RB Engine Coil Retrofit

Post by **DriftX** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 2:32 pm

?How ironic it is that the guy who made the diagram is having trouble after doing the swap.

matafied, what problems did you run into? Mine is misfiring on light load, but will idle fine?

Is there something i am missing? I have an rb20 with 300zx ignitor (repinned, ground in middle)

That ground goes to stock coilpack harness ground location.

Ground near 3 pin plug is on firewall, same as it has always been.

I am not useing the timing wire..

bracket is metal, bolted to the coil setup with gaskets in the middle.

do i need to ground the bracket?

I ran power wire to relay, ground off relay..10 gauge wire from battery to relay, 10 gauge from relay to power coil

also how did you get those wires in the boots???? I had to cut my boots to slide them in and tape them up

Edit: connection on 3and4 wiggled loose, all good now!Car feels much smoother than ever!still running 14:1 afrs at wot :-|

Modified by DriftX at 4:49 PM 3/3/2008
Modified by DriftX at 6:17 PM 3/3/2008

Post by **matafied** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:52 pm

silicone was my friend.

also i run ac delco plugs with my setup, they work better than the hks ones i have, they came out of a 06 malibu

Post by **DriftX** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:40 am

lol im blonde.

How did you get those spark plug boots on?

Post by **jon1971** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:17 pm

I have a s2 rb25det. I'm trying to wire everything up. Here is a picture along with my question.

Where does the timing signal come from?? I.E. if from the ecu which pin #?

Post by **jon1971** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 12:19 pm

I have everything installed but the timing wire. The car will not fire a lick!

Post by **kev-bo** » Sun May 11, 2008 12:46 pm

here is a pic of the mod i did turned out great!! thanks for the help

Post by **onepuff** » Sun May 11, 2008 6:58 pm

Nice job man. Very clean. What wires did you use? Did you just drill a nice size hole in the spark cover?

Post by **alex240rb** » Sun May 11, 2008 8:22 pm

I am in the current but slow process of installing a haltec e6 and going with ls1 coil packs when I get it done I will let you guys know how it goes

Post by **onepuff** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 10:07 pm

Just got my coil retrofit on last week. Working great. I used the spot in the factory fuse box for the fog lights(which i don't have) to run the power through a relay. It was breaking up a bit without the 10 gauge wire to power the coil. The little white wire from the ignitor wiring is definitely not enough. I love this mod so far. Anyway here's the pics. The wiring will be cleaned up more soon. I also need to get some longer spark plug wires so i can put the plug cover back on and maybe move the coils farther over towards the passenger side. No comments about the valve covers please.

Post by **rudedrift** » Sun Jul 20, 2008 9:04 am

i have a valid question here.i have series II rb25. no igniter.since there is no igniter and the coils amplify thier own spark. meaning the ecu sends the trigger, off six seperate wires. to each coil.couldnt wire up the coil power same as you guys, ,run the factory triggers(pins 1,2,3,11,12,13)in pairsto the gm coil, ?and ground the gm boxdoes that make sense?i'm about ready to make this upgrade and i've been thing about this for a while.i mean i do have spare rb20 ignigter and harness, but i'm checking evey angle.

Post by **Acecool** » Mon Jul 21, 2008 12:55 pm

Just wanted to update everyone that after around 12k miles on the engine, it is still running great with the buick skylark coilpack and z32 igniter :-)

Post by **WhatsADSM** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:12 am

rudedrift wrote:i have a valid question here.i have series II rb25. no igniter.since there is no igniter and the coils amplify thier own spark. meaning the ecu sends the trigger, off six seperate wires. to each coil.couldnt wire up the coil power same as you guys, ,run the factory triggers(pins 1,2,3,11,12,13)in pairsto the gm coil, ?and ground the gm boxdoes that make sense?i'm about ready to make this upgrade and i've been thing about this for a while.i mean i do have spare rb20 ignigter and harness, but i'm checking evey angle.

This will NOT work.

