Thread: BMW N57 8hp to TD5 Auto adapter kit

Only really satisfying thing to do removing the engine is power wash and degrease engine bay unless there's something else you need to do at the time. From memory other the engine mounts there's not much of the engine bay you need to remove to get to the various bellhousing bolts so hard to justify yanking it as a while you're there job (you can't pull them as an assembly without significant effort)

Edit: Oh yeah photo of you standing in the engine bay grinning is a pretty mandatory in my books.

First, thinking about the selector and the box to fit this into the centre console. Pretty simple thought at the moment to make a box and get a adaptor to hold the selector upright. The slightly weird shape of the selector base was easily fixed by buying a cover that make this appear custom rather than just cutting a hole in the top of the box
s-l1600 (3).jpgs-l1600 (4).jpg

THis just to stick to the flat top on the box rather than trying to accurately cut the shape. To actually hold the selector is this little piece of plastic
gear-selector-adapter.jpgbm shifter.jpg

Gear selector adapter

HTG have just announced a new controller and have been in contact with them, they are telling me that I require the HTG IO and wiring harness

HTG IO CAN gateway – HTG tuning

HTG IO CAN 8HP wiring kit – HTG tuning



This is shown somewhat on the following vid, as described it is a bit messy inside!!

HTG IO CAN operated 8HP stock TCM (ONBOARD) - YouTube



Starting to get a bit more real.

Looking forward to the results.

Post my discussion re the new IO setup, have placed orders for the HTG IO CAN gateway and the 8HP wiring kit.


If I haven't got the following information correct I am sorry and will correct as needed but this is to my current understanding.



Firstly I am now looking to modify the standard auto cover to fit the selector, this gives me a switch to match the vehicle (the mode switch), have some ideas but I have time to get it right. It will also fit the current space of course without need to modify.

20230914_163801.jpg


Why did I choose the HTG IO CAN, this is a reasonable question,
the first point is that it does not require a change to the gearbox TCU as the others and the previous iteration of the HTG required.

This is based around those iterations being a replacement TCU for the 8HP, the actual TCU was removed and a plate or grouping of wires are soldered in and the control of the gearbox was taking by those proprietary boxes being the new TCU. This requires actually cutting open the controller, cutting off the wiring and removing the ECU from the controller, then the proprietary plate is soldered or multiple wiring across from particular points on the controller were soldered in place.

The plating replaced the need to get the wires and poles right, just soldering to the match the points on the plate, still I counted 30+ solders that had to be right, could probably get about 20 solders right, there were bound to be some stuff ups!!

This is how a plating looks (without going into the whole of the process pictorially)

Final17.jpg

HTG IO CAN

The HTG IO CAN differs in that it keeps the original BMW TCU on the 8HP and merely uses this as it was intended, to run the gearbox and acts as the INTERFACE between this the cars wiring system. This negates the need to take out the BMW TCU as described above and as I now find, gives a means to actually program the gearbox in a much simplified manner.

There is still some wiring to be connected and it will no doubt be tedious, but as the vid on youtube i posted previously, this obviously works on a TD5 Discovery 2.


The previous iteration of the HTG GCU solution with the wiring and Plate came out to about 2000 Euro's and had to do more wiring and the removal of the BMW TCU $3336 AUD

The turbolamik solution - TCU2.0 Lamik, PCB, LCD display, program switch and Universal Wires - has some validity and some nice features would have come to around 1,850 Euro $3,086 AUD


This chosen solution with the HTG IO CAN and the Wiring came to 1393 Euro with shipping to Aus or about $2,300, which is about the cost of just the previous iteration, the HTG GCU only.



So the ease of installation and $ saving may be enough, but the need to program the system is also a consideration due to the fact that the current set up for a BMW will most likely need a modification for use off road. HTG gave me a link to potentially alleviate that problem as to how the transmissions can be modified easily regarding change points etc.



In the correspondence, HTG have given me a link .

8-Speed ZF - Flash Settings - rbttuning - Confluence

Been going over the site for the last couple of days and the interface and changes seem relatively simple and the choice of + or - xx% when making changes to parameters makes a lot of sense.


Hope this rather long and rambling explanation makes some sense!

Very interesting reading, the HTG IO CAN looks like a great solution. I did watch the bloke from Zero to 60 trying to solder all the bridging wires in the other week, definitely not a 5 minute job....

I think the 8hp will become the new favorite trans swap as the controllers get easier to install and tune especially with external type controllers like the IO CAN

following this build with interest & envy

Redd

Originally Posted by Reddirt204

Very interesting reading, the HTG IO CAN looks like a great solution. I did watch the bloke from Zero to 60 trying to solder all the bridging wires in the other week, definitely not a 5 minute job....

I think the 8hp will become the new favorite trans swap as the controllers get easier to install and tune especially with external type controllers like the IO CAN

following this build with interest & envy

Redd

Totally, I think the 8HP is already the go to transmission for conversions generally speaking with modern motors. So many manufacturers realised how good they are and are still fitting them from the factory.

Originally Posted by Reddirt204

Very interesting reading, the HTG IO CAN looks like a great solution. I did watch the bloke from Zero to 60 trying to solder all the bridging wires in the other week, definitely not a 5 minute job....

I think the 8hp will become the new favorite trans swap as the controllers get easier to install and tune especially with external type controllers like the IO CAN

following this build with interest & envy

Redd

Saved from this debauchery!!!! The plate shown in my last post is better but there is still a lot of soldering to get exactly right.

5.jpg

Originally Posted by Slunnie

Totally, I think the 8HP is already the go to transmission for conversions generally speaking with modern motors. So many manufacturers realised how good they are and are still fitting them from the factory.

Sure is the go to now. When I first started looking a this, the point made to me last year was that they are virtually bullet proof and the 8HP70 is capable of more than 1000Nm of torque, they are totally understressed. The fact they are so popular with manufacturers etc. means they are plentiful and currently well priced.



I do think the new HTG IO CAN will start a avalanche on the change over and expect prices to reflect this.

Originally Posted by RRT

Saved from this debauchery!!!! The plate shown in my last post is better but there is still a lot of soldering to get exactly right.

5.jpg






Sure is the go to now. When I first started looking a this, the point made to me last year was that they are virtually bullet proof and the 8HP70 is capable of more than 1000Nm of torque, they are totally understressed. The fact they are so popular with manufacturers etc. means they are plentiful and currently well priced.



I do think the new HTG IO CAN will start a avalanche on the change over and expect prices to reflect this.

They can definitely take some abuse, one of the latest Zero to 60 vids they put a 8hp behind an 1100hp nissan GTR!! they did a basic upgrade/replacement of a few internals, nothing crazy, the thing was launching like a cane toad smacked with a 9 iron and then totally streetable. I know the TD5 won't be quite in that league but nice to know whatever you do the trans will be fine

Redd