Hi Perf Ignition coils installed (SEE PICS)

Got these bad boys for Christmas, I finally had time to get them installed. Heres my tech who came over to look over a few issues under the hood. Turns out I have to replace a pulley and a belt, im thinking of upgrading to some light weight underdrive pulleys. Anyways we had enough time before it began to rain to get the new coils in.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...PHONE193-1.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE188.jpg

After removing the engine cover, we inspected each ignition coil and spark plug. Turns out 3 of the coils were on there way out and the spark plugs were DONE! Heres one of the stock coils.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE192.jpg
This is when all the coils were removed. (dont worry i dusted the best i could)
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE190.jpg
Here is one of the coils installed. Theyre pretty easy to install and snapped right into the sparkplug. http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE198.jpg
And the final result.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE194.jpg
My engine sounds soooo fierce when i rev up!

Originally Posted by BMW05

Got these bad boys for Christmas, I finally had time to get them installed. Heres my tech who came over to look over a few issues under the hood. Turns out I have to replace a pulley and a belt, im thinking of upgrading to some light weight underdrive pulleys. Anyways we had enough time before it began to rain to get the new coils in.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...PHONE193-1.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE188.jpg

After removing the engine cover, we inspected each ignition coil and spark plug. Turns out 3 of the coils were on there way out and the spark plugs were DONE! Heres one of the stock coils.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE192.jpg
This is when all the coils were removed. (dont worry i dusted the best i could)
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE190.jpg
Here is one of the coils installed. Theyre pretty easy to install and snapped right into the sparkplug. http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE198.jpg
And the final result.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE194.jpg
My engine sounds soooo fierce when i rev up!

whats the benefit of those compared to stock ones? and how did u determine that they coil was GOING bad? thanks =)

Ya, more info on the performance gains if any

Originally Posted by Orxan4ik

whats the benefit of those compared to stock ones? and how did u determine that they coil was GOING bad? thanks =)

Well the ones I installed have core windings inside the coils have been modified to increase firepower and promote a faster, hotter burn (10X). I feel it gave my bimmer increased torque in the lower range of RPM and more horsepower in the upper range. Exact improvements depend on the current condition of your engine, but you'll definitely feel the difference. The old ones looked to be burnt out and even looked to be dripping/melted. Im clocking almost 100k so it was time to change them out.

If you upgrade the coil-packs to H/P; should you upgrade the coil-pack wire harness to the H/P version at the same time?
What kind of gains do you get out of the H/P coils and do you need to H/P wire harness to get all of the gains out of the coils?
Thanks for the response. I would like to do this mod if it is productive.
Cheers,
Cc

also you said you spark plugs were going, but you didnt say your replaced them..if you didnt replace them, then it seems kinda silly to do HP coils and leave crappola plugs in

Originally Posted by Brian McKinney

also you said you spark plugs were going, but you didnt say your replaced them..if you didnt replace them, then it seems kinda silly to do HP coils and leave crappola plugs in

Oh yea . . . I went with a set of Bosch Platinum 4. Pretty much the most powerful spark under $6.99 per piece. I think those paired up reallly nice w/coils.

As with most ignition mods, any gains felt were probably a result of replacing a defective component with a non-defective component...

Not to say that the coils don't help in some way...but, with such a long dwell time it would be hard to improve over even the stock BMW units.

Still...they can't hurt...were they less expensive than stock BMW components?

Originally Posted by BMW05

Got these bad boys for Christmas, I finally had time to get them installed. Heres my tech who came over to look over a few issues under the hood. Turns out I have to replace a pulley and a belt, im thinking of upgrading to some light weight underdrive pulleys. Anyways we had enough time before it began to rain to get the new coils in.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...PHONE193-1.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE188.jpg

After removing the engine cover, we inspected each ignition coil and spark plug. Turns out 3 of the coils were on there way out and the spark plugs were DONE! Heres one of the stock coils.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE192.jpg
This is when all the coils were removed. (dont worry i dusted the best i could)
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE190.jpg
Here is one of the coils installed. Theyre pretty easy to install and snapped right into the sparkplug. http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE198.jpg
And the final result.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f.../IPHONE194.jpg
My engine sounds soooo fierce when i rev up!