If you do this the best case scenario is that the car simply wont fire, worst case scenario is you will blow the drivers in your ECU. Either use the ignitor or do a different setup

Post by **rudedrift** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:23 am

thanks. i've been looking and looking. the guy with the hal-tec said that system used the same trigger and didnt use his ignitor.

but, what if i used a rb20 ecu and a switch for the intake cam?

Post by **WhatsADSM** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:23 am

rudedrift wrote:thanks. i've been looking and looking. the guy with the hal-tec said that system used the same trigger and didnt use his ignitor.

but, what if i used a rb20 ecu and a switch for the intake cam?

The issue is that the stock ECU is not strong enough to drive the coils directly. This is the exact reason for having an ignitor... think of the ignitor as amplifying the signal from the ECU so that it is strong enough to drive the coils.

So, likely the reason it worked for the haltec guy is because drivers in his ECU are strong enough to run the coils directly... however the Nissan ECU is not.

If you wish to do this retrofit then you will need to run an ignitor, otherwise you will have to use a coil with a built in ignitor (such as the RB25 S2, LS1, LS2/LS7, etc)

Post by **kev-bo** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 6:57 pm

hey can i hook the power wire for the coil pack right to the battery or do i need the 4 prong relay? and if i need it what is it for..? because as of now im just using the power wire that was going to the coil on plug setup that was there and i want to change the gauge of wire because it goes from the 12 or 14 that was in the car to a 4 that i put in going to the coil pack

Post by **240z4u** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 8:14 pm

The relay is there to cut power to the coils when the car isn't on as far as I understand it.

I wouldn't use over 10 ga wire. Your not supplying 80 amps of current. Also, that wire should be fused.

Evan

Post by **kev-bo** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 8:18 am

cool thanks man. yah i also thought the relay is there to cut power when car is off but was not sure ok well thanks for the info

Post by **onepuff** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:59 am

240z4u wrote:The relay is there to cut power to the coils when the car isn't on as far as I understand it.

I wouldn't use over 10 ga wire. Your not supplying 80 amps of current. Also, that wire should be fused.

Evan

What size fuse would u recommend? 30A?

Post by **NCPP** » Tue Feb 03, 2009 3:57 pm

Ahh - The age old wasted spark setup.

My biggest suggestion to anyone having issues with RB Coils is completely research all your options.

We had a LOT of customers request that we carried out the external coil with ignition lead (aka 'Wasted Spark') on their RB's only to ditch it later down the track due to unreliability & untidiness mainly.

We actually now offer anyone having problems with RB, SR and even CA Coil-Packs 'Ultra Spark' coils. Theyre cheap enough (Similar priced to the 'Wasted Spark' system) and much much more reliable. Also, proven to increase spark.

For what theyre worth, its definately something to consider guys!

Post by **shadybeaverguy** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:05 pm

I have an early S1 R33, and am doing this mod.

I have the 2 plugs on the loom - big and small.

My small one only has 2 wires - 1 white 1 black.

Anyone know where to run the ground to? I guess the igniter - mine says E1 E2 E3 E4 E5 E6

Post by **shadybeaverguy** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 6:01 am

I think I figured it out. I wasn't grounding it properly....

Post by **StricNyne** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 8:27 am

the performance-wise.com yellowjackets are really good and cost 370 shipped from aud i read the skylines australia forums and found them to be good and fix missfiring

Post by **shadybeaverguy** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:17 pm

Yeah but there is something fun about building something...

Post by **Paradox** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 1:16 pm

a1cpunker wrote:
this might be a stupid queestion but what kind of relay is the 4 prongs relay? can you post a Part #? or is it one of the 4 prongs on the car. thank you sir

Guys,Bringing this one back up. I have been having many issues with coilpacks and I had the coil and wires and a pigtail laying around from when I bought this botched Rb20 swap.

I bought the Z32 fuel pump relay and looked at the diagram on the relay and the one on this diagram and THINK I hooked it up correctly, however, the coil part and the switch part are reversed on mine. Well, I matched up the bottom "switched" part by the short end going to B+ and the part with the door to the 3 daisy-chained wires on the coil. I have the ground directly across the relay from the B+ and the 12V across the phone cord coil mark from ground. I think I may have it reversed, but do not want to switch things around, yet.

