Whats the latest on software for 6-speed swaps?

[UrS6]

There were 3 or so people that had a solution "very close" or "ready". Anything new or concrete?

[SteveKen]

Nothing new on my end. There are still people working on it and I hope to hear from them one day soon.

I've got 5 people lined up that can use it.

I've been driving my conversion for around 8k miles with the TCU unplugged and no ABS or traction control.

It runs really good as-is, but I'd love to have an ECU solution. My problem is that I want it perfect. . . No band aids, patches or turned off codes.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to try something, anything better than the way I'm doing it.

I'm nearly certain that the expertise doesn't exist to do it perfectly. It's a 9 year old model and there's a small market. That means that it's not worth it from a time or monetary standpoint for anyone with the gray matter to get anywhere close.

[bmlee007]

I've been wondering, would the ABS module from a 6-speed car help that issue? Has anyone tried swapping in the module from an A6 or Allroad? Or could there be some ECUs and ABS modules from our European counterparts for cars that (dare I say) have met their maker?

I've got an A6 2.7T 6-speed that has provided me with enough work mileage to pay for the car a couple times over. I have been thinking about leasing something new for work, and pulling the necessary parts and parting out the rest of the car. If the solution comes quickly, I'm in. My beast only has 51,000 miles, so hopefully it isn't any time soon, but i figure that I can justify the swap if/when (when, for sure) the slushbox gives it up for good.

[alrightroad]

This guy could probably share some info...
http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=96217

[UrS6]

Nothing new on my end. There are still people working on it and I hope to hear from them one day soon.

I've got 5 people lined up that can use it.

I've been driving my conversion for around 8k miles with the TCU unplugged and no ABS or traction control.

It runs really good as-is, but I'd love to have an ECU solution. My problem is that I want it perfect. . . No band aids, patches or turned off codes.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to try something, anything better than the way I'm doing it.

I'm nearly certain that the expertise doesn't exist to do it perfectly. It's a 9 year old model and there's a small market. That means that it's not worth it from a time or monetary standpoint for anyone with the gray matter to get anywhere close.


So your car has no ABS or traction control right now? What happens with the TCU hooked up?

[SteveKen]

I've been wondering, would the ABS module from a 6-speed car help that issue? Has anyone tried swapping in the module from an A6 or Allroad? Or could there be some ECUs and ABS modules from our European counterparts for cars that (dare I say) have met their maker?

I've got an A6 2.7T 6-speed that has provided me with enough work mileage to pay for the car a couple times over. I have been thinking about leasing something new for work, and pulling the necessary parts and parting out the rest of the car. If the solution comes quickly, I'm in. My beast only has 51,000 miles, so hopefully it isn't any time soon, but i figure that I can justify the swap if/when (when, for sure) the slushbox gives it up for good.

I've done this with the S6 ABS controller. It can be recoded to the manual, whereas the RS6 one cannot. It doesn't matter. There are routines in the ECU code that verify the soft codes of the ancillary CANBUS devices and they need to be changed. Deconstruction this portion of the ECU code is uncharted territory as far as I know.


So your car has no ABS or traction control right now? What happens with the TCU hooked up?

I sold my TCU before I ever had a chance to try it out, but I did try it with my S6 when I converted it. I'm pretty sure that there was a CEL. There's to possibility of limp mode issues when dong this, too. Tozo might be able to chime in on this because he's running the TCU still on his S8.

[Brav]

All I know is that Raven has theirs working fine with the TCU plugged in. ABS etc all work, but there is still a CEL. the only issue they have is simply removing the CEL for a signal not being input from a sensor to the TCU.. but at least its functional. I think MTM has the capability/connection to provide the correct software to code it "properly" but no doubt they won't be sharing it..

[UrS6]

When I scanned the MTM car with VAGCOM I got codes for ABS (01119,18256) and the tranny (17090,18155,18158,17105,18232). It drove will. There was a CEL on but that may have been for something other than the tranny swap. EPL says they have software, too. Steveken, how much is your kit?

[kday]

I need to find myself an 01E and the related bits... I want to do this relatively soon.

[UrS6]

I need to find myself an 01E and the related bits... I want to do this relatively soon.

