Decided to give my car some TLC since its nearly 40 miles and as far as I can tell, its still on the stock ignition coils and plugs. I can feel a loss of power and the idle is rough sometimes. And the catalytic converter is shot, spewing bits of metal into my resonator.
So I've ordered an updated 2.2kw starter motor. LS2 coils, wires and plugs and adapter harness. And I have a decat pipe coming.

About the coils though, I'm not good at fabricating ****. Last time I tried to weld I just keep melting the metal. Do you think some thick zipties will be enough to hold the ignition coils in place or do you think they'll melt? I'm not spending over 100 quid on a LS2 coil bracket. Thanks

 

I'm not sure what you would ziptie them to. I'd worry less about melting than wearing through the ziptie with vibration over time.

Surely there are cheaper brackets than 100 pounds?

 

Unfortunately there are no cheap brackets. I could instead use metal zip ties since I got some with a titanium exhaust wrap I used on my old MX-5. I was thinking about using some small squares of that wrap to cushion the packs against the bracket and the zip ties. The only cheaper brackets are from America or Canada and shipping is going to be a bitch. Plus I can't wait that long to replace the coils. I feel like i'd be wasting money getting once since I could use that money for other maintenance since there is something wrong with my clutch too.

Oh and i'm planning on just zipping them together, and then to the stock bracket.

 

Idk if that's a good idea.
I'd be worried about possible arcing

Maybe try to rig up something with insulators in between.
It's not rocket science, if you put your mind to it, I'm sure you could come up with a DIY solution.

 

They should be adequately insulated from the outside, I highly doubt they will arc. I'm just worried about the spark plug boots working loose with the vibrations. I'd have to make sure they don't move around at all. I'm gonna fill the boot with silicone grease.

 

I'm interested in getting coils as well. How does the DIY LS2 coils compare to the BHR system for cost? Is there a paticular D-585 coil that is best? I did find the below info on installing LS coils.

https://www.normalexception.net/Mazd...-ls2-ignition/

 

Yeah thy do use D858 I believe. The biggest pro is you don't have to replace them every 10k miles. They provide a much stronger spark and everyone I have seen who has got them says the idle and power deliver is so much smoother. The car just sounds and feels smoother. Better gas mileage too!

Personally I wouldn't waste money on companies like BHR. I just got the coils for £140, adapter harness was £30 and the leads were £20. So a grand total of £190. Thats much better than BHR's £400. I just spend about £400 total on a starter motor, decat pipe, spark plugs, wires and coils. See how much you save by going DIY instead of though ripoff companies. Only thing I need is a bracket now but i'm going to rig something up.

 

What brand coils did you get?

 

The company that pioneered the D585 coils setup and invested in all the R&D and testing is a rip-off company? It would be more accurate to say all the other companies that have copied BHR are the rip-off companies. Geez.

 

I love the "yeah screw the guys that provide a plug and play kit with warranty. Also, how do I make all these pieces I bought fit on the car?". What a joke.

 

- Admits that he can't fabricate
- Gets inspiration from a plug-and-play kit, and proceeds to say the plug-and-play kit is a ripoff

I don't even.

Welp, time to take off my BHR mid-pipe for a Y-pipe.

 

I already went over the prices... it cost me £190 for the coils and wires and adapter harness. Why in the hell would I pay £400 from BHR just for a metal bracket. Thats over double the price. You'd have to be really stupid to take that deal. I'm almost certain i'll be able to rig something up weather it be cable ties or sheet metal and tin snips. I'll figure it out but its not worth paying over double the price for BHR to just slap their logo on top of the coils and give you a bracket. Some people don't have unlimited money. I still need to get my clutch repaired which is going to be £500 if not more. I don't have money to waste on branding when it could be used elsewhere. I don't care if my solution doesn't look pretty, nothing in the engine bay is very pretty. And to be fair the only reason I got the adapter harness was because it was quite cheap and it makes things easier, i'm very capable of working on electronics. I could quite have easily just hardwired the new coil in or used sheathed spade connectors.

