THE WHAT:
This is an example how to convert an old EJ20G to work with '02+ WRX ignition coils.

THE WHY:
The EJ20G coils are notorious for failing with age and causing misfires. I had misfires at anything over 0.8 bar, that was traced to two coils that developed cracks in the housing. Below is what I found (I removed the cracked piece on the one on the right to see what was on the inside).

http://lh6.google.com/rob.files/R3XHLipiJAI/AAAAAAAAAWs/ajae-PaidFs/s800/bad_coils.jpg


THE HOW:
The old style ignition incorporates an external igniter, the newer style has the igniter built into the coil housing. The old coils have 2 wires; coil trigger and +12V. The new coils have 3 wires; ground, igniter trigger, and +12v. There is a little bit of harness hacking to make it work, but it's pretty straight forward. Here are the basic steps;

1. Cut connector off of old coils
2. Wire the old pigtails to the new coils; Power to power, trigger to trigger. Wire the ground signal to a ring connector and attach to the mount screw
3. Install new coils and connect up to the Ej20G harness as usual
4. Remove the igniter, and snip the 2 connectors from the harness and merge the harness.

Details of the steps above:

1. This is pretty straight forward, just clip off as much of the pigtail from the old coils as possible.

2. The easiest solution is if you have the matching connectors for the new coils from the '02+ harness. I didn't, so I soldered new wires directly to the coils, then attached the old pigtails to the new wires.

http://lh5.google.com/rob.files/R3XHLSpiI_I/AAAAAAAAAWk/E3VGQBNOxQE/s800/new_coil1.jpg

Using the above picture as a reference, the pinning is as follows from left to right:

Pin1 : Pin2: Pin3
+12v : GND : Trigger
Red : Blk : Green <--- wire colors I used in my picture
RY : BY : GY <--- '02 WRX harness colors


After soldering the wires, I globbed in a bunch of high temp epoxy to prevent corrosion and to add some strain relief for the pins:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/rob.files/R_1UOIg9UlI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/THJBozWrxmQ/s800/new_coil2.jpg

Next comes connecting the old connector to the new coil. You have two colors on the old pigtail, Red and Yellow (one of them might have a stripe, can't remember). Here's the tricky part of this, the wiring diagrams only show the wiring *up to* the coil connectors. The problem is in the diagram, the yellow wire is the +12V, but after the connector, on the coil side, the yellow wire turns into the trigger signal.

** To wire the pigtail to the new coils, connect the Yellow wire to the trigger pin on the new coil and the Red wire to the +12v pin. Put a ring terminal on the center pin wire.

Lastly I shrink tubed and put the ring terminal on the bolt (after cleaning the corrosion under the bolt flange)

http://lh6.google.com/rob.files/R3XHLipiJBI/AAAAAAAAAW0/oc2LdJ42Vx4/s800/new_coil3.jpg

3. The coil fits in the early WRX heads perfectly, however there are some fitment issues with the Liberty version of the motors. The engine harness has two coil connectors for each side. The grey connector is for the front coil, the black is for the rear.

http://lh3.google.com/rob.files/R3XHLypiJDI/AAAAAAAAAXE/TRY3PwLb3sQ/s800/coil_installed.jpg


4. Last part is to bypass the igniter. I chose to simply cut the connectors out of the harness and merge the harness. The igniter is on the backside of the mounting bracket containing the MAP sensor and boost control solenoid.

http://lh4.google.com/rob.files/R3XHMCpiJEI/AAAAAAAAAXM/UrWGP-Ht9zU/s800/igniter_1.jpg

Cut both connectors out of the harness and remove the igniter. There are 5 input wires into the igniter from the main harness and 4 output wires leaving the igniter to the engine harness. If you are following from the wiring diagrams, this is a very confusing wire up. The signal pins on the ECU are labeled coil 1, 2, 3, 4. The wiring to the coils are also listed as Coil 1, 2, 3, 4. The trick is that they use different conventions. For the ECU, the pins are labeled in *firing order*. For the coils in the diagram, they are listed as the actual cylinder number. The correct wiring is:

ECU side :: Coil side
---------------------
Yellow-Blue stripe (YL) ---> Red-Green stripe (RG)
Green-White stripe (GW) ---> Blue (L)
Red (R) ---> White-Red stripe (WR)
Black-Red stripe (BR) ---> Blue-Green stripe (LG)
Black (B) ---> no connect

Wiring diagram for reference:
http://lh5.google.com/rob.files/R3XHMSpiJFI/AAAAAAAAAXU/h_6Dp98yZo8/s800/diag.jpg

THE RESULTS:
So far my high boost misfires are gone and I am back to 1.1 bar. I still need to open the gaps back up to see just how good they are, but so far I am very happy with the conversion.

