M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Electrical => Topic started by: bmwman91 on July 04, 2006, 09:59:25 PM
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Alrighty, I got it working. The idle is a little nicer, and the powerband comes on more smoothly, as zer0frez said his did when he got it running.
The pics & story are at:
http://bmw.e30tuner.com/my318is_pic_copcon.php
The 3 preceeding pages have details & pics of my first bracket design that was far less...practical.
I am currently working on trimming the connector wires. I have disassembled the connectors and am taking apart the crimped spade recepticles. Being careful, I can re-crimp the ends of the trimmed wires back in, and I am soldering on top of this just to be safe. I will post pics & stuff when I am done.
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do they use stock connectors? where did you pick up the coils? the bav auto high preformance ones are 75 each. hmmm
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that looks nice and simple! i like! what are the COPs from, m52 e36? and the boots?
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The top of page 1 lists what models these are for/can be pulled from. Boots that work should come with the coils when purchased.
Yes these work with our stock connectors. The harness needs some trimming (which I will cover in the next couple days when I have time), and it is not an easy task to do it right.
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Top job mate, hats off to you! you rekon there is any power/torque to be gained?
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I bet my torque gains would be about the same as what I would get from...say...new plug wires. This setup is nice because it unclutters things, and cost less than new plug wires. Maybe there is some gain since there is less energy loss in the transmission from the coil to the plug, who knows. Someone send me some brand new, never-used wires and I'll go look into dyno runs with those and the new setup (well, no, actually I won't. Too much $ for little point).
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Now that's the hot tip.
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nice, I may do that soon.
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Looking good, keep up the good work!
BTW, would you be interested in making a few more of those aluminum brackets for some of your fellow board members (for a reasonable fee of course)? ;)
Fabby
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Yeah, I think I could whip up some more on weekends.
I finished trimming up all the harnesses so everything is to-length. There is a new problem I noticed (well, it will be a problem in probably 2 months). The connector wires for cylinder 4 are sorta hanging loose, and the engine vibration will eventually cause the copper wire to break. I am gonna fab up a small secondary bracket that will have a clamp that will fasten the big portion of the harness to the motor. All harness movement will be AFTER the connectors then...the wires in the pins will be stationary relative to the motor. Funnily worded, but you get the idea right?
Future brackets will have an extension off of one end for the little clamping piece so it will be 1 piece again. I am just gonna trash this one. I just do not feel right having stuff out there that is not my best work. Heh, maybe I'll install it on my sister's E36 318iS hehe :D .
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Sounds good!
Please keep us posted on the progress of your updated bracket, as i will definitely pick one up from you when their available. :)
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OEM coils and plug wires for a 318is are about $300. High performance coils and wires are $390 from BAVauto. This is actually a really good bang for the buck mod - maybe 2-3 HP and goodbye to plug wires. If the cover plate is sharp it will be way cool!
The coil w/boot prices for this update are:
FAP99.com $45 Bremi $180 total.
BMAParts.com $58 Bremi $232 total
BAVAuto.com $62 BMW/Bremi $248
BAVAuto.com $75 High performance aftermarket $300 total
BMW OEM coils are branded Bremi.
(http://www.m42club.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=239&stc=1&d=1152211036)
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The high performance ones...is that the price for a set of 4 of the round Bremi ones? I know those were only used on 6 & 8 cylinders...can you request 4 from BavAuto?
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The four I sent were the $45 dollar Bremi's. I guess Bavauto would sell just four hi-performance coils as they also sell sets of eight amd should sell individually in case one is bad.
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I can get used bosch coils for 25 a peice or new oem bremi coils for 49.
I wonder how much different the bavauto ones are, they look specially made or modified bremi units.
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Heh I dont know about the red on those coils. I dont want my engine looking like a silicone-hosed rice rocket! At least it matches my car I guess. I bet I could paint them black pretty easily. Now that would be funny, I throw away the whole project becaise I do not like the looks of some coils.
Lol, cosmetic thoughts? (if they are bright red it adds another 5whp...)
(http://www.bavauto.com/assets/imglib500/5002_6.jpg)
(lol hope they dont mind me hotlinking. It is too early in the morning to not do it)
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Alright, I have the next page up showing the trimmed harnesses. Still a couple little things that need finishing, but it is getting there!
http://www.e30tuner.com/projects/cop5.htm
Anyone have any suggestions for stuff to wrap the wires in? I have never been a big fan of electrical tape just because if you ever need to remove it, it seems to turn into a huge mess if it has been exposed to heat (which it is quite fair to say it will be). I dislike heat shrink tubing because it can get really stiff/brittle, and it is probably hot enough in there to shrink it. I would LIKE something like the stuff that was on there originally. The split-tube stuff is ugly, and the spiral-wrap is not much better. Suggestions? Lol, gripe gripe gripe.
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Heh I dont know about the red on those coils. I dont want my engine looking like a silicone-hosed rice rocket! At least it matches my car I guess. I bet I could paint them black pretty easily. Now that would be funny, I throw away the whole project because I do not like the looks of some coils.
My, aren't we sensitive. Those are red because they're HOT!
Seriously, a black cover over the whole center of the valve cover with a roundel and "M42 Power"
Yeah, baby!
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Haha, yeah it soundes better & better. Buuuut I wanna show off the COP conversion at the next autoX. Then again, the only folks that it will matter if they see it are the ones that will notice even if there IS a cover on there.
A sidenote, I finished my writeup of disassembling the ignition coil connectors. I am also adding it to the How-To section.
http://www.e30tuner.com/bmw/articles_condis1.php
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So what do I need to do this conversion? Are there parts I can order and just install or are there wiring changes to be made too?