(Mildly interesting) Coil On Plug cable retrofit
#1
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I've tried every corner of the internet and I can't find anything about this!
What I want is to convert my D16's ugly COP ignition sticks (and plastic cable cover) to the old style spark plug sticks that you would have with a dizzy, but I want to keep the coil-per-plug system. Confusing, I know, but basically-
I have:
I want:
It is pretty common to find distributor to coil pack conversion kits, so you would think it might be the same story for the contrary. However it is not.
I was thinking along the lines of making a bracket to hold the coils and then running the cables to the plugs, but this might look a bit silly and is probably worthy of a fail during MOT season. The alternative is butchering some spare coil towers and I've even had the thought of 3D printing the caps to get some serious cutomisation on the go. All of which is pretty outrageous hence I'm asking if anyone has any experience with this?
Seems to be a grey zone with aftermarket companies anyway...
The problem is that the towers have crap seals on them so they need to be held down with a nut to keep them in place, so you can't just go ahead and cut the tab off. Also, I have a spare old style D16 rocker cover and even with tabs cut off, it seems that the coil towers wouldn't fit anyway.
I'm still working on a solution to this but in the meantime, anyone here got any ideas?
What I want is to convert my D16's ugly COP ignition sticks (and plastic cable cover) to the old style spark plug sticks that you would have with a dizzy, but I want to keep the coil-per-plug system. Confusing, I know, but basically-
I have:
I want:
It is pretty common to find distributor to coil pack conversion kits, so you would think it might be the same story for the contrary. However it is not.
I was thinking along the lines of making a bracket to hold the coils and then running the cables to the plugs, but this might look a bit silly and is probably worthy of a fail during MOT season. The alternative is butchering some spare coil towers and I've even had the thought of 3D printing the caps to get some serious cutomisation on the go. All of which is pretty outrageous hence I'm asking if anyone has any experience with this?
Seems to be a grey zone with aftermarket companies anyway...
The problem is that the towers have crap seals on them so they need to be held down with a nut to keep them in place, so you can't just go ahead and cut the tab off. Also, I have a spare old style D16 rocker cover and even with tabs cut off, it seems that the coil towers wouldn't fit anyway.
I'm still working on a solution to this but in the meantime, anyone here got any ideas?
#2
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Re: (Mildly interesting) Coil On Plug cable retrofit
I can see it.
Build it yourself, using the original coils in a remote location. Mount them to a board or put them in a box of some sort, and hide it.
You'd have to make harnesses to extend the primary wiring to all 4 coils...
A set of spark plug wires with ends and tubes that you like (for the ends you can see on top of the engine, and they'd have to fit properly), AND a roll of bulk spark plug wire to reach the remote mounted coil location......
and some crimp-on HV terminals, and an assortment of the rubber boots to experiment with....
I thought about doing this with a GM Quad4 engine just to keep the ignition module cooler. Never did it though.
Build it yourself, using the original coils in a remote location. Mount them to a board or put them in a box of some sort, and hide it.
You'd have to make harnesses to extend the primary wiring to all 4 coils...
A set of spark plug wires with ends and tubes that you like (for the ends you can see on top of the engine, and they'd have to fit properly), AND a roll of bulk spark plug wire to reach the remote mounted coil location......
and some crimp-on HV terminals, and an assortment of the rubber boots to experiment with....
I thought about doing this with a GM Quad4 engine just to keep the ignition module cooler. Never did it though.
#3
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Yeah that's looking like the best option so far, make a nice little box behind the battery or something. The problem I'm seeing with that though is that the coil towers are designed to hold a spark plug so I can't see making an electrical connection to that being very easy without an adapter of some sort, and I can't say I've ever dissected a spark plug either. Had a little look around and cant find anything to do with that side of things.
Research project initiated, I'll post back with results when it's done!
Research project initiated, I'll post back with results when it's done!
#4
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Re: (Mildly interesting) Coil On Plug cable retrofit
is that the coil towers are designed to hold a spark plug so I can't see making an electrical connection to that being very easy without an adapter of some sort,
Peel the rubber boot off the end of a (junk) coil, you will see the part inside that contacts the spark plug is probably nothing more than a simple spring. All you would have to do is get a plug wire (HV cable) with a terminal end to make direct contact with that spring and then seal it up against spark leakage (rubber boot assortment).
I'm thinking if your bulk HV cable is fat enough, it might fit tightly into the hole where the spark plug porcelain was supposed to be and all you would have to do is shove it in, make contact, and find an extra boot to seal to up tight.
Seems like a lot of work for something that already worked well as it was......How about making a different (larger) plastic cover to hide all of the valve cover and coils? LOL
#5
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
#6
That VW guy who drives a Civic
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Haha it is a lot of work, but it's for science! And aesthetics of course, not a fan of plastic fantastic.
A spring seems a bit low tech, even for Honda standards. I'll have a look tomorrow like, but surely it would be a proper connection for something with such high voltage? That's what I'm hoping for anyway, would imagine there will be such a thing as a spark plug connection out there somewhere to make life a whole lot easier.
Cheers for that though mate, excellent assistance
A spring seems a bit low tech, even for Honda standards. I'll have a look tomorrow like, but surely it would be a proper connection for something with such high voltage? That's what I'm hoping for anyway, would imagine there will be such a thing as a spark plug connection out there somewhere to make life a whole lot easier.
Cheers for that though mate, excellent assistance
#7
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Re: (Mildly interesting) Coil On Plug cable retrofit
A spring seems a bit low tech, even for Honda standards.
but surely it would be a proper connection for something with such high voltage?
but surely it would be a proper connection for something with such high voltage?
See the post I just made immediately before you finished yours? Someone already figured this out for you, just find your car (or similar) on their website.
#8
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Aha, beautiful.
I looked at the civic one and it appears to be a direct connection to the coils? Outstanding.
Although purely for the quote "from $171" and that's not including the extortionate shipping from USA, I still think this is going to be cheaper as a project than a pre made kit haha. Thank you so much kind sir!
I looked at the civic one and it appears to be a direct connection to the coils? Outstanding.
Although purely for the quote "from $171" and that's not including the extortionate shipping from USA, I still think this is going to be cheaper as a project than a pre made kit haha. Thank you so much kind sir!
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