AlexFW

My SMG is fucked up, I should replace the entire hydraulic unit as it has a lack of pressure somewhere. And the bastards sell it for EUR 4000. And as this gearbox has been discontinued in 2006 everything you can find used it 10 yrs old so it's senseless .

I retrofitted HUD, heated steering and something else. Everything can be retrofitted and coded. And every retrofit works if made properly.

Now the question is: did anyone retrofitted a steptronic? I remember a guy with a 550i steptronic who retrofitted 6 MT but never heard about a SMG => Steptronic.

Does anyone have a list of parts to be replaced for SMG => Steptronic?

Thanks a lot!

KyleB

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you'd be better off just converting your SMG to a traditional manual if it's possible, and I think it is. The steptronic transmission is the automatic so you'd be talking about replacing your transmission entirely.

AlexFW

I suspect the gearbox from an SMG is not the same as a 6 MT gearbox: probably the SMG gearbox is made to work with the hydraulic unit and not with the manual lever.
I mean, converting to Steptronic OR to 6 MT would be the same job.

KyleB

I'd double check that. I remember reading in several places that on the E46 M3 and E60 M5 that the manual and SMG gearboxes themselves were the same, the only difference was the SMG pump which is mounted outside of the gearbox.

AlexFW

Mh, okay.. Anyway, I'll probably fix it keeping it SMG. Thanks and I'll let you know.

terraphantm

In theory you'd have to do some minor modifications to the bell housing and buy the shift linkage. This is largely undocumented with the ZF 6-speed. Would be easier to swap in the 6MT in its entirety however, especially since those transmissions are fairly common.

It would definitely be easier to convert to 6MT instead of step since converting to a 6MT is largely a matter of removing wiring and modules and hydraulics.