It is not getting spark, the ground wires are grounded good, the ignitor is grounded.

Anyone have any ideas? I can go get a pic in a little while of the relay and where the wires go.

Post by **cmj** » Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:13 pm

Bringing this back up. I have a short somewhere in my harness. It's the Black wire Red stripe on the 3 pin plug. I understand this is the reference wire to the ECU. I wired up the car, and ran a direct line from the ecu, to the 3 pin plug, and the car only ran on cylinders 2 through 5, leaving no fire for 1 & 6. Doing some random testing I accidentally put B+ to the timing wire, and the car ran on all 6 cylinders. Why is this? What else does this wire do? What would cause this? Quick response is much appreciated, trying to get the car prepped for this season.

Post by **Sil240** » Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:05 pm

Hey the Black and Red wire on the 3 wire plug is a Ground.Check out my LS2 Truck Coil Thread.I laid out all the wires BEFORE the Ignitor.For a RB20 at least, S1 RB25 is similar wire colors.

Post by **Faustini** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:16 pm

Cefiro Coil loom... the previous owners butchered my rb coil pack loom, anyone able to help me connect the 3 wire corretly for my 5th cylinder coil pack (or 2nd cylinder.. its the one 2 from the front)

Is it true you guys in the US aren't allowed to register RB powered cars for road use ?

Post by **l0nestar** » Thu Mar 11, 2010 5:36 pm

Faustini wrote:Cefiro Coil loom... the previous owners butchered my rb coil pack loom, anyone able to help me connect the 3 wire corretly for my 5th cylinder coil pack (or 2nd cylinder.. its the one 2 from the front)

Is it true you guys in the US aren't allowed to register RB powered cars for road use ?

Which engine is this for?And yes, technically. But here the majority of states (Provinces for you, my Kiwi friend) do not do emissions testing.

Post by **neo240sx** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 3:20 pm

Ok I've got this working on my setup but the park gets blown out at low boost (10 lbs) around 5000 rpm. I got the 10 gauge wire in there and the ground before the igniter. I've tried 2 different coil sets and its doing the same thing on both. I'm getting ready to ditch this setup for the ls2 coils.

I'm currently using a buick park ave coil (magnavox I think) if this is the problem what coil are ya'll using???
I'm using a J30 igniter with my setup. Do you thing this is why the spark is getting blown out?

Post by **Paradox** » Sun Oct 10, 2010 11:59 pm

Top is original retrofit with RB ignitor and bottom is with Z32 ignitor. See how the 3 pin plug has wires labelled differently?

DriftX wrote:This is a simple wiring diagram for those who are running the z32 ignitor and wish to wire up the gm/buick coil conversion. This also eliminates the small 14 gauge wire to control the coil, rather now this includes how to wire up a relay and using 10 gauge wire directly feeding from battery.

I have a question about this Z32 ignitor application of the buick coil retrofit. In the pic above, it shows the center wire from the 3 pin plug being GROUND and going to the ground on center of injector side of ignitor and going to earth.

On the very first page it shows the center wire from 3 pin plug being called POWER. I tried this before and nothing happened wiring it up as the diagram above and thought i had issues with the relay.

Can someone please clarify this for me? Does the center white wire go to the ground on injector side of ignitor and get grounded, or does the top wire in this diagram marked 12V go to the ground off of injector side of ignitor? I am not very good with wiring but can do this if I know this one detail.

Thank you.

RB Engine Coil Retrofit

Re: (DriftX)

Re: (DriftX)

Re: (jon1971)

Re: (kev-bo)

Re: (onepuff)

Re: (alex240rb)

Re: (onepuff)

Re: (DriftX)

Re: (rudedrift)

Re: (rudedrift)

Re: (kev-bo)

Re: (240z4u)

Re: (shadybeaverguy)

Re: (StricNyne)

Re: (a1cpunker)

Re: (Paradox)

Re: (cmj)

Re: (Faustini)

Re: RB Engine Coil Retrofit

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