Fair point, but it seems that the set up costs and machine labor get translated into retail sales at a pretty high markup on billet parts. I just can't see spending $600 on valve covers, when a retainer plate can be made cheaply with the addtional advantage of looking relatively stock when compared to something like this:

http://karl.wilen.us/images/ValveCovers.JPG
Imagine Auto Re-Releases Billet Valve Covers - 6speedonline.com Forums

Although beautiful, they are flashy. The RothSport units are IMHO, kinda ugly, to boot.

Kenik,

I'd concur with Jeff A; billet items do not necessarily translate to a high-dollar investment however,........in some cases, the price reflects the number of hours invested in engineering, prototypes, materials, and the volume.

When it comes to manufacturing, things are not always as simple as it might appear. :) :) :)

The Rothsport ones are prototypes and do not necessarily reflect the final product. Further, these will be designed to assure that the coils cannot fall off the plugs under racing conditions on the top as well as the bottom.

From you picture, it appears your units connect more "firmly" the Beru units kind of just lay there just sitting on the valve cover.


Lindy911... do you have a number to contact said "Sam" ?
Might be worth it to just have him weld some studs on for me.

Making a bracket for the driver bank is going to be a pain. Some tight clearances there.

For those that are curious...
89 Carrera with the factory 3.2L
Have a clewitt engineering pulley with trigger wheel and sensor setup and distributor hole block off.
Using OEM beru COP units with custom made harness. (Had to get the clips and rubber boots from a guy in NewYork that dealt with OEM porsche items in Germany) -that was a pain in the @$$
Using Megasquirt with MSnSE to try and run a EDIS type firing sequence. (two at once) Driving the coils with 6 BIP coil drivers mounted top side of the case.

I had finally dialed in the signal from the trigger wheel and was starting to test the coils when the ign switch and relay under the seat went on me. Got tired of dealing Porsche wiring and lack of diagrams, so we opted to re-wire the ignition.

This was about late July, then August University took over my life as well as work. Haven't really gotten to touch the project since then. With recent promotion at work, much less "hands on involved" (management) and having to drop Differentials this semester has given me some time to try and get this car going again.


-Ed

Not really firm, but they don't wiggle around in the valve covers. They do grip the spark plug pretty good. My point would be that it's not necessary to engineer for a trip around the moon when you aren't going further than the the local pub...

If I would install them in the lower covers I would add a bracket for safety.

yeah, it appears a bracket/support solution is definitely in my future.

Why not coil-near-plug with LS2's. There was a recent engine for sale that had this in a twin-plug format. The upper coils were mounted what look like a modified OEM GM LS bracket and the lowers were mounted directly to the engine tin. LS2 give you huge spark energy and are extremely cheap.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1258048959.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1258048971.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-used-parts-sale-wanted/494913-fs-ultimate-2-7l-hot-rod-motor-price-reduced.html

Randy's motor is a beast - if he used them, I trust them. A great idea.

How much more power is a result of this set-up?

Zero would be my guess.

I saw a nice setup on a 911 motor this year that came from Peter Dawes shop. Simple and lightweight.

have any pics of it by chance Chris??

Steve knows I understand this! :) The price comes down to the number of units one expects to sell to amortize all of the development and prototyping. I have looked into making valve covers and the dead cost with our machinery is not much at all, but cost recovery for development is what adds to the price.

Cheers

Thanks, Kenik. Absolutely no problems with my set-up. Power about the same, but much better spark and extremely reliable - no one part to go wrong.

Since my build more options have become available. Chris Powell is now using a surprisingly available part to make a coil on plug.

Does anyone know where to find a list of coils that have 'drivers' built-in versus those that need it on-board the ignition control module or an external one like the Ford EDIS solution used by MegaSquirt?

I don't know about Motec, but many of the other available systems I've seen do not have a driver resident in the control module. Sure would be convenient to be able to use coils with it built in instead of having to mount an addt'l set of components.

I get it - I have appreciable experience from my past life in building parts in SolidWorks, multi-axis CNC machinery, investment (among other types of) casting and a full gamut of maufacturing and materials science expertise, as well. I also get the amortization stuff - I have done tons of COGS and ROI analysis, which is why I look at some of the products out there and just say WTF.

It seems so many solutions are solving problems with a 1 ton air hammer, when a handlheld hammer would do, for much less effort and investment. CNC machined valve covers to me seem like the 1 ton hammer, self retaining COPs like the Denso units (even with bent metal retiner brackets for the bottom bank) the handheld hammer.

I agree with you 100%. For this application, I think a self retaining coil or a simple bracket is the best solution, not doubt.

But if one is offerring billet covers in their product line it make sense to have them suitable for COP as well. Plus, if a customer needs to replace their existing warped covers anyways, they may step up and buy a product like this over the factory stuff, assuming it is priced appropriately........

Cheers

Well put.

Magnus,
What coil packs are you using (part number?) and where did you source the connectors?

Coils are VW/Audi that's used in their 1.8t, among other.

6, Coils: 06B 905 115R (R was the latest version at the time)

6, connectors (empty): 4B0 973 724

12, female spade connector pig-tails: 000 979 133 A

24, wire sealing grommets: 357 972 741 A

6, two-part plastic boots for connectors: 6X0 971 921 A

Everything can be bought from your local VW/Audi dealer.

Just an FYI, the stock buru 1.8T coils have a bad history of failure, when my 3rd coil failed I'd had enough and swapped them out for Hitachi units. I can't remember the part number (3-4 years ago), but it can easily be found on the B5 forum at passatworld.com.

My passat is really my wifes (mom's taxi) and sees at least 30,000km/yr.