[GreenPlease]

I was reading through TopGear's review of the Alpina B3 and ran accross this snippet:

This is a far easier car to live with, a fact compounded by the use of a six-speed auto 'box in place of the M3's six-speed manual and stiff clutch. The B3 features steering wheel mounted buttons to leave an element of driver control, their shifts reprogrammed to respond even faster than in an equivalent auto-optioned 335i.

So, for those of us who have complaints about the AT not being fast enough, perhaps there is the possibility of getting a hold of Alpina's software and reprogramming our TCU? That is if such software actually exists....

[alq80]

actually.. i wish there were companies that optimized the auto trannies with cooling etc kinda like the g37 and 370z autos
http://www.gtmotorsports.com/product...cat=262&page=1
the tranny can run over 600whp!! i wish that was an option for us.. or at least becomes one when we see more big turbo upgrades..

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by GreenPlease

I was reading through TopGear's review of the Alpina B3 and ran accross this snippet:



So, for those of us who have complaints about the AT not being fast enough, perhaps there is the possibility of getting a hold of Alpina's software and reprogramming our TCU? That is if such software actually exists....

Such software does exist, it switches gears in 0,1 secs, and it is possible to get hold of it through the right dealer connections.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[ianbiz]

Originally Posted by Alpina_B3_Lux

Such software does exist, it switches gears in 0,1 secs, and it is possible to get hold of it through the right dealer connections.

Alpina_B3_Lux

more info

[Ville]

Originally Posted by Alpina_B3_Lux

Such software does exist, it switches gears in 0,1 secs, and it is possible to get hold of it through the right dealer connections.

Alpina_B3_Lux

I want to hear more about this too!!!
BTW how's your oil-cooler performing???

[GreenPlease]

Such software does exist, it switches gears in 0,1 secs, and it is possible to get hold of it through the right dealer connections.

+1, more details please.

[GreenPlease]

Anyone on the board have a B3 and would be willing to (somehow) copy their AT software for the good of the community?

[GeorgeSmooth]

I have had various versions of gearbox software. I tried the Alpina file but found the kick down was far too sensitive for a car with a tune.

[JayKay335i]

Originally Posted by GeorgeSmooth

I have had various versions of gearbox software. I tried the Alpina file but found the kick down was far too sensitive for a car with a tune.

Was the shifting much more aggressive?

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by Ville

I want to hear more about this too!!!
BTW how's your oil-cooler performing???

I know one person on this board who has had this software installed. As I don't know whether this person wants me to disclose it, I will not do so at the moment, sorry. It's not myself, obviously, as I have an MT.

As to the oil cooler, it works very well - last week-end I had several stretches where I could run above 220 km/h for some minutes, and where before the oil heated up to around 130 degrees Celsius. Now I can't even bring it to 120. It will be tested some more in three weeks on the Nürburgring where I'll be with some great guys from the UK forum here.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[GeorgeSmooth]

Originally Posted by JayKay335i

Was the shifting much more aggressive?

I cant really say I noticed a difference in the shift speed. There where too many parameters changed at the time for me to be able to comment on that. The main reason we used it was that we where learning about torque limitation faults and engine over speed that was caused by the gearbox software. My tuner then managed to break down different stuff on the gearbox software and now I have something slightly different. The throttle sensitivity to kickdown sensitivity was definitely felt.

Another thing at the time was there was DME software being passed around that was called in a certain circle of tuners as the Alpina file. The power graph of the cars is identical to the Dinan file which was released after that. It also give the same coding fault as the Dinan file.

[JayKay335i]

Interesting. It would be cool to get our hands on it and disable the kickdown function.

[GreenPlease]

I don't think you'd want to totally disable kickdown....

[JayKay335i]

I've reached the point that I never use it. It seems to do a great job in regular D but once its in DS it lags and takes for ever to downshift, if it even does. I find it useless. I also find that since the power drops just over 6k, the cars a little peppier if the peddle isn't fully depressed. That way it doesnt run to red line before shifting.

[GreenPlease]

I think we can all agree, though, that a faster shifting AT would be a good thing.

[JayKay335i]

Absolutely. Not that I dont think it shifts fast enough as is. But I'd love it to be just a little bit faster. It would be awesome if we could choose shift points. But thats just dreaming.

[D_o_S]

Well, doesn't the Alpina have a different ZF tranny?

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by Alpina_B3_Lux

I know one person on this board who has had this software installed. As I don't know whether this person wants me to disclose it, I will not do so at the moment, sorry. It's not myself, obviously, as I have an MT.

As to the oil cooler, it works very well - last week-end I had several stretches where I could run above 220 km/h for some minutes, and where before the oil heated up to around 130 degrees Celsius. Now I can't even bring it to 120. It will be tested some more in three weeks on the Nürburgring where I'll be with some great guys from the UK forum here.

Alpina_B3_Lux

I've driven the member's car with the Alpina software, and can report that it does indeed change gears faster than a regular ZF transmission. There was absolutely no additional aggression in kickdown either when combined with a very advanced flash remap - it was very smooth both ways, just noticeably quicker. The change points are also slightly higher in the rev range, meaning that the next gear falls right in the meaty part of the torque band.


Oh and Mr B3_Lux - see you in less than three weeks !!!!

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by D_o_S

Well, doesn't the Alpina have a different ZF tranny?

Nope, it uses the ZF6HP19TU just like the regular 335i

[Patrys@BimmerTech]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

I've driven the member's car with the Alpina software, and can report that it does indeed change gears faster than a regular ZF transmission. There was absolutely no additional aggression in kickdown either when combined with a very advanced flash remap - it was very smooth both ways, just noticeably quicker. The change points are also slightly higher in the rev range, meaning that the next gear falls right in the meaty part of the torque band.


Oh and Mr B3_Lux - see you in less than three weeks !!!!

Does anybody know if the software that was used to flash the member's 335i was a factory Alpina B3 software or a modified one ?
If this was an OEM software then I could try to find the correct file in the Progman package and flash my gearbox...

[midlife]

Originally Posted by Patrys

Does anybody know if the software that was used to flash the member's 335i was a factory Alpina B3 software or a modified one ?
If this was an OEM software then I could try to find the correct file in the Progman package and flash my gearbox...

i could be wrong, but life is not usually that easy

[Patrys@BimmerTech]

Originally Posted by midlife

i could be wrong, but life is not usually that easy

I know it may require some additional coding or something else, but if somebody had it done on his 335i then I think I could do it.
I have coded and flashed my car many times, but I simply need more info on this, e.g. Alpina B3 gearbox part number.