Everything You Need to Know About An 8HP Swap Kit

A global overview of the ZF 8HP swap kits I've been building out since the start of the year — which transmission variants I cover, which engines, and what's actually in the box. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ALL 8HP CONVERSION KITS https://www.autosportsengineering.com... BY ENGINE: 2JZ / 1JZ — Jaguar, BMW, BMW N63 V8, Dodge Mopar, Dodge Ram Truck, Dodge/Jeep EcoDiesel K20 / K24 — Jaguar, BMW, Dodge LS / LT — Jaguar, Dodge Mopar SR20 — Dodge Ram BMW N52 / N53 / N54 / N55 — Dodge HAVE A SWAP THAT ISN'T LISTED? Contact page at autosportsengineering.com, or message me on socials. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro 0:33 Why 8HP Swaps Took Off — TCU Support 0:52 The 8HP Variants Explained 2:03 How the Kits Are Made — 3D Scanning and In-House Billet 3:44 LS / LT Kits 6:51 Honda K-Series to Dodge 7:06 Converter Centering Sleeves and Spuds 9:47 JZ to Jaguar — The Billet Flex Plate 11:09 Engraved Torque Specs 12:08 SR20 Kits 13:06 BMW Small Case — Two-Piece Assembly 15:27 Driveshafts, Coolers and Accessories 16:30 Closing ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ WHY THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS NOW The 8HP isn't new for me — I did the first ones to K-series and JZ about two years ago, when the BMW transmission was realistically the only one you could control. What changed is TCU support. More controllers covering more variants opened the door to much cheaper swaps without buying the pricier BMW units, which mostly turn up in diesels, Mk5 Supras, and newer BMWs running B58s and S58s. WHAT I NEED TO ADD YOUR ENGINE If it isn't listed, it just hasn't come up the priority list yet. My real limitation is access to an engine. I prefer a live one here for final fitment and the install guide, but what I actually need is a very high quality 3D scan of the crank side. Poor scans with rolled edges and undefined transmission and crank holes don't work — my scanner is good to about two microns, and that precision is what makes the fit what it is. I've already scanned every transmission I've done: all the Dodge 45s, 70 and 90 series, most BMWs including the V8s, and the Jaguars. Good engine scan plus a transmission I've already covered? Reach out — that moves fast. WHAT'S IN THE KITS BILLET FLEX PLATES WITH NEW STARTER RING GEARS. Full solid pieces, everything integrated. I avoid reusing factory flex plates wherever I possibly can. On the JZ side especially — I've been in this market long enough to know I don't want a factory flex plate in there. They're old and they crack. Six or seven years ago guys wanted 500-600hp. Now a street car is 800 to 1,000. STAINLESS HEX-DRIVE DOWEL PINS. Threaded, so you screw them in rather than pressing. No bending them on install, and they're replaceable if you damage one. Everything except the BMWs, which still use factory dowels — I may change that. CENTERING SLEEVES AND SPUDS. The K-series to Dodge kit has a detachable centering ring for the pilot stud that clears the ARP flex plate bolts, located by precision machined dowels. An adapter sleeve drops in to reduce the center bore, so one kit covers both Dodge converter diameters across second and third gen transmissions. The JZ to Dodge flex plate uses the same sleeve, plus two threaded holes for 8-32 socket head bolts to lock it down. There's a machined lip keeping the sleeve elevated with three relief spots — if it ever sticks, a punch taps it straight out. I design for the what-if, not just for everything going perfectly. ENGRAVED TORQUE SPECS. Most batches now get the torque specs laser or machine engraved right on the face. Having it in front of you during the install means you don't stop and email me on a weekend — or ask the wrong person on the internet and pay for it. ALL 6061, CNC MACHINED IN HOUSE. Small batches, which keeps QC tight. A tooling issue scraps one or two, not fifty. WHY THE BMW SMALL CASE IS TWO-PIECE On the small case BMWs — M50, M57 — the smaller torque converter overlaps where the starter ring gear needs to be. You can't run a bolt through the teeth and you can't cut enough material away without it cracking. So that one is a two-piece assembly aligned by a precision machined spud. Alignment varies by kit — machined in on the JZ and K-series, or a spud that presses into the crank like a pilot bushing. Whichever it needs, it's in the box. COMING UP Coyote kits were being finished as I filmed this, and VK kits are next — both engines are on the stand and already scanned. ACCESSORIES Transmission coolers, thermostatic adapters, and made-to-order driveshafts are all on the site. I'm building a custom driveshaft listing where you pick your transmission, rear differential and overall length, and add adapters in the same selection so it price-builds the whole combo. Autosports Engineering — Lakeland, FL US-manufactured billet drivetrain hardware since 2016