E46 M3 DCT Conversion

[e46IX]

Anyone have a running DCT-swapped E46 M3 with CanTCU controller?

Seems like all the ZF8 swaps are doing well with CanTCU. But I haven't seen anything for MSS54 yet, just the MS43 cars on non-M.

[liam821]

My car is also on a MaxxECU. It's a great ecu, especially on our cars.

[George Hill]

I’m just teasing a bit, since I never thought you’d go standalone given your earlier stance.

Honestly if there was a better solution using a stock DME I would be about it. In fact if I swap to Maxx and the MSS54 gets figured out I might switch back (I do still have my CANTCU on a shelf). But my car is now 25yrs old and emissions testing isn't something that applies which is making the decision something to even consider.

Ultimately I plan to end up with an S65/DCT combo, but for now I have the Maxx (since 2024) and its not doing anything so I figured I'd give it a shot. IF it works and is a better than what I have now this setup will go in my Mustang when the S65 goes in the touring.

[ZiMMie]

?

I would 100% prefer to keep my car on a stock DME, but the drivability on track especially but also on the street is less than favorable with the 8HP as is.

You’ve always spoken very highly of the stock DMEs in our previous discussions, which I completely agree with. I’m just teasing a bit, since I never thought you’d go standalone given your earlier stance. But hey, sometimes there’s no other choice. At least you picked one of the best standalone ECUs on the market. With MaxxECU, you can get drivability very close to stock. It does take a lot of patience and time, but the flexibility is essentially limitless, especially when it comes to integration with BMW CAN systems. The documentation is also excellent, which is extremely important. Anyway, back to the topic. Max will run an s54 DSG with ease..

[George Hill]

The Internet never forgets. :-p

?

I would 100% prefer to keep my car on a stock DME, but the drivability on track especially but also on the street is less than favorable with the 8HP as is.

[ZiMMie]

CANTCU can work with DCT or 8HP but it seems to be a little more forgiving with the 8HP as the torque converter soaks up a bunch of drivability issues.

I have an 8HP in my car and is controlled by TurboLamik, its been in the car for about (4) years now. About 3 yrs ago I tested CANTCU in the car and it was essentially undrivable, ultimately I went back to the TL. I keep in touch with CANTCU with the idea that as soon as its ready I'll reinstall it, but as far as I know it hasn't make any real progress since then. The problem as I understand it is that CANTCU is only a translator and without knowing what the DME is looking for its not going to be complete. CANTCU just doesn't know the MSS54 DME well enough to be able to sort it out, he really needs someone with better DME knowledge to help him work it out.

The MS43/45 DMEs have been working pretty well as they already have an AT option, but blips and cuts were never a thing until recently when someone with excellent MS43 knowledge worked through the issues. They now have working blips and cuts on that DME by in a round about way emulating how the SSG configuration works. So in theory that same logic will work with the MSS54 in a SMG configuration. Same with the MSS65 DME which is what the Evolve/DAN-Controller is/was supposed to be doing.

With all of that said over the weekend I started making the wiring harness to convert my car to MaxxECU.

The Internet never forgets. :-p

[George Hill]

CANTCU can work with DCT or 8HP but it seems to be a little more forgiving with the 8HP as the torque converter soaks up a bunch of drivability issues.

I have an 8HP in my car and is controlled by TurboLamik, its been in the car for about (4) years now. About 3 yrs ago I tested CANTCU in the car and it was essentially undrivable, ultimately I went back to the TL. I keep in touch with CANTCU with the idea that as soon as its ready I'll reinstall it, but as far as I know it hasn't make any real progress since then. The problem as I understand it is that CANTCU is only a translator and without knowing what the DME is looking for its not going to be complete. CANTCU just doesn't know the MSS54 DME well enough to be able to sort it out, he really needs someone with better DME knowledge to help him work it out.

The MS43/45 DMEs have been working pretty well as they already have an AT option, but blips and cuts were never a thing until recently when someone with excellent MS43 knowledge worked through the issues. They now have working blips and cuts on that DME by in a round about way emulating how the SSG configuration works. So in theory that same logic will work with the MSS54 in a SMG configuration. Same with the MSS65 DME which is what the Evolve/DAN-Controller is/was supposed to be doing.

With all of that said over the weekend I started making the wiring harness to convert my car to MaxxECU.

[liam821]

With the way things are going and the things we have seen over the last 23 years at least......I'm sticking to period correctness...............SMG for me until we run out of solutions then i'll go 6MT.

if the DCT conversion comes out after being tested to perfection i would either get an E60 M5 or buy a built E46 m3 Estate and do the DCT conversion to that............But thats just me.

I don't blame you. While the DCT transmission is far superior to the SMG, the software support is still in its infancy. Getting better though!

[0-60motorsports]

CanTCU has MSS54 support in "beta" with cuts and blips and full torque-based control. But, I'm not exactly sure how "beta" it is having never used one. CanTCU is the only option that I know of that supports the stock DME. Past that, your best option is using a MaxxECU as a standalone DME (I can control both the dct, s54, and all the e46 canbus things), which can make using it in your daily driver challenging, depending on where you live.

CanTCU is a great controller, with active developers, and I would absolutely go that route if you wanted to keep a stock DME. They are getting blips via SMG-variant coding, which is how I'm assuming the MSS54 support works.

With the way things are going and the things we have seen over the last 23 years at least......I'm sticking to period correctness...............SMG for me until we run out of solutions then i'll go 6MT.

if the DCT conversion comes out after being tested to perfection i would either get an E60 M5 or buy a built E46 m3 Estate and do the DCT conversion to that............But thats just me.

[liam821]

CanTCU has MSS54 support in "beta" with cuts and blips and full torque-based control. But, I'm not exactly sure how "beta" it is having never used one. CanTCU is the only option that I know of that supports the stock DME. Past that, your best option is using a MaxxECU as a standalone DME (it can control both the dct, s54, and all the e46 canbus things), but obviously no obd smog stuff so that can make using it in your daily driver challenging, depending on where you live.

CanTCU is a great controller, with active developers, and I would absolutely go that route if you wanted to keep a stock DME. They are getting blips via SMG-variant coding, which is how I'm assuming the MSS54 support works.

[0-60motorsports]

I wouldnt go within a 100 miles of a project where those two are involved LOL. I was laughing from the first YT video posted......

[Cubieman]

Holy shit, if those are pictures of the box they are shipping that dude posted, just wow, I guess its just a test system but still, shit solder job, probably shouldn't even have used solder there anyways. Looks like my first radioshack black box experience.

No context from that email but seems really...weird to say the least, wtf is going on over there.

[terra]

Shipping that to a paying customer is pretty wild. Even my test benches that only ever saw my desk were more road worthy

[George Hill]

Evolve will be doing an S54 DCT right after they finish the S85... all oem controlling... E9x tranny

It's been a while on that and they haven't shown any updates….

Big update on M5Board... It looks like the project might be imploding. I'm personally out...

[0-60motorsports]

Evolve will be doing an S54 DCT right after they finish the S85... all oem controlling.

It's been a while on that and they haven't shown any updates….