NAG1 controller finally on market? I might have found it.

[roadrunninMark]

I was doing some research on the NAG1 and reading about how people having a rough time with controlling the NAG1 transmission. Well, I just found this site: http://soundgermanautomotive.com/pcs/

I don't know anything about this company/ controller yet, but I will try to find out more, including posting on the other sites. Has anyone else heard of this unit/company?

 

[Volatile Rob]

I bought this setup off of Russell (Sound German Autos) in early 2013 after 3 months of emails back and forth, then meeting him at SEMA in 2012. My setup was one of the first "complete kits" & definitely the first kit to land in Australia.

It comes with pretty much everything you need and the shift mapping is being constantly fine tuned by Russell.

I optioned mine with the Paddle Shifter, but did not purchase the D200 Datalogger.

I am running the FAST XFi ECU, the PCS TCU & FAST ECU can communicate together via CAN-BUS, sharing data such as VSS, kick down, shift cut etc.

Rob.

 

[roadrunninMark]

Thanks Rob for the input. How much wiring is required to get everything connected? How well does the paddle shifter work? Can you put up some pics of the paddle shifter? Is it connected to a stock steering column and how did you do it?

 

[Darius]

I bought this setup off of Russell (Sound German Autos) in early 2013 after 3 months of emails back and forth, then meeting him at SEMA in 2012. My setup was one of the first "complete kits" & definitely the first kit to land in Australia.

It comes with pretty much everything you need and the shift mapping is being constantly fine tuned by Russell.



I optioned mine with the Paddle Shifter, but did not purchase the D200 Datalogger.

I am running the FAST XFi ECU, the PCS TCU & FAST ECU can communicate together via CAN-BUS, sharing data such as VSS, kick down, shift cut etc.

Rob.

Rob What is your entire drive line?? engine, transmission, rear assy, rear gear.

 

[Modern Muscle]

We have been working with that kit as well but find it very unreliable. car shifted by its self into 1st gear at 130mph very scary. I wouldn't recommended it unless you have 100s of hours to spare to fine tune it. When a company sells something IMO it should be plug and play for the most part.

 

[Darius]

I finally drove my GTX today and it worked correctly just needing some fine tuning to shift points. It was doing what Dave said before we sent it back to Russell with files saved and he reprogrammed it for us. It initially down shifted way out of sinc, I thought the entire rear end was ripped from the car. I will report again tomorrow as we only drove it up and down the block a bit today. Bigger road test on for tomorrow.

 

[lxmodguy]

Well apparently Russell is the only one with the appropriate firmware for the controller. I know Bill's tried to make it work, Dave's tried, and I have tried. It needs the correct firmware from Russell apparently. Kudos to Russell for helping you get it going.

 

[Darius]

Still needs some minor tweaking. Runs out nice via normal acceleration but if you stand on it it wants to stay in first too long and spend only a millisecond in second 3-5 seem ok. Downshift seems ok. Hard to keep it under 80 on the freeway and it is awesome fast out of the hole. Dean seems to feel these are easy adjustments on our end after having several conversations with Russell, we shall see.

 

[lxmodguy]

Well apparently Russell is the only one with the appropriate firmware for the controller. I know Bill's tried to make it work, Dave's tried, and I have tried. It needs the correct firmware from Russell apparently. Kudos to Russell for helping you get it going.

 

[hemidart67]

Sounds promising.Glad you are making progress and the car is driveable.What does PCS sell the controller for?
I have a transmission sitting in the shop just debating on whether to cut the tunnel and use it or stick with a 727 and a GV ?
Even if it cost me I think I would have less money using the NAG-1

 

[roadrunninMark]

Yes, thankful for Russell to take this on! I am hoping all the tweaks will be out as Darius keeps supplying info. Thanks to Darius as well! One day in the future I hope to have a new hemi and NAG1 in the barracuda

 

[Darius]

I have been driving the GTX all week around town and have done a few freeway rides of about 25-30 miles. This set up is AWESOME!!! plenty of torque, very quiet (see post in tech section about Lizzard Skin), HAULS ***!!
and it looks to be getting in the mid 20mpg range. I have a several hundred mile road trip to Mopar Alley show tomorrow so I will have a good opportunity to get a good read on the mileage.
Some of the shift issues seem to have settled in. I read somewhere that these things adapt to the driving style somewhat and that may be what is going on or it may just be me getting used to something so different. There are still some minor shift point adjustments to be made though.
All in all I say go for it if it is what you might want in the way of engine/trans combo. Hopefully PCS has their **** straightened out because they have a money maker if they do.