-Rob

nice write up!
you get a banana:banana:

i defenetly plan on using this :)

awesomness!!!

this is going to be one of the many things i do to my swap when it gets here

Very sweet, thanks for the write up!

Thanks.

A couple things I would like to add.

If you solder the wires directly to the pins, I would suggest tinning the pins and the wire ends first, then all you need to do is place the wire on the pin then apply heat to the side or underside of the pin and the solder will reflow in both parts. Only for those with a steady hand.

On my engine at least, I had a biotch of a time getting cyl #4 coil in place. The head to rail clearance is litterally a couple mm too small. I found the easiest way is to take a long bar between the head and the rail and shove the motor just enough to slip the coil in place. It's important to make sure to get the coil boot on the plug while the you have the engine moved over.

-Rob

This is a great little write up. The longer my swap sits in the corner waiting for me to love it, the more appealing this conversion seems. Since I haven't converted my ignition yet, this would be even simpler on my '91 SS.

i tried to get the mods to sticky this .. sigh

yeah it would make sense to do this when you do the initial wireing if you were to do such a thing

So just an update, I have been running this for about a week. I have had no issues. When I first experienced the ignition cut-outs on the old coils, I dropped the gaps down to 0.025" as a temporary solution. I have since opened them back up (NGK coppers) to 0.030-1 and filed back the ground electrodes a bit. I have no ignition problems at 1.1bar and all the way to 7k. Keep in mind this is 8.5:1 motor. In the end, I am very happy with the results.
-Rob

this needs to be stickied!

So I have a question. I finally have my car almost tuned and ready to roll. I have been trying to adjust the pfc boost to 1.0 bar and no matter where I set the duty cycle I get what feels like fuel cut at .75 or so. I am starting to wonder if this is not fuel cut, but really the ignition breaking up as it feels just like the soft -touch rev limiter on my Camaro. The only weird thing is it goes lean and not rich on the wideband when this happens, so that confuses me. What symptoms did your car experience rob?

Seems to me like its your coils also. I was having the same issue as you, at about .8bar it would cut out. So i lowered my gap to .025 and it got rid of the issue for about a week. Then it started cutting out at 1.1bar. So last night i pulled out my coils, and i found 3 BAD coils. 2 of them fell appart when i took the rubber boots off, and one had a small crack in it. Luckely i had 2 spare coils to fix the problem with. Now im running 1.2 bar, tapering off to 1.1 by redline and i have yet to feel even the slightest hesitation.

Yes I would have cut out and missing around 0.8 bar. Sometimes it was mild, other times more violent bucking. And as snowman suggested, try dropping your gap down to 0.24-5 on new copper plugs. If it goes away, or improves, then it's likely the coils.

Snowman, try moving your gaps back up to .030 and see if it's still clean.

-Rob

I already have my gaps dropped when I put plugs in it a few weeks back. Matt's got some coils laying around, I am going to pull mine apart this weekend and see what's going on.

Go figure. Every one of my coils are cracked, most in multiple spots. One just totally fell apart. Heading to Matt's soon to get some new coils. haha

update, replaced all four coils, it doesn't break up under boost, but still stutters and hesitates under 2k and occasionally up top.......never ending :)

did you try new plugs. being that they are only 10bucks, you cant go wrong putting in new ones.

Would 04+ sti coil packs work the same?

should work the same.

Sweet, my car is breaking up under boost again, even with the new coils, so I am gonna try and do the conversion to something better. No sense in continually battling this. Thanks Rob.

Sweet, my car is breaking up under boost again, even with the new coils, so I am gonna try and do the conversion to something better. No sense in continually battling this. Thanks Rob.

+1

My car under cool moist conditions on a cold start still needs some help to start. Me thinks it is the coils.

So I have a question. I finally have my car almost tuned and ready to roll. I have been trying to adjust the pfc boost to 1.0 bar and no matter where I set the duty cycle I get what feels like fuel cut at .75 or so. I am starting to wonder if this is not fuel cut, but really the ignition breaking up as it feels just like the soft -touch rev limiter on my Camaro. The only weird thing is it goes lean and not rich on the wideband when this happens, so that confuses me. What symptoms did your car experience rob?

