Thoughts/Ideas/Suggestions for alternate locations for ignition coils
 

Hey guys!

I've searched high and low and cannot find any other locations for coils.

I want my cruise control back. I have charlie7's relocation kit, with the RX-7 design in the top cover. It's a decent piece but it's a little too showy for my taste and as stated, I want my cruise back. I also don't want to relocate them back to the stock position, or the "oven" as it's often referred to. I have A/C and P/S and won't give them up, so Chris Ludwig's AWESOME looking relocation bracket won't work for me either.

Anyone have any ideas? I saw the Garfinkle kit attached to the frame rail, but I also read it's Mission Impossible to install with the engine in the car.

With the layout of the engine, the coils obviously have to remain on the driver's side of the car to avoid the heat of the turbo and to keep the coil wires as short as possible. This makes Garfinkle's idea a good one, but I am concerned with installation difficulty and the possibility of them getting wet, since they'd sit so low. I live in South Florida and CAN NOT avoid the ran, no matter how hard I try. Would the frame rail be low enough to get wet in the rain? I suspect so...

Any feedback/ideas would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks fellas!

Nick

Will have to be some custom bracket near/behind the shock tower.

Yeah, I know your struggle.

The class I race in allows holes through the firewall for "wiring".

I am having to fight with myself to not put the coils in the dash where a radio might be.

I hate modifying the unibody, but sometimes I do it by accident anyways (wreck), so...

Mass centralization?

Help! Gimme other ideas for heavy things further from center of car and higher I can move to that empty spot that won't involve holes in the firewall.

When I got my car, the previous owner had moved the stock coils to the side of the engine bay next to the spark plugs. It was a neat location but made changing plugs a bit difficult (not hard, just annoying) because it was a very tight fit for the socket.

Blue TII: We are looking to relocate coils for two very different reasons. I'm trying to gain some of my driveability back, and you've got a race car! lol If I was you I'd do whatever necessary to win races. Period.

Get your drilll out and do it!

H_M: Are you saying the coils were mounted within a few inches of the spark plugs? Do you know what specifically was used to mount them there? Did your car have cruise control and all the other creature comforts?

Thanks guys!

Nick

Yes, they were mounted a few inched from the spark plugs. The coils were held in place by one self taping screw, haha. The car is a JDM R1 without cruise control. The A/C was removed by one of the previous owners.

I have also seen someone relocate their stock coils besides the brake master cylinder (driver's side on a LHD car). They had to have custom spark plug wires made up though.

IORC Garfinkle Motor Works used to offer a bracket that mounted below the ignitor.

I modified a SakeBomb bracket to fit the coils under the intake manifold. The customer wanted to retain cruise control, power steering, and ac.

Igor, but doesn't that keep them in the "oven" and expose them to a lot of heat still?

Have we been able to prove as a community that it's even a legitimate problem to have the coils in the stock location? Perhaps we can use heat shielding?

Id just like to be able to not sacrifice some of the creature comforts but still have the power, if possible.

Nick

I had my car on the lift as I was changing out my clutch master cylinder and was bleeding the slave so I got a real nice look at the frame rail possibility. I need to take measurements but it looks viable. The only concern is how low it is and water intrusion to the coils.

Heres the question: If I created a weather-proof box to put the coils in that was either air or water tight, would that have a detrimental effect on the coils? Do coils need to "breathe"?

My gut instinct says "no". If they can survive in the proverbial oven under the UIM, than why couldn't they simply be sealed off?

I mentioned before but it's worth repeating; I live in South Florida and cannot avoid the rain all the time. And there may be the odd instance where there is standing water, so I can't take the risk of leaving those coils that low and not protecting them.

Your thoughts guys?

Nick

Yes, the coils would like some air exchange around them for cooling.

Performance coils like the LX-92 I use have heat sinks attached to help cool, but a heat sink won't help without some air circulation.

The igniter also needs cooling. If you are relocating that as well, make sure it is still attached to the uni-body sheet metal, not just as ground- but as a giant heat sink.

You can just put a piece of flat plastic or sheet metal as a "bottom" to your coils hanging off the frame rails to protect against the odd splash.
Just make sure whatever you add can't trap moisture and hold it against the coils- that would be worse than leaving them exposed.

I wish there were a decent Coil on Plug Kit out there. I hate Spark Plug Wires. Shorter the better. There was someone who made a kit on one of the other fd forums...but It was ridiculously expensive from what I remember.

If you relocate your battery, there might be some space there

Believe it or not I have never really had stock coils fail prematurely. You can't really blame a coil if it fails on a 24 year old car. The way I mounted these they sit higher than stock. Its also a single turbo car so there is much more room for air circulation.

Check this out guys...

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...0/#post9522198

That would be a phenomenal setup. Problem I see is the steering shaft. I am not sure that there's enough clearance between those coils and the steering shaft. Perhaps for a RHD car it would work...?

Igor, do you have some clearer pics of the setup you've utilized? I can't really see in those pics so well.

My father in-law is a welder, so in theory at least, I can have something fabbed up to work under the UIM if need be...

Thanks for the input fellas!

Nick