N54 w/ZF8 transmission...potential new option for auto guys

sirdaft1

Specialist
Nov 11, 2016
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@dyezak the ZF8HP holds 1000tq??? :astonished::astonished:

That’s insane. I have this trans in my 2012 X5 35i and I love it. Weirdest part is when in manual mode on the highway, actually remembering to shift into gears 7 & 8 :tearsofjoy:
 

doublespaces

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Oct 18, 2016
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Need a customer to try lads.

The hardest part of all, which is the isn security gas been overcome.

What would be required for this swap, could someone purchase the required hardware from you and install it or have it done remotely?
 

Flinchy

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Nov 5, 2016
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Australia
There any videos/proof/anything of n54 dct on 3.85?

Its hard to believe they're the first shop in the world to work it out, when even people pouring money at M3 development couldn't do it.. and when they've got a bit of a rep in the Aus BMW groups for putting out pretty mediocre quality work..

Plus 3.85 + dct sounds like a totally shithouse idea tbh unless you like roasting 7th lol

I mean, 8hp sounds like a totally feasible thing to swap to the n54 regardless of anything else, probs only reason it hasn't happened yet is $$$$$.. just..

More than happy and excited to be proven wrong here!
 

Turby

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Nov 3, 2016
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Kcmo
Happy I found this thread, just had a long conversation about this swap with a few buddies lol hopefully this becomes a bigger topic
 

buster84

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Mar 24, 2018
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This is awsome! I would love to have an 8 speed in my car and these transmissions are pretty cheap when sourcing locally or on ebay. Id also love to know the complete parts list for this conversion.
 

Bigdaddyaaron

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Nov 5, 2016
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This is def great. My dad has an f10 535xi with this trans and its pretty wicked. Launched it (stock), and that bitch was banging gears hard and fast in sport mode!

Hope it works out
 

colinod

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Aug 13, 2017
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there are different versions of the 8hp, is the one with the n54/n55 bellhousing pattern the one that hold 1000nm?
 

doublespaces

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there are different versions of the 8hp, is the one with the n54/n55 bellhousing pattern the one that hold 1000nm?
That's kind of what I was trying to address. I think the bell we need is the 8hp45/50.

There is a small chance a larger unit came on another car with the n55, but it would hardly be an abundant supply of salvage transmissions to select from.
 

colinod

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Aug 13, 2017
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That's kind of what I was trying to address. I think the bell we need is the 8hp45/50.

There is a small chance a larger unit came on another car with the n55, but it would hardly be an abundant supply of salvage transmissions to select from.

yep, the big boi we all want, the 8hp90 (also on the hellcat and demon) is on the v12 7 series. V8 7 series use an 8hp70. the N55 7 series use the 8hp45 unfortunately. Since even the x5 n55 and 7 series n55 (both large frame cars) use the 8hp45, i dont think there is a stronger tranny with the n54/55 bell housing pattern.
 
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doublespaces

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yep, the big boi we all want, the 8hp90 (also on the hellcat and demon) is on the v12 7 series. V8 7 series use an 8hp70. the N55 7 series use the 8hp45 unfortunately. Since even the x5 n55 and 7 series n55 (both large frame cars) use the 8hp45, i dont think there is a stronger tranny with the n54/55 bell housing pattern.

Well the communication is the main thing, an adapter plate or some welding can fix the bell housing.

Its in the hellcat? I wonder if any application has a trans brake
 

colinod

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Aug 13, 2017
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Well the communication is the main thing, an adapter plate or some welding can fix the bell housing.

Its in the hellcat? I wonder if any application has a trans brake
The demon and hellcat both use the 8hp90. The demon has a different torque converter and a transbrake of some kind equipped to it
 

bimmerliciouss

New Member
Apr 16, 2018
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very interested in ZF8 swap, i was actually looking into this and wanted to make it work with N54 x drive.

Here is similar idea, Supra with Lexus ISF 8sp
 
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doublespaces

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The demon and hellcat both use the 8hp90. The demon has a different torque converter and a transbrake of some kind equipped to it

Oh the demon too eh? That's where I got the idea but I didn't know it used the same transmission.
 

Bimaxtremeretro

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Mar 21, 2018
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Zf8 in bmw vs zf8 in Chrysler are 2 different transmissions on the popo meter, the difference being the software investment. Chrysler being the shitbox, version which operates worse than than a 5hp in an e39, bm versions a dream, hence bmw paranoia re security and the 4 way handshake they now have.

We built an ls e90 like 5 odd years ago. Fully functional bmw dsc, dtc, cruise, kombi etc. Everything bmw working. Not a day goes by that we are not contacted from someone in North America wanting to know details on how it's done etc. For a country that put ls in anything, probably even push bikes, it still must not be worked out. Not to mention our oem s85 dct conversions around the same time, maybe that's been done.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1195176

Or more recently our r35 gtr drive line into r34 including 4wd, competed in like 2 weeks, at the time a world's first.


Or a few weeks ago, the 1 series e87 cas 2, jbbe1 -> complete m3 conversion, car started in full m3 function on the 3rd day, facebook that 1.

I'm not here in a commercial capacity or intereated in discussing such opportunities but rather because some guys with balls decided to tackle a project and someone asked if i could help, which I'm happy to do as we all learn somewhere along the way so why not share some knowledge especially with those who have managed to get so far themself.

To the chap whom I don't know from a bar of soap mentioning something about work quality, can you point me in the direction of where or what your talking about and do so publicly. I don't know of 1 single actual customer unhappy or whom has not been looked after, baring in mind we have built literally 100's of custom cars in 1 capacity or another. I do however know of a a group of 2 or 3 warriors who have absolutely nothing to do with us in any capacity but carry on like kids, bit of a laughing stock really.

