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Downshifting the 6l80E auto

CalaisVLS3

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After swapping from a VE II Calais V L77 to a VFII Calais V LS3, I have always liked the way the VF gearbox downshifts (manually actuated by me) whilst slowing down to stop at a set of lights for example. The pops and crackles of the exhaust sound great, though it is the way it shifts down that makes it feel so different (....sportier) than the VE, which had that characteristic lurch as the revs soared when the box downshifted. The VF feels far more fluid and intuitive. It's no GM 10 speed or tremmec dual clutch, though not bad for what is essentially a comfort oriented torque converter auto box. I know Holden tuned the box specifically for the LS3 though does anyone have further info on this? Why does it feel so much better in the VF when manually downshifting?
 

Skylarking

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... I have always liked the way the VF gearbox downshifts (manually actuated by me)... It's no GM 10 speed or tremmec dual clutch, ..
Yes, the VF auto is nice but auto mode mine occasionally stumbles on mid throttle. Maybe I should be more assertive with the throttle or use the paddles more often :)

I wasn’t aware Tremec made dual clutch transmissions. The new 7 speed DCT is OEM only :oops: but which car is it actually used in? And will it bolt straight up to a LS3?

The gearbox has more than enough torque capacity at 900Nm so a standard LS3 shouldn’t stress it at all :p in fact it’s stronger than the 10 speed DCT as used in the new corvette (@ 800Nm) :rolleyes:

edit to add: 7 speed DCT is used in the Ford Shelby GT500.
 

lmoengnr

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After swapping from a VE II Calais V L77 to a VFII Calais V LS3, I have always liked the way the VF gearbox downshifts (manually actuated by me) whilst slowing down to stop at a set of lights for example. The pops and crackles of the exhaust sound great, though it is the way it shifts down that makes it feel so different (....sportier) than the VE, which had that characteristic lurch as the revs soared when the box downshifted. The VF feels far more fluid and intuitive. It's no GM 10 speed or tremmec dual clutch, though not bad for what is essentially a comfort oriented torque converter auto box. I know Holden tuned the box specifically for the LS3 though does anyone have further info on this? Why does it feel so much better in the VF when manually downshifting?

Still basically the same transmission, but with better software programming.
The 6L80e trans in my E3 Maloo has been retuned, which improved it, but I'd like a copy of the 2017 software installed on it.
 

Forg

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^ I reckon you wouldn’t, necessarily, because the engine power-delivery characteristic differences between your LS3 car & either a Holden-badged LS3 car or an LSA car would be large; I could be wrong, but I reckon whatever tweaks they’ve made would relate to suitability to the engine & wouldn’t at all be surprised if the tune you’ve got matches your engine betterer.
 

07GTS

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looking at stock 2011 VE 6.0 and a 2016 LS3 6.2 tune files and the auto tune is about 80% different almost everything to do with shift time, pressure, speed, rpm, upshift, downshift, converter, and all related tables are different, and the 2016 LS3 and 2017 LSA autos have about 80% changes again compared to eachother
 

426Cuda

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^ I reckon you wouldn’t, necessarily, because the engine power-delivery characteristic differences between your LS3 car & either a Holden-badged LS3 car or an LSA car would be large; I could be wrong, but I reckon whatever tweaks they’ve made would relate to suitability to the engine & wouldn’t at all be surprised if the tune you’ve got matches your engine betterer.
I like your logic. Noting the Holden LS3 actually has 20nm more torque than the 325kw HSV variant. The tune to my VF Redline improved it greatly. Yet it still lagged behind the stock trans tune in the LS3 Commodores. It is a far better tune in stock form than the previous tunes. HSV included. It's a cracker for a stock auto I reckon. That said, when I had the auto in my Motorsport tuned it improved it again.
 

CalaisVLS3

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looking at stock 2011 VE 6.0 and a 2016 LS3 6.2 tune files and the auto tune is about 80% different almost everything to do with shift time, pressure, speed, rpm, upshift, downshift, converter, and all related tables are different, and the 2016 LS3 and 2017 LSA autos have about 80% changes again compared to eachother
This is very interesting....As far as i can tell from the drivers seat, the tune in the VFII auto box does not allow the car to lurch on downshift like in many other cars. Even when sedately down shifting, it makes the shift less abrupt with the use of throttle. Not to the level of blipping the throttle, though much smoother than just engaging a lower gear and making the car lurch.
In sports mode when the car detects use of throttle and sterring wheel input, it does go into a perfomance mode with auto blipping on downshifts. I wish this could be selected permanently.
 

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This is very interesting....As far as i can tell from the drivers seat, the tune in the VFII auto box does not allow the car to lurch on downshift like in many other cars. Even when sedately down shifting, it makes the shift less abrupt with the use of throttle. Not to the level of blipping the throttle, though much smoother than just engaging a lower gear and making the car lurch.
In sports mode when the car detects use of throttle and sterring wheel input, it does go into a perfomance mode with auto blipping on downshifts. I wish this could be selected permanently.
if its just a mode in there then a tuner could see what mode it goes into when auto bliping and then setup say the power mode to be the same so then u still have normal mode and TUTD mode as they are, there are so many tables u can basicly do anyhting with these autos, u can also kill an auto very easy if u dont know what ur doing too
 

CalaisVLS3

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Does anyone know if Holden tuned the 2017 LS3 based automatic gearboxes differently to the 2016 LS3 based automatic gearboxes?
If so, what were the main reasons for this?
 
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