LS Coil Location
 

I've been interested in putting LS coils on my Miata for quite a while. I've read the info in the sticky and still have some questions. My car is an '03 meaning 1.8 VVT, and has an FM2 turbo kit with a Hydra 2.7. The Flyin' Miata kits are too expensive and locates the coils in a pretty tight area. Other kits that I've found seem to have limitations for me due to the Hydra or the VVT.
I bought the coils and a generic relocation bracket that, after some tweaking, fits the coils well. Location on the engine is my concern. I'd prefer to mount the coils on the intake side but it is pretty crowded. I have enough space, it appears, to mount the coils and bracket on the exhaust side, more or less where they're sitting in the attached photo, using the existing bolts that hold the stock coils in place. There is enough clearanc under the hood and the bracket can stand off of the valve cover about 1/8 - 3/16" . My concern is heat from the turbo and routing of plug wires.
What say you experts and DIY guys out there? Does this look viable?

Thanks,
Paul

Bro SadFab is the one everyone here used

they're probably ok there with the heat shielding, since on the LS they live right next to the header, but yeah there's a very good selection of coil brackets now that you could also use

I bought the fm big spark kit without coils, yea it was alot of money for some sheet metal, threaded rod, and some wiring. But it's super simple clean, and looks stock.

Mount them under the intake manifold and run the high tension leads through the spaces between the intake runners. But seriously, why not mount off the valve cover bolts on the intake side in a way that puts the coils over the gap between the intake and the valve cover and the high tension lines could go over the vvt tube to the plugs?

I was trying to avoid removing the strut between the shock towers. Is it not worth the trouble to keep it? That's the main impediment to mounting on the intake side. The Sadfab bracket will work fine without the strut ( or whatever it's called )

The FM kit is not only $$$ but requires getting rid of EGR, engine lifting eye and removing VVT oil feed line and cutting and tapping the fittings and replacing with a SS hose. It's pretty tight in the location they use. Turbo oil feed runs back there and my gauge wiring as well. I don't care about the EGR, but no real reason to eliminate it that I can see.

Shock Tower Brace? Worth keeping at the expense of coils on hot side?

Paul

I just realized that the Hawley kit WILL work for me. I had e-mailed them inquiring and didn't get a response, but searched again and found that they are VVT compatible. Already ordered them. Thanks everyone.

Paul

The FM kit is for LS3 coils, not for the truck coils pictured above. The truck coils are cheaper and stronger, but also much bigger and don't fit behind the head like the LS3 ones do.

(as for the FM kit price, "some wiring" includes some fairly expensive parts).

--Ian

Flyin' Miata
 

Ian,
I'm a big FM fan. Just got back into messing with cars a few years ago at age 67, so I like having it all thought out for me. But the ticket for the Big Spark just was more than I could take, when I know it could be done much cheaper. Kind of fun learning how to do it all again except on a little 4 banger instead of the old V8 muscle of my youth.

Paul

If you know someone with a sheet metal brake you can build something like this fairly easily. If you PM I can send you some other photos of the coil braket under construction. I also have a spare set of LS coils I'd let go cheaply if you're interested. Fredb

Here's a link to a thread here with a copy of better photos of the coil braket.
https://www.miataturbo.net/engine-pe...n-wires-63058/

Fredb,
Thanks but I was asking because I was trying to avoid locating the coils near the turbo. I already have a bracket that will do that. Yours looks nice though.

Paul

LS3 coils are good enough, Truck coils are overkill. What's so expensive about some 16ga wire? The only thing expensive in their kit is the actual ignition wires. And even those you can get a lot cheaper if you get the diy kit.

Regardless, OP doesn't want to use fm setup due to price and complexity on his vvt. I over looked that part. But removing the engine hoist hook isn't really an issue.. Your going to remove you ignition coils anyways if you ever pull your motor, takes another 2 seconds to bolt on the hook again.

It sounds like Paul already has a solution, so to a certain extent this is threadjacking. I just wanted to clarify that the FM kit includes a set of custom magnecore wires ($90), a pre-made GM LS3 coil subharness (4 coil connectors going to one bigger connector, $50), and another pigtail harness to put that big connector in your car ($20), in addition to the bracket. So yes, it's an expensive kit, but it's not $300 just for some 16 gauge wire.

--Ian

OK clearly you need some help understanding what thread jacking is. Op asked about location, I said I used the fm kit and that it's a bit expensive for what you get. You replied to me for what ever reason. You can go to a junk yard and get ls coils with all the wires you need for like 70 bucks. Add the price of some sheet natal for mount and the ignition wires and you can have it all done for 150. There's no benifit to magnocor other than their warranty and being a quality set. Have a good day, glad Op figured out what he wants to do.

Actually, I'm still trying to figure out the plug wires. Suggestions? I'm not in a hurry and I'm a pretty good do it yourself guy if there's a solution in that realm. This forum is great if you don't mind being smacked around a little here and there.

Paul

The information you seek is in the https://www.miataturbo.net/diy-turbo...-thread-82744/ thread - or SHOULD be, it's a nice central repository for all the info regarding LSx coils.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...e844ba7b81.jpg
I have the brackets for this and possible a pigtail sitting in my basement if anyone wants it. D514A mounts

Everyones favorite Miata youtuber. But he shows how to make your own coil wires.

Thought that I did my homework on that with the LS Coil sticky, but that was the thread that I needed. Thank you mucho.
Paul