Author Topic: COP: M50 coils into M42 (Read 6042 times)

FedE36 · « **on:** August 25, 2008, 03:36:34 PM »

Is this possible? I just have a few coils off a 325 I sold and I was wondering if they would work.

bmwman91 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 25, 2008, 08:37:27 PM »

I THINK they are the same units the M42 uses. If they look the same, then they are the same & will work fine. The wiring is the same on every coil up to like 2005 or something.

FedE36 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 26, 2008, 12:58:06 AM »

Sweet! Thanks again man, I'm pretty new to the M42 (ex M50 owner) and there is a lot of things I am not familiar with.

rob_e30 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 26, 2008, 07:34:39 PM »

They will not work for COP without a custom plate and then it's a lot of work. There is another plate (which I sell) that uses different coils and works as a COP kit.

halcron · « **Reply #4 on:** August 26, 2008, 09:27:03 PM »

I think alot of work is required if you use M50 coils.

http://bmw.e30tuner.com/my318is_pic_copcon.php

You can use the M54 coils which are smaller and much easier to work with.

http://bmw.e30tuner.com/images/my318is/mod/copcon/bmw055.jpg

This is the picture of the part no. of the coil.

RouteZeroDesign · « **Reply #5 on:** August 27, 2008, 05:31:33 PM »

Does anybody know what the shortest coil available is?

Im interested to find one that i can mount directly to the valve cover, because i'm making myself a new valve cover out of carbon fiber ( having an autoclave in college rocks) and being able to bolt the coils straight on would be great.

mkodama · « **Reply #6 on:** August 28, 2008, 08:50:38 PM »

Quote from: RouteZeroDesign;55606

Does anybody know what the shortest coil available is?

Im interested to find one that i can mount directly to the valve cover, because i'm making myself a new valve cover out of carbon fiber ( having an autoclave in college rocks) and being able to bolt the coils straight on would be great.

You might want to see if you can get an E90 3 series coil to fit cause of the compactness and price. Currently BMW only seems to use two types of coils. Both are coil on plug units that are very similar but one variant has built in knock sensors(for the M cars) and is around 50 euros, while the simple coil on plug version version is around 25 euros. These are BMW prices so chances are you could find them for cheaper, plus everything from the 1 series to 7 series uses them so they are pretty common.

Only other BMW option is the M52/M54 coil which people currently use for COP kits which are much larger and more expensive.

doitover · « **Reply #7 on:** August 29, 2008, 08:33:17 AM »

I'm new to this stuff so this may be an idiotic comment, but if you are making your own valve cover why not modify it to allow whatever coils you want to fit? That or model it after one of the later valve covers that had COP?

Quote from: RouteZeroDesign;55606

Does anybody know what the shortest coil available is?

Im interested to find one that i can mount directly to the valve cover, because i'm making myself a new valve cover out of carbon fiber ( having an autoclave in college rocks) and being able to bolt the coils straight on would be great.

RouteZeroDesign · « **Reply #8 on:** August 29, 2008, 12:33:58 PM »

Doitover
Not an idiotic comment at at all mate.
Thats exactly what i am looking for though, to find a coil that i can fit inside the 'valley' of the cam cover, and also be short enough so i can mount it directly to the the valley floor.

I would of course have to fit metal plugs into the carbon for the coils to bolt onto (you cant apply much clamping force to carbon fiber) but i can work around that.

I want to find a coil that is widely available, for two reasons.
1. If i go for a trip to the nurburgring, and one of the coils breaks, i dont want it to ruin my weekend, i want to be able to go the the bmw garage and pick up a new coil, not fuss about with shortening coils or swapping connectors.\

2. If i make up a batch of the valve covers, i dont want people to have to come to me for a new coil, i want them to be able to buy it off bmw or even their local parts store. This saves money, effort and a whole lot of time.

Mkdoma
Thanks for the quick reply man, thats exactly the info i was hoping for.
The idea of cylinder specific knock sensors sounds really good, so its an option ill have to discuss with Emerald (The ECU company)

It would be good if i can find two types of coils of the same size and length, one with the built in knock sensor and one without.
That way, if i decide to do a batch production of the valve covers, people will have three options.
1.Standard plug wires
2.Coil on plug with knock sensor
3.Coil on plug without knock sensor.

Food for thought....thanks man

BTW: I test drove a new m3 today ( i know one of the salesman

)
It is absolute perfection....i must have one