Sad but true LOL
I just don't trust myself soldering the pcb... I figured I'll spend the money twice if the sga setup isn't what I want. I want track mode and manual shift modes which it's supposed to do!

 

My buddy Tom took the PCBs to be soldered by an electronics repair shop. It didn't cost much and these guys are experts.

Andrew

 

Well, I sucked it up and ordered the turbolamik. After a bunch of research and talking to each owner.. turbolamik caught my attention. 0to60 on youtube also helped with that decision.

Also ordered the sequential shifter(DCT is the name). Look forward to having a transbrake, holding the stick back to load it up, and letting go and getting out of the hole!

 

That trasnbrake capability without all the extra crap normally associated with a transbrake is very sexy.

 

There is a pin underneath the tranny. I don't remember much else...I am in the research phase, have not had one in front of me.
I was under the impression this was sorted, you must have decided to forgo a TCU flashed by an established company in order to use the turboamik?
Good luck,
Ken

 

Hi Ken,

Can you elaborate on this pin?

​​The stock TCU is removed when using the TurboLamik.

Andrew

 

I'm apologize for the brevity. It was my first post, and when I read it once it posted, I did look for the option to edit and found none. While reading your difficulty moving the vehicle, I remembered reading about a failsafe device located under the trans in case of a dead battery, or something to that effect. I have been a fan of the ZF8 for a couple of years, and do read everything I come across in anticipation of starting my project. However; if you have removed the TCU, this probably won't function, and I am sure you must be more knowledgeable than me, but I am surprised you are using a trans manufactured by Chrysler in their own plant as I have read that their's have a higher incidence of problems. I just performed a web search and went straight to it, It is a 5mm screw just to the driver's side of the pan rail. Screw it in until you hear the "click," then 2 more turns to be sure. You will be disconnecting the shift claw at the sound of the click, and this is performed manually so hopefully it will enable you to move the vehicle for towing or what have you. There will be no click as you unscrew the 5mm bolt. " ZF8HP pin for dead battery" is the parameter for my web search.

Good luck with your endeavor!
KKAIRN

 

That makes more sense!

They also have this device(you could easily make one and I likely will out of an old shifter cable)
https://www.seemslegitgarage.com/pro...rk-release-kit

 

That is a kit I posted a while back on this thread and it seems like a good part.

Andrew

 

I understand the most important thing is to accurately input the engines torque output.

 

The ZF 8HP swap journey continues as well. Tom is working on prepping these transmissions for us. These two were probably the worst looking on the outside.







But they sure cleaned up nicely!



The really cool part about these transmissions is that they already have a CV cup on the output! If you guys recall, I was basically the one that popularized the use of modern CV driveshafts in older cars. My Cougar has had a dual CV driveshaft since I built it in 2015.



The GTO has had a CV driveshaft in it since about 2012-2013ish...Both driveshafts use a carbon fiber tube.

So when using the 8HP in an older car, the front CV is already to go! I met with The DriveShaft Shop at the PRI show and they assured me that they can build driveshafts for these swaps.

Andrew

 

TurboLamik is much more popular in Europe where Zf8 boxes are plentiful due to the higher prevalence of German autos.
The largest drawback to using the TurboLamik is that it is almost a blackbox, meaning that the creators / developers are not overly open source at all. There is also a bit of a language barrier and a time zone differential. That being said, once you do reach out to them they are generally more than happy to assist via chat/text message, and to remote into your install is need be.
As you may know the only official support community is the turbolamik forum (which could be considered almost a ghost town), however there is a much much busier FB Group which is not officially supported but several dealers, installers, and a couple of tuners do frequent and help out. Much of what the userbase has figured out has seemingly been shared through threre. Of course, because its a FBGroup, searching for information is a pain in the butt.
Ultimately most installs are pretty much ready to run "out of the box" as the "maps" are incredibly universal initially. The software more-or-less monitors input and output speed and extrapolates or interpolates from there.

I spent a few months last winter reading up on zf8 control options, and then on the TurboLamik specifically. I got my kit, did the valvebody harness work, and got it in the car in spring. Drove it all summer and I spent far more time tinkering with the motor than I ever did with the trans.

Turbo LQ4 with a zf8hp70 out of a Ram (I was an FCA tech) in a 3800 lb car. Ran MaxxECU for the motor, wired into the same CAN and setup basic information sharing between them.

 

You can simply change the output flange by removing the nut and swapping on another flange. There are CV style flanges on most of the Dodge cars, 4-bolt flanges for the Spicer ujoints on the RAM trucks, 3 bolt / trident flanges for many of the BMW boxes (using guibos), among more...
For example I pulled the stock 3bolt off of the 6hp21 trans that came in my project car and bolted it onto the RAM zf8h70... and saved the 4bolt ujoint style for when I need to make a custom driveshaft with a rear end swap.

 

Oh yeah almost forgot - MaxxECU is expecting to rollout zf8 support by Q2 2024, it'd be CAN based control (similar to CANTcu) so you won't get Transbrake control like the Lamik (which uses direct solenoid control), but with the MaxxECU you'd then only need ONE controller for both motor and trans.
The Maxxecu does currently support controlling a BMW DCT and 4L60 / 4L80 I believe but I'm not sure of the details on that as I didn't need it for my application. I do however love my MaxxECU Race as the engine controller - I originally chose it over the Holley Term-X because the Maxx has a lot more native CAN protocols built in, and so all of my swap chassis relevant systems stayed alive. Now adding in zf8 control is a huge bonus for me.

 

I may just be ignorant but why all the effort into this transmission when you have the 6L, 8L, and 10L factory transmissions available?

 

​​​​​​Those factory transmissions are HUGE in comparison. The 6 and 8 speed gm transmissions are complete junk. The 10 speed would be amazing... But it's massive. This fits right where a 4l80 fits.

 

Dodge Challenger Demon, that's why

 

Actually the 70 comes from the 5.7 and 6.4 challengers. The demon has a 90.
These have been seeing 1000hp and 600+ ft lbs without dying(8hp70)

I'm in the middle of my swap currently. Working on some computer stuff.

 

Are the 70 and 90 similar platforms with stronger parts? Are they the same control system?

 

Yes.

Andrew