I typing this on my phone so it's hard to go back and read over but the same person mentioned something about spend on rnd and being skeptical... Not withstanding anything we have actually done, put this into perspective and il try kill 2 birds with 1 stone here,

We also sell parts, nothing special, just stock replacement parts through our sister company, same owners. Here is an ebay profile.

https://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=jpl_autoparts&rt=nc

Two things going off that,
1. Revenues in the many millions
2. 1 in 4 people leave feedback, that means we Interact with 100,000 odd customers per year, that's allot of happy customers whom spent $100, imagine the ones who spend 100k on a custom build. Then imagine, considering we love bmw's how much resources that gives to do whatever we want... now put that against a global standard against anything else in any industry and if someone can find me someone better.... well you wont.

Anyhow, I did say no commercial shit and did mean it.

At this time I cannot really think of a way we could package the zf8 setups for shipping out, we really need the cars. This might change in future, I don't know for now it's 2 early and we need more sample customers with road miles to be fair. Getting cars to us across fast distances is also possible and happens all the time.

To the dct guys, I'm happy to help as have been, I actually just got myself an n54 test car yesterday for some parts development so I also have a ride for now. My personal background is in software and i still contribute significant hours to various open source projects, I do hope you manage to break through the dct issues your having, however if it does not happen, what we don't do is release an ABC guide as to how and what. What we will do is assist and do so on virtually a daily basis is help people who are seriously stuck individuals. There is virtually no cost other that our costs a d it's done in a way where significant proof of ownership is needed and you need to be significantly advanced on your own. it is done this way to simple help individual who don't have other options and it makes it impossible for our work to be intercepted and sold by others.
 
Last edited:

dyezak

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May 4, 2017
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Zf8 in bmw vs zf8 in Chrysler are 2 different transmissions on the popo meter, the difference being the software investment. Chrysler being the shitbox, version which operates worse than than a 5hp in an e39, bm versions a dream, hence bmw paranoia re security and the 4 way handshake they now have.

We built an ls e90 like 5 odd years ago. Fully functional bmw dsc, dtc, cruise, kombi etc. Everything bmw working. Not a day goes by that we are not contacted from someone in North America wanting to know details on how it's done etc. For a country that put ls in anything, probably even push bikes, it still must not be worked out. Not to mention our oem s85 dct conversions around the same time, maybe that's been done.

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1195176

Or more recently our r35 gtr drive line into r34 including 4wd, competed in like 2 weeks, at the time a world's first.


Or a few weeks ago, the 1 series e87 cas 2, jbbe1 -> complete m3 conversion, car started in full m3 function on the 3rd day, facebook that 1.

I'm not here in a commercial capacity or intereated in discussing such opportunities but rather because some guys with balls decided to tackle a project and someone asked if i could help, which I'm happy to do as we all learn somewhere along the way so why not share some knowledge especially with those who have managed to get so far themself.

To the chap whom I don't know from a bar of soap mentioning something about work quality, can you point me in the direction of where or what your talking about and do so publicly. I don't know of 1 single actual customer unhappy or whom has not been looked after, baring in mind we have built literally 100's of custom cars in 1 capacity or another. I do however know of a a group of 2 or 3 warriors who have absolutely nothing to do with us in any capacity but carry on like kids, bit of a laughing stock really.

I typing this on my phone so it's hard to go back and read over but the same person mentioned something about spend on rnd and being skeptical... Not withstanding anything we have actually done, put this into perspective and il try kill 2 birds with 1 stone here,

We also sell parts, nothing special, just stock replacement parts through our sister company, same owners. Here is an ebay profile.

https://feedback.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=jpl_autoparts&rt=nc

Two things going off that,
1. Revenues in the many millions
2. 1 in 4 people leave feedback, that means we Interact with 100,000 odd customers per year, that's allot of happy customers whom spent $100, imagine the ones who spend 100k on a custom build. Then imagine, considering we love bmw's how much resources that gives to do whatever we want... now put that against a global standard against anything else in any industry and if someone can find me someone better.... well you wont.

Anyhow, I did say no commercial shit and did mean it.

At this time I cannot really think of a way we could package the zf8 setups for shipping out, we really need the cars. This might change in future, I don't know for now it's 2 early and we need more sample customers with road miles to be fair. Getting cars to us across fast distances is also possible and happens all the time.

To the dct guys, I'm happy to help as have been, I actually just got myself an n54 test car yesterday for some parts development so I also have a ride for now. My personal background is in software and i still contribute significant hours to various open source projects, I do hope you manage to break through the dct issues your having, however if it does not happen, what we don't do is release an ABC guide as to how and what. What we will do is assist and do so on virtually a daily basis is help people who are seriously stuck individuals. There is virtually no cost other that our costs a d it's done in a way where significant proof of ownership is needed and you need to be significantly advanced on your own. it is done this way to simple help individual who don't have other options and it makes it impossible for our work to be intercepted and sold by others.

I will say that @Bimaxtremeretro has been right about everything surrounding our DCT work so far. He was leaps and bounds ahead of us and with a 1hr phone call got us enough work that kept our little group going for weeks. We are still trying to catch up to what he told us a month ago. If all goes as he predicted, we have a couple small hurdles to overcome before we are done.

I learned long ago that no matter how slick a person talks you can really tell if they know their shit by how simply they are able to explain complex concepts. @Bimaxtremeretro got me to understand stuff...that's saying something hahaha.
 
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doublespaces

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@Bimaxtremeretro if you made the ZF8 communicate, BoardNet 2010/FlexRays, then you can get the S55's DCT to communicate as well. That DCT has the same bell housing, and it also runs a 3.46 final drive which is the same as the 6AT. That DCT and its software has seen 900WHP+ dynos on F10 M5's. Who knows what it can really handle
 
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