FlowForce R8 Coil Kit (yes, you heard that right)
 

Brand new from FlowForce. You heard it here first!

We are all about value, and while we continue to be stoked about our LS coil kit, it's been harder and more expensive to source good used coils. We run them all through a battery of tests, and have to reject a high % for not meeting spec. And aftermarket LS coils are just plain crap. That means we have had to increase the price, and while we will continue to offer our amazing* LS coil kit, we, unfortunately, have another price increase coming soon.

The challenges of meeting the volume demands of the community for a stronger spark, while continuing to deliver a value-oriented, high-quality kit has led us to find a more affordable option. That brings us to our new R8 coil kit.

This kit is built around a high-quality Bosch R8 coil, which we are able to source new in any volume we need. The coil fits to the valve cover via seal we designed and produced with a custom mold. The plug-and-play harness installs just like our LS coil harness, which is used by hundreds of customers for more than two years with no reported failures. For those who insist on nothing but the classiest of installs, we are developing a bracket that will really tie the room together. However, the bare bones kit works just fine without it and you can always add the bracket later.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8470db70e6.jpg
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...be2ea209c6.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...db37fdd7e7.jpg

We have a few of these in the wild now, so we are confident in the design and performance. When we get all the production parts in, these will sell for $299 for the full 94+ kit with the bracket ($319 for 90-93). We have 4 kits without brackets on hand right now, Pre-orders placed now will ship out early April, and can now be ordered on our site: https://goflowforce.com/products/r8-...coil-kit-miata, and we'll give any pre-orderers a discount on the bracket when it's ready. If you want to jump on this, just send a Paypal to nigel@goflowforce.com.

We have been working on this kit for the better part of a year, and are super stoked to have it available now.

Q&A
1. Which one is more powerful? LS2 or R8? I haven't seen a good apples to apples comparison between the two. What would have been the best comparison (the mega coil comparison test from 2 years ago) used a Chinese knockoff and didn't mention it as such (you can tell by the black epoxy). Other examples I've found use similar dwell on both, but you dwell LS coils 3x higher. And I'm not set up to run a good total output test. As best as I can tell though, the LS coil is going to produce a beefier spark, however, they are both miles ahead of something like a Toyota coil. For the vast majority of builds, you won't notice a difference between the two.
2. VVT head fitment - It fits, but seal will need to be trimmed since the openings are smaller.
3. pigtail version - we don't specifically offer a pigtail version, but there is nothing stopping you from depinning or chopping the connectors and going hardwire. On the 01+ cars the harness is a straight plug and play. For all other years there is some version of depinning the vehicle-side harness and pinning into provided female connectors, which then connect to the harness.
4. sequential - We have a sequential add on for $20, which gives you lengths of pre-pinned wires to run from the harness back to your ECU
5. seal removability - yes, the seals remove and re-install with ease. You can drop by Autozone between sessions on track and grab a new coil if you need to.
6. ECU compatibility - These coils draw high current from the signal circuit. Any MS3Pro, the latest MSPNP2, FlowForce MS2, SpeedyEFI PNP, and Haltech Elite are confirmed compatible. Microsquirt, early MS2, MS3x, MS3 Basic, MS3 mini, and many other ECUs can't handle the current on the signal wire, and will require an additional circuit. If unsure, check with your ECU maker, and don't use these coils with an ECU you are sure about. We specifically designed the FlowForce MS2 to work with these.
7. Dwell: I'll post a table soon by this is what we run: 2.1 at about 4000 RPM tapering to 2.0 at redline, and tapering to 2.4 at idle.

*warning: highly biased opinion

Wow these couldn't have came at a better time, I have been looking at ordering ls coil kit. Do you guys see the r8 coils capable of same capabilites as ls coils? I know the vag guys use these on big turbo 2.0s in the 400+ hp range.

I am interested in a kit but probably a month away before I could get real feedback.

Very nice looking kit Nigel, as usual from Flow Force.

Hoping to dyno at 300-320 within a few weeks, once weaknesses from previously mentioned dyno are solved. My biggest concern is spark, so this peaks my interest. Will these fit in the 2 narrower VVT heads? And is there an option for an open pigtail harness? I'd just as soon chop off my harness plugs and wire an 6 pin DT plug.

I'll bite, have they been tested sequentially? Shoot me a PM please.

