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E38 / E67 With T87/A

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Old Dec 21, 2023 | 11:02 PM
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Default E38 / E67 With T87/A

Playing with the T87 / T87A TCM for some GM retro fit projects, in both the gas and diesel OS versions. Have the CANbus related stuff all sorted, able stay out of limp mode tables, and keep the ECM and TCM speaking happy on the bench for several hours with just a crank/cam emulator faking our LS spinning hardware.Everything in the TCM responds as should, and ready to go further.

The BCM and EBCM communications require a bit more work to keep the "No Comms" DTC's away, depending on the body year. But so far the 2012 E38 OS and 2016 T87 OS combo looks promising. Anyone interested in beta testing some new hardware, and has a 6,8, or 10spd they would like to connected it to something GM didn't intend, PM me..









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Old Dec 21, 2023 | 11:35 PM
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Have you figured out how to handle the torque input for the transmission?
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Old Dec 21, 2023 | 11:53 PM
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Originally Posted by minytrker
Have you figured out how to handle the torque input for the transmission?
As far as getting the correct values from the ECM that the TCM requires for shifting and such, yes. I've been playing with high speed GMLAN for a good while. Mostly in stand alone or marine setups. So I have a complete GlobalA DBC file showing the parameters details down to the bit, and hardware to manipulate said data on the fly. I've had it talking for some time, just need to record it making some shifts live now.
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Old Dec 22, 2023 | 12:04 AM
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And before ya ask, yes I can most likely make the T87's play nice with Holley also. Pretty familiar with the Holley Standard protocol, I also build those marine gateways.
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Old Dec 22, 2023 | 08:34 AM
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We have had holley working with 6l80's for probably three plus years. IMO our way is much better than how holley came out with but I understand why holley did what they did, Our way is easier to tune the 6l80 better,
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Old Dec 22, 2023 | 12:31 PM
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We probably spoke about that setup in the past. Several people hit me up over the years about converting HEFI to GMLAN. I only did Racepak protocol until they dropped it in TermX, then I finally reversed the standard protocol also. Then someone hit me up about these new TCM units, which are quite robust I must say Just really picky on their data packets, and the addition of Permanent DTC's is an interesting touch. But with a little hacking help, and the A2l files, it's actually pretty nice TCM option. I just need someone to help verify the two way communications works across all the different platforms in the real world. Got the Truck stuff sorted also.



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Old Dec 22, 2023 | 03:10 PM
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Shoot me an email with your information. I'm sure we both have alot of the same info but maybe I can help. There is a lot of info I wont post online.
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Old May 16, 2024 | 12:29 PM
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Originally Posted by kidturbo
Playing with the T87 / T87A TCM for some GM retro fit projects, in both the gas and diesel OS versions. Have the CANbus related stuff all sorted, able stay out of limp mode tables, and keep the ECM and TCM speaking happy on the bench for several hours with just a crank/cam emulator faking our LS spinning hardware.Everything in the TCM responds as should, and ready to go further.

The BCM and EBCM communications require a bit more work to keep the "No Comms" DTC's away, depending on the body year. But so far the 2012 E38 OS and 2016 T87 OS combo looks promising. Anyone interested in beta testing some new hardware, and has a 6,8, or 10spd they would like to connected it to something GM didn't intend, PM me..




Hey kidturbo I've seen your work here and on another forum interfacing this setup and you seem to know your stuff. I can't get approved on the other forum and can't pm you here because it's a new account.

I have a 2005 ctsv with an ls6 and 8l90 currently running and driving for a while now with the tcm2650. All is well and I love the setup but my engine is tired and lack of torque management has me up in the air.

I have an arduino and can tools although im nowhere near as advanced as you and others are, the 06-07 model cars came with an e67. I want to interface the e67 to the t87 I have to be able to run a gen 4 setup. Otherwise ill be looking at a full gen 5 swap and losing factory functions on car.

Is there anyway I could get with you on this and maybe just get some advice on where I need to proceed? I'm going to start pulling can data today but I'm very new to this.
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Old May 29, 2024 | 09:50 PM
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Default Interested in this

Hey man can't dm you, but looking and super interested. Love to know (not looking for handout) how to possibly get E38 os to cooperate with t87a on 10spd os to kinda 10spd swap my own stuff. Love to get talking and if I can test and work with you on stuff.

kidturbo;20534672]Playing with the T87 / T87A TCM for some GM retro fit projects, in both the gas and diesel OS versions. Have the CANbus related stuff all sorted, able stay out of limp mode tables, and keep the ECM and TCM speaking happy on the bench for several hours with just a crank/cam emulator faking our LS spinning hardware.Everything in the TCM responds as should, and ready to go further.

The BCM and EBCM communications require a bit more work to keep the "No Comms" DTC's away, depending on the body year. But so far the 2012 E38 OS and 2016 T87 OS combo looks promising. Anyone interested in beta testing some new hardware, and has a 6,8, or 10spd they would like to connected it to something GM didn't intend, PM me..





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Old Jun 3, 2024 | 02:40 AM
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Sorry for the lag on replies, it's been busy past couple months. Have made great progress on the T87A platform thanks to the help of a couple other members. Have tested a running E38 fuel LS, bolted up against the 10L90 in a stand alone environment. Making it much easier to sort out the missing pieces, compared to just sifting through data collected from an ECM/TCM combo on the bench. Based off this data I was able to isolate what the T87A is requiring hardware connections wise, as well as the CANbus / GMLAN side of life.

With all this data, I've been tackling the hardware side, while another buddy went to work on the T87A 10L90 OS "insides.." And he's hacked us out a little custom TCM calibration that seems just peachy happy without any BCM, EBCM, or other network nodes attached. All comms report happy, without any DTC's being disabled in the actual tune. We just told it, ya don't really need all that extra data to pick a gear do ya?? Talk about a birthday present, I just had to share these results. Proving this software approach just opened the door to bolting this transmission up to anything, literally..