Did you work out a solution yet? Let me know if you need a hand with the swap.

[SteveKen]

I need to find myself an 01E and the related bits... I want to do this relatively soon.

I was hoping that you'd chime in on this, as one other option discussed is a CanBUS emulator in place of the TCU. Arduino based maybe?


All I know is that Raven has theirs working fine with the TCU plugged in. ABS etc all work, but there is still a CEL. the only issue they have is simply removing the CEL for a signal not being input from a sensor to the TCU.. but at least its functional. I think MTM has the capability/connection to provide the correct software to code it "properly" but no doubt they won't be sharing it..

From my conversations with MTM, they use an aftermarket/standalone ABS controller.


When I scanned the MTM car with VAGCOM I got codes for ABS (01119,18256) and the tranny (17090,18155,18158,17105,18232). It drove will. There was a CEL on but that may have been for something other than the tranny swap. EPL says they have software, too. Steveken, how much is your kit?

YGPM on the kit.

[kday]

I was hoping that you'd chime in on this, as one other option discussed is a CanBUS emulator in place of the TCU. Arduino based maybe?

Yeah, I already built the hardware. Not Arduino based per se, but same architecture. I had some free time over the holidays last December and wrote most of the code, but I somehow have not found the time since then to actually hook it up to the car. One of these days I will get to it. Most of the prep work is done, now it's time to understand what the TCU is actually saying.

This is the analyzer module I built:
http://blog.ultrameta.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/2can1.jpg

It has 2 CAN interfaces so it can go inline with the TCU and tell which direction messages (CAN frames) are coming from. I got both halves of a spare blue T17m connector w/ pigtails from Force5 and built a plug and play harness that will let me pop this into my car with no wiring.

[ben916]

This guy could probably share some info...
http://forum.rs246.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=96217

If you read the first post, it is a RS4 manual transmission...
Probably could handle the NOS that was in that car...
There are photos of that car on fire with BLUE flames coming out of the hood!!!

[kday]

Let me know if you need a hand with the swap.

I wish I had the space to attempt this at home, but I just don't think I have enough vertical space to lift the car up high enough to get the engine and trans out. You've seen my garage, you know what it's like... I am hoping to do it up at EFI Express. I'll let you know when it gets closer to reality.

[UrS6]

I wish I had the space to attempt this at home, but I just don't think I have enough vertical space to lift the car up high enough to get the engine and trans out. You've seen my garage, you know what it's like... I am hoping to do it up at EFI Express. I'll let you know when it gets closer to reality.

Excellent. I can't wait to see it. If you need some extra hands up at Marc's let me know.

[UrS6]

From my conversations with MTM, they use an aftermarket/standalone ABS controller.





The ABS controller part number and coding that came up on VAGCOM was identical to the one on my RS6. I'm not sure if that is the part in question but it looks like MTM just left the tranny codes in there. The wires to the tranny were just hanging under the car. Not even zip-tied. 50,000 euros should get you a few zip ties, right?

[alrightroad]

If you read the first post, it is a RS4 manual transmission...
Probably could handle the NOS that was in that car...
There are photos of that car on fire with BLUE flames coming out of the hood!!!

Saw those pics of the fire. Poor guy. Thanks for clarification on RS4 trans. I didnt catch that.

[Chung]

Yeah, I already built the hardware. Not Arduino based per se, but same architecture. I had some free time over the holidays last December and wrote most of the code, but I somehow have not found the time since then to actually hook it up to the car. One of these days I will get to it. Most of the prep work is done, now it's time to understand what the TCU is actually saying.

This is the analyzer module I built:


It has 2 CAN interfaces so it can go inline with the TCU and tell which direction messages (CAN frames) are coming from. I got both halves of a spare blue T17m connector w/ pigtails from Force5 and built a plug and play harness that will let me pop this into my car with no wiring.


I was thinking along the same lines. In theory just like modifying the ECU for performance, once you know how things are working you could program/build around the auto. Should be a very interesting project.

Here is someone who has started trying to reverse engineer the Bosch system http://andywhittaker.com/ECU/BoschMotronicME71/tabid/68/Default.aspx