Coils change the sound of the engine?

Originally Posted by Cancan

If you upgrade the coil-packs to H/P; should you upgrade the coil-pack wire harness to the H/P version at the same time?
What kind of gains do you get out of the H/P coils and do you need to H/P wire harness to get all of the gains out of the coils?
Thanks for the response. I would like to do this mod if it is productive.
Cheers,
Cc

NO, I didnt upgrade the wire harness its REALLY expensive. But you still get significant gains with just the coils. Atleast I felt I did. My car has a CAI+Power Programmer that remapped all my ECU settings for an instantly faster car. All this combined with a hotter, faster burning spark has made for a nice upgrade.

Originally Posted by BMW05

Oh yea . . . I went with a set of Bosch Platinum 4. Pretty much the most powerful spark under $6.99 per piece. I think those paired up reallly nice w/coils.

IMHO, Bosch +4's are a gimmick, at best (they try to make you believe the spark branches out to all 4 electrodes at once, which is not the case at all). Many cars actually find a reduction in power using them...I'm not much of a fan of Bosch plugs, in general, though. I actually prefer NGK's (Denso's are ok, too)

Originally Posted by Boile

Coils change the sound of the engine?

Hi perf coils+Bosch platinum +4 spark plugs are burning so much hotter and faster than with the stock coils, the FIRST thing i noticed was the sound of the engine ! Why dont you come by and I can show you? If i wasnt so computer illeterate i'd post a sound clip.

you sound like a an info-mercial the way you keep ranting and raving on these..I am a fan of replacing plugs with OE especially the NGK's I noticed a massive improvement after replacing mine at only 60K miles..I might do new NGK's again at 100K

Originally Posted by Raevin

IMHO, Bosch +4's are a gimmick, at best (they try to make you believe the spark branches out to all 4 electrodes at once, which is not the case at all). Many cars actually find a reduction in power using them...I'm not much of a fan of Bosch plugs, in general, though. I actually prefer NGK's (Denso's are ok, too)

I've never heard of the "branch to all 4" argument. All that's needed in ONE spark to initiate the explosion.
The way I heard is that you have 4 surfaces that a single spark can go.
Each time a spark is created, the surface is eroded a tiny bit. With time, that erosion widens the gap. If you have 4 surfaces, the gap stays within spec distance for a longer time.
Notice how the gap widened in the old plug

Yeah I replaced my plugs last weekend too. Noticed a slight improvement in performance but nothing crazy. They were damn sure due however @80k miles. The coil upgrade has my interest for sure. Can you provide pricing and/or links on these bad boys? Definitely curious. Oh, and how many miles on your 525??

I went with the recommended NGK's.

Originally Posted by Boile

I've never heard of the "branch to all 4" argument. All that's needed in ONE spark to initiate the explosion.
The way I heard is that you have 4 surfaces that a single spark can go.
Each time a spark is created, the surface is eroded a tiny bit. With time, that erosion widens the gap. If you have 4 surfaces, the gap stays within spec distance for a longer time.
Notice how the gap widened in the old plug

It's been awhile since I've looked at the POS (point of sale) ad, but, at least initially the ad and product packaging distinctly shows a spark that crosses to all 4 electrodes in almost a flower effect. Now, we -as an educated group- all know that does not happen, but, Bosch still indirectly tried (tries?) to convince people that it does.



Now...with that being said...I've seen more than one case of a Mitsubishi Evo owner switching to +4's only to bring their car in a few thousand miles later with a rough idle due to the plugs (I work for a Mitsubishi dealership).

That's why I said I'd rather stick with NGK. Not knocking the +4's..just am suggesting caution in believing Bosch's advertising gimmicks and openly questioning Bosch's product quality.

