Paddle Shifting (for MT)

[Tamago]

good afternoon everyone..

i am in the process of building a paddle-shift system to be used on any manual transmission that utilizes cables for shifting. the system will utilize two pneumatic cylinders with positional feedback switches, 4 three-way pneumatic valves, a PLC, a small air compressor and tank, and switches mounted either to a sandwich adaptor (for aftermarket 6bolt steering wheels) with paddles integrated or limit switches to be mounted under the shifter to sense fore-aft motion. i currently predict this kit to sell for around $1000..

anyone interested?

[mikenacarato]

well it definately sounds awesome! i am more of the normal manual shift type but for those who want paddles its your chance! :)

[Tamago]

fyi your clutch will be fully functional (and required) and i will integrate a small air cylinder to blip the throttle on downshifts..

[mikenacarato]

thats cool. but can you retain the stock shifting mechanism for street driving if you choose?

[cali yaris]

Looking forward to pics and a review of your prototype

[at3GG]

This would be cool as sh*t

[Nexus1155]

http://www.m7tuning.com/parts/produc...roducts_id=123

Mini also has a system like this you might want to check out for ideas and whatnot... looks promising..

[TheRealEnth]

would they work in AT? i got confused by the website selling em for Automatic?

[Tamago]

Originally Posted by echo_hrs

Mastershift makes these....I've been looking in to them...

http://www.mastershift.com/

Cheers

that website makes me sad..

first, it's only for transmissions with the stick ON the trans (RWD setups)

second all they show you is pretty pictures of the paddles.

here's my work so far



my initial design will be for MT only.

here's my chicken scratches from last night..



and my truth table.. gotta integrate this into the programming now.. my brain hurts



i1-i4 are cylinder position feedback inputs (so the PLC knows what gear you're in)

i5 is "upshift" input from the paddles
i6 is "downshift" input from the paddles

Q1-Q4 are outputs for the valves that will control the cylinders

[custom Lftback]

Originally Posted by Tamago

that website makes me sad..

first, it's only for transmissions with the stick ON the trans (RWD setups)

second all they show you is pretty pictures of the paddles.

here's my work so far



my initial design will be for MT only.

here's my chicken scratches from last night..



and my truth table.. gotta integrate this into the programming now.. my brain hurts



i1-i4 are cylinder position feedback inputs (so the PLC knows what gear you're in)

i5 is "upshift" input from the paddles
i6 is "downshift" input from the paddles

Q1-Q4 are outputs for the valves that will control the cylinders

great work!

[WolfWings]

Originally Posted by Tamago

that website makes me sad..

first, it's only for transmissions with the stick ON the trans (RWD setups)

second all they show you is pretty pictures of the paddles.

Wrong on both counts actually. :-)

Their Street Manual All Products page shows good images of the actual modules that bolt in place of the stock shifter assembly to control the existing cable-drive stuff.

*ALL* their systems are designed to work with cable-driven transmissions actually.

[Tamago]

Originally Posted by WolfWings

Wrong on both counts actually. :-)

Their Street Manual All Products page shows good images of the actual modules that bolt in place of the stock shifter assembly to control the existing cable-drive stuff.

*ALL* their systems are designed to work with cable-driven transmissions actually.

Originally Posted by mastershift

The MasterShift™ Manual Shifter supports Tremec TKO, Tremec T-56, Tremec TR-3650, RBT-5 (formally the ZF), and RBT-6. Coming soon! Hardware for the C5/C6/Z06!

which of these is a cable shift manual transmission?

either way, the intent of my setup is to do away with cables ;)

[WolfWings]

Originally Posted by Tamago

which of these is a cable shift manual transmission?

either way, the intent of my setup is to do away with cables ;)

They're specifying that they support some of the transmissions that a lot of 'universal sequential shifter kits' don't, because the stock transmission is a rod-linked assembly or true top-mount shifter. Those are the transmissions that they specifically have adapter modules designed and tested for to link to their cable-shifter two-servos-in-a-box brain, and pre-programmed settings for said brain-in-a-box. And said vehicles are expensive enough to justify a $1900-$2400 paddle-shifter kit. :-)

The MasterShift kit comes with a programming cable and software CD for a reason: It's for setting the distances the box actually has to shift the cable-linkages for the gate-selector and syncro-selector inputs, and specifying paths and routes for the shifting to follow.

And any cable linkage can be replaced with a hydraulic linkage, witness modern brakes versus the old cable-powered brakes used as recently at the 80's. Hell, many vehicles with in-board brakes (brakes mounted beside the differential, bolted to the chassis instead of part of the wheel assembly, Jaguar's and Hummer-1's mostly) can have hard brake line going all the way to the brake calipers.

They'd use hydraulics more places, but it's a lot more expensive to design and prone to maintenance headaches than a length of steel rope inside a plastic sheath, which is almost all a transmission-cable is since it doesn't have to deal with large forces like brakes do/did.

Didn't mean to come off as knockin' on the work you're doing, it's looking awesome so far. :-)

[Tamago]

Originally Posted by WolfWings

Didn't mean to come off as knockin' on the work you're doing, it's looking awesome so far. :-)

yeah i'd only poked around their site slightly til now. they do seem to cover their bases but like i said my real issue is the actual cables being in the way of the downpipe so doing away with them and replacing with DOT airbrake line i can mount well away from the heat is the idea here..

i'm jealous of their paddle controls :(

[eTiMaGo]

well, I'm certainly interested in the technology behind it, it is an awesome project, too bad you can't integrate the clutch

[Tamago]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

well, I'm certainly interested in the technology behind it, it is an awesome project, too bad you can't integrate the clutch

i personally would HATE to lose my clutch..

[id3379]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

well, I'm certainly interested in the technology behind it, it is an awesome project, too bad you can't integrate the clutch

if you take away the clutch, you might as well have a automatic.

[eTiMaGo]

well doing it as a clutch override would be ideal I guess, so you retain normal control of it. Seeing as it's a hydraulic setup (at least on our cars, not sure about the xA), it should be possible given the right engineering? Or maybe as a future upgrade