As HGM Automotive reflects on all the modern transmissions that we now deal with on a daily basis and look back on the old 2 and 3 speed automatic transmissions that most of cut our teeth on, it’s not hard to think about how things have changed and how far they will have changed in our life time. While many of us are already working on and repairing 5, 6, 7 and 8 speed transmissions with even more gears to come over the next few years, there is one area that has been surprisingly slow to change. Hot Rods, Street Machines and most engine conversions are being largely restricted to 3 and 4 speed transmissions and this is due to a couple of very different reasons. In the case of the 3 speed and early hydraulic 4 speed transmissions it was clear and we have all heard this before where a customer wants to keep it simple and didn’t want any electronics, but in the case of the later electronic 4 speed transmissions requiring standalone transmission controllers it was always a delay in waiting for aftermarket technology to catch up and yes HGM has done exactly that!
A lot has changed and customers are getting used to all these extra gears that they are now seeing in the later model vehicles and they are all starting to ask for the extra gears. It would seem that there has been a very sudden and abrupt change from the 3 and 4 speed to the 5 and 6 speed automatic transmissions and this has all happened in a very short time frame. Remember, “more gears are better” or at least that’s what they are convinced. I have tried to explain that 4 gears will do fine but even I have found myself wanting to choose the option of more gears if a standalone transmission controller system was available for my own car. So has the Stand alone transmission controller world caught up enough to give us the range that we are looking for? The short answer is for the most part Yes and the range is growing exponentially so it won’t be long before most 5, 6 and 8 speed transmissions are all covered by the HGM Compushift standalone transmission control system.
I’ve compiled a short list of what is readily available from HGM and what is about to be released. Obviously most of the older 4 speed autos like the Chevy 4L60E, 4L80E, 4T65E, Ford AODE, 4R70E, E40D, 4R100, ZF 4HP-24, Nissan RE4R01A, RE4R03A, Toyota A340, A341, A343, A442 are well represented. Currently we see that the 5 speed Ford 5R110, Nissan RE5R05A, Toyota A750, Chrysler WA580, Mercedes NAG1 are all also available from HGM Compushift but this is where it is starting to get interesting. The 6 speed range is just about to burst on to the market with HGM Electronics Compushift Transmission Controllers leading the way with its Toyota A761 and AB60 systems that has been available as a complete standalone kit that has a full plug and play wiring harness and out of the box calibrations to suit most applications. HGM’s 6L80/90E and 6R80E programmers are also now well into the advanced stages. Now remember that these are all Stand Alone Transmission Controller systems that will fit a number of different engine configurations from Carby to Can Bus. So it doesn’t matter if you have a cast iron block with carbie V8, a late model EFI aluminium block, an old diesel or maybe the latest diesel available all of these are now covered and readily available.
What steers the development of each of the transmissions controllers is demand, we know that the 6L80/90E and 6R80E are being released later this year because it was logical! The demand is there, the customers want these systems and not just because they have more gears but also because these transmission are either readily available in large numbers from the wrecking yards as cut outs or available from many transmission shops that are already doing rebuilds and upgrades to these transmissions. So as I mentioned before it was a logical step, not just for them but also for you! So if you have a project that might involve either the Chevy 6L80E, 6L90E, Ford 6R80 or Toyota A661, AB60 6 speed automatic transmission then give HGM a call and they will certainly keep you up to date with the progress.
We certainly have some very exciting times ahead and within the next year I’m sure we will be talking about even more gears by then but for now if you need any information about your standalone transmission controller requirements then jump on to HGM’s Compushift web page www.hgmelectronics.com or feel free to contact me directly at rodney@hgmelectronic.com