cooler + etc = $$$) . Other considerations (for me) are the T56 is already in the car and working very well, and the 8HP is about 50 lbs heavier than the T56; this matters for road racing. Plus fitting an 8HP into a LS swapped Miata, with adequate ground clearance, may not be trivial.

 

So the shifter I was referencing is this shifter: DCT Shifter – DomiWorks Engineering AB (domi-works.com)

Which is effectively how your paddle shifters would work--one for up and one for down.
You could actually have both with turbolamik. After working with Andrew on this, it is definitely an amazing system.

I took my car out saturday morning to do one final shake down before I get some videos and boy does it drive nice! 3-4,4-5 shifts are soo much fun at WOT
This thing from a roll on would all over the 489 big block and 6 speed tremec I had in the car.

 

It's not much heavier in the sense that you have a bell housing, clutch, flywheel and all that you would need to account for.
I got my 8hp for 500 bucks
The adaptor and computer were expensive.. but I can use those on other 8hps in the future

This is not any more expensive than doing a 6 speed or 4l80 swap if you're making decent power as you have to build those to handle it where this does right out of the junkyard(so far)

Now if you ALREADY have a decent 6 speed then there's the only advantage is shift speed and gearing.

 

To be fair:
- Good point on the weight. Not needing the clutch, flywheel, and pressure plate removes a lot of weight. I presume one still needs a pressure plate and the input shaft adapter but those are not as heavy as the aforementioned.
- I could sell the T56 as it is worth some significant money being freshly rebuilt and faceplated, so there is some cost offset.
- Looks like around here they are going for $750 for a good one with lower mileage (less thank 100K). Still that is inexpensive.

 

That's true, but the adaptor is aluminum so pretty light(I used SLG which is aluminum flywheel).
It depends on how you're going to use it. I am using the factory torque converter too. I got mine for 500 bucks with 33k miles!
I basically sold my 4l80/circle D converter for a little less than what I have in this build, and it was completely worth the extra cost(I would say I have an extra 1200-1500 bucks in this going in knowing this is on the bleeding edge of people doing it which means prices might come down if it becomes more mainsteam) . The 4l80 felt super sluggish with this build compared to the 8 speed. It's night and day difference.

 

OK after reading some of the information on the MaxxECU I have questions for someone (if anyone) that has implemented and successfully tuned MaxxECU control of a flashed 8HP.
- How much 'tuning' of the transmission is required, other than setting up the default settings in the MaxxECU? From what I can tell, the following need to be 'tuned':
Shiftcut conditions
Retard angles
Ramp back times
Fuel and Ignition Drop
Throttle Blip and Blip Delay
- If someone has never tuned an 8HP before, how deep is the rabbit hole to get the above 8HP settings working well? I can handle tuning an engine, which took a long time to learn the first time of course. If there is a lot to learn for tuning an 8HP that needs to be considered.

Thanks

 

I have a 6L80E in a C6 (stock programming AFAIK) and yeah I believe it. It is not bad, but definitely not shift-right-now when using manual mode with the paddles.

 

I don't think you will get any real answers regarding the MaXX 8HP solution here, because it is still in Beta. There is a Maxx FB group and there are several people that seem to be using the Beta software. I have not seen anyone with a LS/8HP combination with a MaXX ECU controlling both.

I can only speak about the Holley EFI and the TurboLamik. The trickiest part of getting the TurboLamik to work properly is imputing a good torque table. After watching the process a couple of times, I think I have a good handle on it. The torque table doesn't need to be 100% accurate, but it should be close. Given a good engine tune a decent torque table can be estimated based on fuel consumption. Right now we are using the internal torque tables inside the TurboLamik, but I am also going to experiment with sending torque values from the Holley EFI.

The torque reduction is straightforward with the TurboLamik. The TurboLamik sends a 0-100 value to reduce torque. I then create an advanced table to do the timing offsets. The TurboLamik hands the ramps.

Andrew

 

I have built several Maxxecu LS cars including a recent 72 Camaro build with an LS2, Ram 8HP70- all controlled by a Maxxecu Race. The Maxxecu 8HP control is very simple to configure and is an absolute blast to drive in this combination. PM me if you have any Maxxecu LS/8HP questions or need access to 8HP flash tool for Maxxecu setups.

 

@Tbrett Interested. It looks like you cannot receive PMs yet.

 

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