ZF tagged posts

Since Dodge can do a SRT Hellcat trim for the Challenger, there is no technical issue that will prevent Dodge from putting the same powertrain in any of its rear-wheel-drive models.

So obviously we are not surprised that now Dodge has announced the 2015 Charger SRT Hellcat with the same 707hp engine. For more technical discussion of this supercharged 6.2L V8 engine, please see our article here. If you do not have time to go through the press release provided in the end of this article, here are some key highlights of this sedan monster.

– Supercharged 6.2L HEMI V8, 707hp, 650 lb-ft of torque
– ZF-sourced 8HP90 8-speed automatic transmission (no manual transmission offered...

The facelifted 2015 model year RS7 is the same as the current 2014 one, mechanically speaking, which carries the same turbocharged 4.0L V8 engine, with 560 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. Transmission will be the ZF-sourced 8-speed unit, sending power via Audi’s Quattro AWD system.

The major difference is in its exterior, with a new angular shape of front LED headlight housing unit, new radiator grille and new bumper.

The 2015 RS7 will be on sale in this autumn. US price will be announced when the sale date is approaching.

The 2015 K900 and Genesis is a big step forward for the Hyundai Motor Company. Not only because of its superb crash testing performance, but also some key components are all developed by Hyundai itself.

For example the AWD system (called “HTRAC”) are developed in-house, so does the 8-speed transmission. Especially for the 8AT, its design is totally different from the ZF, GM and Aisin units. The Hyundai 8AT uses 4 planetary gear sets and 7 shifting elements (5 clutches, including a one-way clutch and 2 brakes). It is more complicated than any of the other similar units...

Last week I have discussed the GM 8AT and the ZF 9AT, today let’s take a look at the Aisin AA80E, which is used in the Lexus IS350, GS350, LS460, IS-F and the upcoming RC-F.

Unlike other longitude mounted 8AT such as the ZF 8HP and GM 8L90, the Aisin transmission uses compound planetary gear sets. A compound planetary gear set is a planetary gear set that has multiple sun gears or multiple ring gears. There are different types of them, the one we are interested in is called the Ravingeaux gear set, which has two sun gears, two planet carriers and they share one common ring gear.

One Ravingeaux gear set can provide 4 forward gear ratios and also the neutral and reverse.

T...

Last time I showed you some interesting facts about the ZF 9HP transmission. Today I am going to talk about the latest GM 8L90 8-speed automatic transmission, which will be used on the 2015 Corvette.

Please do not be confused with the Cadillac CTS 3.6 V6 trim’s 8-speed transmission, that one is not the 8L90. Instead GM sourced it from Aisin and it is a completely different design.

First I would like to show you the structure diagram of the 8L90. The drawing is from the patent GM filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office several years ago. As expected in a patent document, the drawing looks terribly complicated...