 

[rimspec]

I have been driving the GTX all week around town and have done a few freeway rides of about 25-30 miles. This set up is AWESOME!!! plenty of torque, very quiet (see post in tech section about Lizzard Skin), HAULS ***!!
and it looks to be getting in the mid 20mpg range. I have a several hundred mile road trip to Mopar Alley show tomorrow so I will have a good opportunity to get a good read on the mileage.
Some of the shift issues seem to have settled in. I read somewhere that these things adapt to the driving style somewhat and that may be what is going on or it may just be me getting used to something so different. There are still some minor shift point adjustments to be made though.
All in all I say go for it if it is what you might want in the way of engine/trans combo. Hopefully PCS has their **** straightened out because they have a money maker if they do.

how much did you get the controller for?

 

[Darius]

how much did you get the controller for?

I do not recall the exact price and I am not near the receipts but I seem to recall it was in the $2200.00 area.

Don't know if you saw the post where I was talking about how I got 26MPG on the first long run I made ...140MI appx.

 

[Darius]

A little update on this TCM. I spent the day yesterday "tuning" my transmission. It is super easy once ypu understand how the program works. Russell spent about an hour and a half on the phone with us walking through how ,what,where to work the program. dean rode while I drove and we dialed in some shift points that really smoothed the operation out. Still have some tweaking to do but this thing is REALLY getting nice now.
Since I drive a 2013 Charger with the same basic drive train it has been weird ...wondering if I am breaking something in the GTX or not. Bottom line is is behaves much differently with the 8 3/4 but it is not wrong.
Bottom line is the car is even more than I had imagined it could be. An absolute slot car, solid as a rock in all cases, rides very nice and it has awesome power.
I did ask Russell how many people he knows in the country who have this product installed and working and he said about 10....in older cars.
He said he is also working on a complete engine/transmission management package that will make this swap even easier.

 

[usaroadrunner]

darius, that is alot of good info for people that want to do this. a big thanks. you can learn a ton from people on this site. you , 5.7, lx. you guys are great.

 

[Darius]

Spent a few more hours today "tuning" shift points and such. Normal driving is so awesome. Shifts real smooth now and behaves like it should. WOT is a different situation for now. The transmission seems to be hunting for a gear and doesn't know where to shift to. This really isnt even WOT but more like 70% throttle. We have saved that data and sent it to Russell, per his request, for analysis. We are thinking it is pressure adjustments so that is the next curve we will learn about.
In the mean time, holy ****! This thing screams at about 35-40% throttle. It is just going to fry the tires off when it gets right. BIG fun!

I highly recommend the Dynomax VT mufflers. Sounds as bad *** as anything when you get on it but is extremely quiet at cruise or idle. Getting anxious for Hot August Nights when I get to drive it over Donner Pass. About a 100 mile drive on 2 lane nice highway with lots of curves. I'm leaving at the crack of dawn to minimize traffic frustration!

 

[lxmodguy]

That is good news. I think the Nag1 is an awesome transmission. In stock form they hold about 550 wheel horsepower as long as you keep them cool.

 

[SGA]

Hello,
This is Russell as mentioned above. This is going to be a little long. And I hope I am not breaking any rules here by explaining this.
I wanted to clarify a few details in this thread. As far as running driving examples of this product out there it is hard to say. I can tell you that there are probably around a 100 tcms out there for this transmission that have come from me. There are many variants of this transmission and of course most are either Mercedes or Mopar. There are some Porsches and Jaguars as well. I have had clients with projects from twin turbo challengers and chargers to military transporters to drift cars and off road trucks beyond the regular motor trans swap projects.

That being said no one has ever received one of these packages from me with the implication that it is a plug and play package.
These are sent out just the same as a standalone engine computer with a starter calibration to set the basic parameters is sold that you will have to tune on your end or have a tuner do it for you. There are simply to many variables that differentiate the tuning of the product. Weight, engine power, transmission condition, shift points, etc... all effect the tuning.

As far as reliability goes it is as reliable as your install and the tuning that is done. With a good transmission and proper install it takes me around an hour or two to have a very nice reliable car to drive for a daily driver. I have helped anyone that has asked to get there projects working well beyond what could be expected. But you do have to ask.

Finally this is not for everyone. I would love it if it was. But it does take some time to get used to the setup and what the pressures do and how the transmission reacts to changes.
Anyone can go download the tuning software and manual from the PCS website for the tcm-2000. Open up a cal file that is in the download by selecting New calibration file.

Thanks,

 

[Darius]

Thank you for weighing in Russell! There you go guys, straight from the definitive source!