The seal you guys designed, are these removable from the ignition coil or will we have to purchase the coils solely from you if any goes bad?

So many questions!

1. Which one is more powerful? LS2 or R8? I haven't seen a good apples to apples comparison between the two. What would have been the best comparison (the mega coil comparison test from 2 years ago) used a Chinese knockoff and didn't mention it as such (you can tell by the black epoxy). Other examples I've found use similar dwell on both, but you dwell LS coils 3x higher. And I'm not set up to run a good total output test. As best as I can tell though, the LS coil is going to produce a beefier spark, however, they are both miles ahead of something like a Toyota coil. For the vast majority of builds, you won't notice a difference between the two.
2. VVT head fitment - I have not actually fit this to the VVT head, but I've measured it up and am confident the coil will fit. The seal will need to be trimmed though since the openings are smaller.
3. pigtail version - we don't specifically offer a pigtail version, but there is nothing stopping you from depinning or chopping the connectors and going hardwire. On the 01+ cars the harness is a straight plug and play. For all other years there is some version of depinning the vehicle-side harness and pinning into provided female connectors, which then connect to the harness.
4. sequential - we haven't tested this kit sequentially, however we have loads of customers running our LS kit sequentially, and the harness installs in the same way. We have a sequential add on for $20, which gives you lengths of pre-pinned wires to run from the harness back to your ECU
5. seal removability - yes, the seals remove and re-install with ease. You can drop by Autozone between sessions on track and grab a new coil if you need to.

Can't wait to tune more of these :)

Awesome kit! Wondered for years, why pretty much nobody uses them overseas...

I'm also running these coils for over a year and at ~300whp they are working just fine, I don't have any doubts, that they can power my 350whp setup in a few days/weeks. (NGK BKR7E's)
I am using the NGK version of these coils (also red tops) and found out, that they only needed to be trimmed one "lip" on the rubber boot, otherwise they click in firmly on the spark plug and seal up perfectly on a BP05 valve cover.
No need for a bracket or stuff like that, very neat.

There is a video on youtube somewhere, where all the typical aftermarket coils where tested against each other and I remember the R34 coils were the strongest, followed by LS coils and the R8's, plenty of spark power for our engines.

Trim that little piece on these and you're fine:
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c9a04fdc17.jpg

Nigel, I hope my post is okay, if I offend anyone with this post/option, please send me a message, I'll delete!

R8 coils are properly nice, and I can confirm VVT fitment. What's the ECU compatibility like?

I sent a PM, I'll take a kit!!!!

Do you have dwell tables for these?

sending a pm anyway.

I use:

Cranking: 4ms
Running: 3ms

I can lookup my voltage correction table, but I *think* it's what my ms3 mini came with.
No problems even after a few hours of driving.

ECU compatibility - thanks for reminding me HarryB. These coils draw high current from the signal circuit. Any MS3Pro, and the latest MS2pnp, are compatible. However, Microsquirt, early MS2, MS3x, and likely any budget ECU can't handle the current on the signal wire. If unsure, check with your ECU maker. We specifically designed the FlowForce MS2 to work with these.

Dwell: 3ms is aggressive. These draw massive amps. I'll post a table soon by this is what we run: 2.1 at about 4000 RPM tapering to 2.0 at redline, and tapering to 2.4 at idle.

der_vierte - it's all good! Thanks for the validation. We chose the Bosch coil for a number of reasons, but I've also heard good things about the NGK.

The "ready now" units are all claimed (that was fast!) so we'll just roll this into a pre-order. Orders placed now will ship in 4-6 weeks.

Thanks Nigel, I'll back off a little bit and report back.

I can confirm, that even my Speeduino PNP could run these no problem:bigtu:

oof I'm on ms3x is there a work around or mod? I need to do or am I SOL?

I should have asked before I paid I guess.

My response was very unhelpfully written. MS3 is A-OK. Edit: Actually, it looks like MS3x doesn't have the high-current signal circuit.

There was a simple circuit design involving TC4427 mosfets and resistors to be able to drive low impedance coils somewhere in the MS documentation.

Any clues to how much current we are talking? Because I thought MS3X uses a 74AHC buffer, maybe puts out 20mA max?

https://www.msextra.com/forums/viewt...?f=131&t=58469