 

That's not the point. Would you have known to even try these particular Chevy coils if someone hadn't done the research before? Nobody says you have to buy BHR, but it happens that Charles has done more than a little to help the RX8 community, so when you take a swing at him/BHR, folks are going to be inclined to correct you right back.

 

I understand both positions on this. Charles has made a big contribution to these vehicles. Also his products appear to be well engineered. They are also the most expensive. Unfortunately in order to wholesale to other distributors there needs to be some mark up and he can't under cut them by selling direct. Also there has to be some profit or why do it.

I'm fortunate because I have millions of dollars worth of equipment and can manufacture most products. I don't because my time is worth x. Still sometimes I see a product that I feel is over price and it is a motivator. The BHR is not really one them though. I also spend the time to evaluate the value of a product. In this case I don't know if BHR is supplying a $20 coil or a $60 coil X 4. Honestly if it is the later and the system comes with MSD wires I would buy it from BHR for $539.

 

Double. This webpage editor is crappy.

 

Yeah I would have know to buy those coils without BHR. I watch Driven by madness on youtube who bought the parts independently like myself and constructed his own bracket. I was going from his advice long before I came across BHR's product. I understand Charles has done a lot to help the Community. Not taking a swing at anyone, I'm sure BHR products are top quality. I'm just saying the price is REALLY steep for what you get. Thats a hell load of brand tax that I could spend else where on Improving my car more.

 

Charles is one the first people to explore the D585 coil option, though. Anyone after him is inspired by him, DBM included.

But yeah, if you want a bracket, I think Benett Built sells theirs for US$80, so if you absolutely can't rig up a bracket, there is that option.

 

I actually found a bracket from Poland which is £32 with a £12 postage fee. Identical to the brackets made by other companies. I think i'll save up for that eventually. But i'll rig something up for now. I'll see how much money I have left after doing my clutch. I can hear the bearing under the car when the car is in neutral and the clutch is up. And even with the clutch fully depressed to the floor the gears clunk quite badly, it shudders the car. And the gears sometimes grind for no reason even though my clutch is all the way depressed. So I'm pretty sure the throw out bearing is fried and is not disengaging the clutch properly. I'm probably just going to have the entire clutch done, get everything replaced and fresh. I'll fill the transmission with redline oil too.

 

You do realize that BHR pre-dates DBM by 10 years, if not more? DBM is a member on here just like you, where do you think he got the idea?

He has a thread on here where mistakes in his videos were pointed out, but the videos are still up with said mistakes. So take what you see with grains of salt. It's not because it's on YouTube that it's correct.

 

Of course I realize that. I was just stating that I got the idea from DBM and not BHR originally because UnknownJinX said . And thats not really fair since I didn't even know the BHR plug and play kit existed when I started looking at D585 coils. Regardless if BHR used them first.

And I usually spot DBM's mistakes anyway, usually pretty simple ones. I don't just blindly follow what people say, I do research myself. But after watching his results I immediately wanted them for my car.

 

I had the BHR kit, still have it, and liked it.
Replaced it with the more expensive SakeBomb kit which uses Mercury IGN1-A coils, just because I wanted to try a new product.

http://www.sakebombgarage.com/comple...-kit-se3p-rx8/

 

I looked at the 1GN1-A systems at sakebomb. What is the benefit? The coils are very expensive. Their wiring harness looks more complex then the BHR.

Fwiw, I have a mercury 250proxs on my bass boat and have been warned by many with same that I should carry a spare coil.

 

I've heard of one coil failing so far.
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...-259001/page2/

 

I mean I doubt you have to keep an extra coil with you as the guy above said. If a coil fails while your on the go, if its a trailing coil they it doesn't matter so much. If its a leading coil then swap it out for one of the trailing packs. RX8's can run without the trailing plugs working you'll just have reduced power and it might fry up your catalytic converter quicker (if you have one). But it will get you home or around until you can get a replacement coil.

 

As far as a stock RX-8 is concerned, they are as good as the D585 coils.

If you want to be more technical, D585 coils do make a more energetic spark, but that spark lasts shorter. The stock coils make a weaker spark but that spark lasts longer. 1GN seems to be somewhere between the two.

You need to change the dwell setting to fully bring out the potential power of any aftermarket coils.