You took those pictures with an iPhone?!

Bosch platinum +4 are some of the worst plugs I've come across. Those are usually used in applications where spark plugs are really hard to change as they can last longer but sacrifice performance. As for the performance coils, unless you go with an upgraded ignition system (such as MSD) no matter what kind of coils you install they will not provide "better" spark. They will only transfer the spark that they receive. Some might last longer due to their better design but will not provide more performance. The "improvement" you noted is mostly due to the condition of the coils and a little placebo effect. Even if you did upgrade the whole ignition system, unless you boost it there will be very minimal improvement in performance. Our cars are pretty well designed from the factory to get the most out of them, so kudos for doing all the work but unless those coils were cheaper than the OEM ones, there's absolutely no point in getting them.

Originally Posted by Brian McKinney

you sound like a an info-mercial the way you keep ranting and raving on these..I am a fan of replacing plugs with OE especially the NGK's I noticed a massive improvement after replacing mine at only 60K miles..I might do new NGK's again at 100K

+1 Brian. Mine were also replaced at 60k, and I am now at 91k. I did notice a nice boost in the lower rpm range with new plugs. I have no idea what were in my car originally or what they were replaced with. When I asked the dealer, the tech said they were likely Bosch, as that is about all they see in their parts system, even though NGK is a substitute standard. I will go with NGK at around 100k due to the great reliability I have had with them in many other cars and my bike. I plan to replace the spark plug "connectors" or "extensions" as well. I hear they can start to fail and cause spark to ground in the plug well, after 100k miles of heat and use.

12 13 9 067 831 is the BMW part number. I would definitely replace them if someone is installing new hotter coils or the old ones will only fail sooner.

Originally Posted by ketchup

You took those pictures with an iPhone?!

Yea, my fone takes kick ass pictures. So im always camera ready!

Originally Posted by Vipsa

Bosch platinum +4 are some of the worst plugs I've come across. Those are usually used in applications where spark plugs are really hard to change as they can last longer but sacrifice performance. As for the performance coils, unless you go with an upgraded ignition system (such as MSD) no matter what kind of coils you install they will not provide "better" spark. They will only transfer the spark that they receive. Some might last longer due to their better design but will not provide more performance. The "improvement" you noted is mostly due to the condition of the coils and a little placebo effect. Even if you did upgrade the whole ignition system, unless you boost it there will be very minimal improvement in performance. Our cars are pretty well designed from the factory to get the most out of them, so kudos for doing all the work but unless those coils were cheaper than the OEM ones, there's absolutely no point in getting them.

Ohh crap, now im paranoid about the stupid plugs I chose! I might save up and just change them out even though BOSCH ones r brand new. I will definately go with th NGKS!

The only really bad thing I have heard about the Bosch +4s for this application is that the prongs are not as robust as they could be, and might break. But that is *might* break, not will break. So, probably no reason to worry.

In most applications, going to a hotter coil just speeds up spark plug decay, although I have heard of some decent performance gains on 5.0 Fords with timing and dyno tuning. And I have seen a test where (it was in the Toronto Star several years ago), by tuning via changing the plug gap (big gap on the plugs) one of the reporters was able to really boost the fuel economy of his 5.0 Ford Pickup with an MSD setup. The testing, however was not exactly scientific.

If you really want spark: www.pulstar.com -- which I will believe forever is snake oil until independent testing proves me wrong.

Originally Posted by BMW05

Ohh crap, now im paranoid about the stupid plugs I chose! I might save up and just change them out even though BOSCH ones r brand new. I will definately go with th NGKS!

I bet you now feel you lost 5 hp.

On my Trans Am at a dyno day we did the comparison. It was about 3hp at the rear wheels loss with +4's. The winner? Cheap $1.69 NGK tr55's.

Originally Posted by Boile

I bet you now feel you lost 5 hp.

You stole my post!

mw