Curious where you guys think is the best place to mount a 3800 coil pack? I have the battery in the stock location, and have the stock 3800 exhaust manifolds. and have not cut the trunk. I was thinking of mounting the coil pack against the trunk, directly on the pad that used to hold the cruise control stuff. My biggest concern is the heat from the exhaust since it would just be a few inches away. Figured I'd see what you all came up with.

I have also been thinking how to mount mine. There is one on one of the Grand Prix's that the coil pack mount sits at an angle and will fit under the Fiero deck lid with no problems.

Steve

anywhere that is not directly above the exhaust. Relocating components can be cheaper in the long run compared to the price of a new coil pack.

quote Originally posted by JumpStart: I have also been thinking how to mount mine. There is one on one of the Grand Prix's that the coil pack mount sits at an angle and will fit under the Fiero deck lid with no problems. Steve

Mine is (I think) the way JumpStart is referring to. It is right off the side of the front head. It sits just above the coolant line and just below the right deck lid hinge. It is still on the engine, and not on the car chassis.
It will allow a stock battery location. and I still use the stock (to the 3800) spark plug wires. Also, I didn't have to lengthen or shorten the ignition module wires.

-Dave

I have mine mounted down low on the firewall, below the shifter cable.

[This message has been edited by RumbleB (edited 05-30-2009).]

We relocated the battery to the trunk and utilized the space for the coil pack and fuze box. This location is right on a path of air flow.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

Mounted them here on 4 swaps that I know of, no ICM/coil pack failures to this date.

I had mine in the stock location above the right decklid hinge. I did not like it there, so i moved the battery and put the coil pack against the firewall under teh right deck lid vent.

I'm planning on keeping it on the engine for my upcoming swap. I cut the dogbone mount off of that bracket to save weight and to clean up the look.

It's tempting to put it in the battery tray.

I saw this when looking at another thread. I got all excited because this is where I wanted to put mine, then realized I still have the EGR, so it'd prob be too close to the exhaust. Figured I'd post the pic anyway.. not sure whose car this is.. It's in the Stainless Fuel Line thread.

[This message has been edited by smartaxel (edited 06-06-2009).]

quote Originally posted by smartaxel: I saw this when looking at another thread. I got all excited because this is where I wanted to put mine, then realized I still have the EGR, so it'd prob be too close to the exhaust. Figured I'd post the pic anyway.. not sure whose car this is.. It's in the Stainless Fuel Line thread.

That just means custom wires and rewiring the ICM harness... lots of extra expense for no gain if you ask me.

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: Mounted them here on 4 swaps that I know of, no ICM/coil pack failures to this date.

Looks neat and I was considering this location but on my personal 3800 Fiero the decklid has the weatherstrip delete put back so its probably a hot location. On others that I have been involved with, the coil pack went where the cruise control used to be and where the battery is located. Both of there methods do create an additional expense as you need a new set of custom ignition wires and the coil pack harness must be lengthened considerably.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

Yah, I'm a rebel

All the stock plug wires reach except one. I was doing full custom wire routing anyway so I figured what the hell.

I'm not sure this would be the best place on a daily driven car due to water issues. I'll probably make a shield of some kind to keep road debris from hitting the coil packs but thats about it.

I just did my first startup today, hopefully be on the road by next weekend!

Build thread is here: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/099989.html

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http://www.raceme.cc/helmet/

[This message has been edited by helmet1978 (edited 06-07-2009).]

The low mount has worked well for me in the past as well, I ran that on the manual car for a good while until the owner moved it up to "my" spot during some ignition system troubleshooting.

I believe that the cradle is a risky location to mount the coil pack. The coils are hermetically sealed but water could work find its way into the ignition module. Also consider what would happen if drivng through a deep puddle in heavy rain.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

You should really think about that cradle location... if a large piece of wood, or tire, is laying the road, this will possibly hit that location on the cradle. while I know you were trying to stay with stock lenght plug wires, the best location down under is at the back wall by the fuel tank. Be sure to put a piece of thin sheet metal between the wall and fuel tank while drilling so as not to punch a hole in the fuel fill rubber hose.

project pics at http://www.fastfieros.com/projects





as to the wet.. i drove one of my installs in about 1 foot of water and it came out just fine... I know the coil pack was under the water at least 5 seconds, and it kept running.

I was thinking the same thing, I ran over a deer carcas earlier this year. It hit real hard on the cradle. I had to put the car on jacks and clean the fur and deer hambuger meat from the cradle (uck, that was no fun). Had the coil pack been where you have it, I am sure it would have been knocked off, or severely damaged.

quote Originally posted by FastFieros: You should really think about that cradle location... if a large piece of wood, or tire, is laying the road, this will possibly hit that location on the cradle. while I know you were trying to stay with stock lenght plug wires, the best location down under is at the back wall by the fuel tank. Be sure to put a piece of thin sheet metal between the wall and fuel tank while drilling so as not to punch a hole in the fuel fill rubber hose. ... as to the wet.. i drove one of my installs in about 1 foot of water and it came out just fine... I know the coil pack was under the water at least 5 seconds, and it kept running.

quote Originally posted by topcat: I was thinking the same thing, I ran over a deer carcas earlier this year. It hit real hard on the cradle. I had to put the car on jacks and clean the fur and deer hambuger meat from the cradle (uck, that was no fun). Had the coil pack been where you have it, I am sure it would have been knocked off, or severely damaged.

Well there is a difference here... loyde and I have mounted coils on the "gas tank cover" or whatever you want to call that, not the cradle rail. I would agree that the picture with the coils on the front cradle rail would be a bit crazy.

I like the way Loyde has them mounted in his pics. If I were to do it over, I would probably relocate to that location. The only down side is that you'd have to jack the car to get to the plug wires at the coil end. Other than that I like the clean look it wold give to the engine bay.

Having the coils on the back of the tank cover gets it out of the line of fire from any road debris.

Having them in the battery's location meant I did not have to cut or lengthen the ICM wire harness. I did have to get custom plug wires, but the price for custom wires is not much more than a decent stock 8.5mm wire anyway. I know the thread starter does not want to relocate the battery so that is not much of an option.

Now this thread is getting good...

I am re-doing my harness and got wiring harness sections off various pre-pulled engines and 3800 cars I could get to in the yard.. Whatever parts car the ICM section came from had very long wires..I have a good amount of slack to place it anywhere I'd like, and would realy only need to lengthen one or two connections.

Thanks to everyone posting pics or ideas. Lots of great pics and ideas.

Where can you get new custom length plug wires at?

Best source I found for plug wires for my Series III swap was MSD which sells 6 foot lengths.

quote Originally posted by mattwa: Where can you get new custom length plug wires at?

You make them up, cut and crimp on the coil terminals as you measure. Its a one wire at a time job but you can mount the coil pack almost anywhere. We use an MSD Universal 8 Cyl, Superconductor wire set, about $80 from Summit Racing Equipment.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

I have considered this a few times... this style is currently being installed on a new turbo setup that i am working on.

My battery is upfront and I mounted mine on the right side of the firewall were the battery used to be near the decklid hinge, I like that location with ease to get to it if I need to work on it or replace it, Im also running a ground wire to the engine block and frame,

quote Originally posted by darkhorizon: I have considered this a few times... this style is currently being installed on a new turbo setup that i am working on.

you know me on this one.. got to have my dogbone since I use the 3 point mounting down under...

low mount the alt, and slide an adjustment bone in ...




more at http://www.fastfieros.com/projects