Here is an EFIlive DTC check with only the TCM wired up on the bench. Nothing but power and 2 CANbus wires attached. I'm feeding it minimal recorded GM ECM data, and while it has set every possible permanent code known to man, there is zero communications related code in the list. Nor does it request a MIL over CANbus. So next, if it shifts, it ships.. lol.



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Old Jun 3, 2024 | 12:43 PM
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This is awesome. Just subscribed to stay up to date on your findings.

this may come in big for me in the future.

I also just started researching e67 swapping my gen 3 truck. I’ve read about 10-15 threads so far across a few different sites. Trying to figure out exactly how to go about it.
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Old Jun 3, 2024 | 11:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Firebirdmuscle
This is awesome. Just subscribed to stay up to date on your findings.

this may come in big for me in the future.

I also just started researching e67 swapping my gen 3 truck. I’ve read about 10-15 threads so far across a few different sites. Trying to figure out exactly how to go about it.
The E67 swap can and has been done on 03-07 trucks. Current Performance will modify your wiring harness for the swap in your truck. I believe you use a trailblazer operating system on the engine side and I know they have been able to get them to work with the T43 in the 6L80E

Now making it all work with the T87A and a 8 or 10 speed is going to take a little work for those trucks. But if anyone here can do it, kidturbo can.
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Old Jun 26, 2024 | 01:04 PM
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Originally Posted by kidturbo
As far as getting the correct values from the ECM that the TCM requires for shifting and such, yes. I've been playing with high speed GMLAN for a good while. Mostly in stand alone or marine setups. So I have a complete GlobalA DBC file showing the parameters details down to the bit, and hardware to manipulate said data on the fly. I've had it talking for some time, just need to record it making some shifts live now.
How would one go about talking to you VIA DM?

Last edited by Piston_Killa; Jul 2, 2024 at 10:50 PM.
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Old Jul 7, 2024 | 06:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Piston_Killa
How would one go about talking to you VIA DM?
Think you have to post a few here to get DM rights. However you can contact me directly at https://marinemods.us
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Old Jul 19, 2024 | 08:04 PM
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Last week we managed to make a little more progress on the LS3 with 10L90 stand alone setup. Was able to run the engine / transmission through the gears on the floor without any load on it. Overall it's happy now, and we logged a few runs capturing raw CANbus data. In which I found a couple calculated torque values someone fat fingered.. Those were making the TCM think the engine max torque is only 110nm. Yet somehow it still managed to find all the gears. Next up, tires attached to a driveshaft...


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Old Oct 21, 2024 | 09:52 PM
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Hey man, been following and hoping this custom file/OS you guys come up with be available for purchase or download once its sorted. Looking into 10spd swapping my daily driver/tow GMT900 Burban as my 6L80E has become rather unhappy. Again keep us updated and I'd love to try in real world.

Originally Posted by kidturbo
Sorry for the lag on replies, it's been busy past couple months. Have made great progress on the T87A platform thanks to the help of a couple other members. Have tested a running E38 fuel LS, bolted up against the 10L90 in a stand alone environment. Making it much easier to sort out the missing pieces, compared to just sifting through data collected from an ECM/TCM combo on the bench. Based off this data I was able to isolate what the T87A is requiring hardware connections wise, as well as the CANbus / GMLAN side of life.

With all this data, I've been tackling the hardware side, while another buddy went to work on the T87A 10L90 OS "insides.." And he's hacked us out a little custom TCM calibration that seems just peachy happy without any BCM, EBCM, or other network nodes attached. All comms report happy, without any DTC's being disabled in the actual tune. We just told it, ya don't really need all that extra data to pick a gear do ya?? Talk about a birthday present, I just had to share these results. Proving this software approach just opened the door to bolting this transmission up to anything, literally..

Here is an EFIlive DTC check with only the TCM wired up on the bench. Nothing but power and 2 CANbus wires attached. I'm feeding it minimal recorded GM ECM data, and while it has set every possible permanent code known to man, there is zero communications related code in the list. Nor does it request a MIL over CANbus. So next, if it shifts, it ships.. lol.


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Old Oct 21, 2024 | 10:27 PM
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Finally put hands on some of these 6L80 TCM side connectors. Seems they do exist...


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Old Oct 22, 2024 | 09:17 AM
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Originally Posted by JHolbet163
Hey man, been following and hoping this custom file/OS you guys come up with be available for purchase or download once it’s sorted. Looking into 10spd swapping my daily driver/tow GMT900 Burban as my 6L80E has become rather unhappy. Again keep us updated and I'd love to try in real world.

The 07.5-13 trucks, I’m pretty sure that kit already exist and can be done.
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Old Oct 22, 2024 | 04:33 PM
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Not looking to pay PST a stupid and unreasonable amount of money for a harness I can build myself and a conversion box if kidturbo has gotten it work strictly off can. Much rather buy the needed OS file and work with him then pay pst.

Originally Posted by Firebirdmuscle
The 07.5-13 trucks, I’m pretty sure that kit already exist and can be done.
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Old Oct 22, 2024 | 08:18 PM
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Today I'm playing with an E67 and T87A on the bench. But right beside it, I have the 2015 T87 Allison version I've been testing against the LBZ-LML ECU's. I've tested the T87 gasser OS quite a bit also. While all the T87/A TCM OS are fairly close on CANbus messages, that early one comes in an 6-8spd versions, and seems a little more backwards compatible to pre-2014 data sets. So have been testing some hacks in the T87A that lets ya roll the CANbus back to those T87 years, but with the 10spd OS.
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