Fuel cut

Fuel cut

He has an Apexi Power FC, not the stock ECU.

-Rob

Sweet, my car is breaking up under boost again, even with the new coils, so I am gonna try and do the conversion to something better. No sense in continually battling this. Thanks Rob.

Sure. At the very least you can put the ignition question to bed. Mine still runs sweet after the conversion.

-Rob

No way it is fuel cut, the boost control is turned off in the pfc, no fuel cut period.

Just to make sure before I go through with this, I need to merge these wires at the igniter:
ECU side :: Coil side
---------------------
YL ---> RG
GW ---> L
R ---> WR
BR ---> LG
B ---> no connect

?

Just to make sure before I go through with this, I need to merge these wires at the igniter:
ECU side :: Coil side
---------------------
YL ---> RG
GW ---> L
R ---> WR
BR ---> LG
B ---> no connect

?

Yep that's right. Are you just double checking my work, or seeing something different?

If you want to do it the safe way, do one coil at a time. That way if you run into trouble it's easy to diagnose and move back to stock if you get into a bind and need a running car. That's what I did initially.

-Rob

The only weird thing is it goes lean and not rich on the wideband when this happens, so that confuses me.Maybe, if the plug is not firing the mixture, all the air in the cylinder goes out into the exhaust unburned, and that is what the wideband sees. Not the fuel.
Just an idea. Ridicule welcomed.

My 04 STI coil packs came in today so hopefully I will have these retrofitted soon and will post results! :)

the stealership quoted me $99 a peice for coil packs, or else I would have gotten some myself. I checked 2 of my current ones and one is cracked.

I may have some stockers available soon if you are interested.

the stealership quoted me $99 a peice for coil packs, or else I would have gotten some myself. I checked 2 of my current ones and one is cracked.

I have 3 used '02 coils. If you are interested shoot me a pm.

thanks, I'll let you know. The coil with the crack seems to be working fine. I glued the piece back on, and changed my spark plugs. Good to have my car running like its supposed to again. i.e. 95 ver2 sti ra.

I am about to go install the STI coils.

I went to my local electronics supply store (Radioshack does NOT have this stuff) and found a sweet crimp connector that fit the pins in the coil pack very well and accepted 14 awg wire. Removed the blue insulator and crimped on each connector and added heatshrink. This worked very nice and no need to solder! Filled the plug cavity with epoxy and then spliced the old connectors as Rob instructed.

http://clem.mscd.edu/~kbahus/Pictures/coil1.jpg

http://clem.mscd.edu/~kbahus/Pictures/coil2.jpg

http://clem.mscd.edu/~kbahus/Pictures/coil3.jpg

http://clem.mscd.edu/~kbahus/Pictures/coil4.jpg

Why aren't people just getting a USDM WRX intake manifold harness and cutting it up and splicing it in? They can't be very expensive to get your hands on...

iirc the last time i looked it was like $400

Other than a faulty coil pack the swap went smooth. I was fortunate enough to track another down and got the car up and running. I have one bad connection I need to investigate but it runs super smooth and pulls awesome to redline. This was a great idea! Thanks Rob!

iirc the last time i looked it was like $400

Maybe new...

Other than a faulty coil pack the swap went smooth. I was fortunate enough to track another down and got the car up and running. I have one bad connection I need to investigate but it runs super smooth and pulls awesome to redline. This was a great idea! Thanks Rob!

Great, so your hesitation and misfire problems are gone?

-Rob

yes sir! Runs smooth as silk! Now I just got to get some injectors in it and a new tune and call it a day. :)

yes sir! Runs smooth as silk! Now I just got to get some injectors in it and a new tune and call it a day. :)


You wanna send down some of them there fancy connectors with Christophe on Saturday? Finding that stuff in Boulder can be a challenge. And the Legacy swap just got moved up in position as far as swaps are concerned. The Ej20K will have to wait a little bit...

Alright, after a good night's sleep (other) than trying to figure out what went wrong. I checked all the connections (+12V, continuity, etc) and voila! It works.

I will report on how its doing once I get to work.

ok: this is miles of difference. I inspected my old coilpacks and only one showed signs of cracking but overall they looked fairly good.

However, the new ones have zero hesistation at low, mid or high rpm. Holds boost no problem. If you have a 20G you need to do this!

Now to figure out my V-mount IC

:banana: :disco: :banana:

Rock on.:banana:

Oh, and would like to add that the wiring diagram does look a little confusing on paper for the igniter, but it works out that if you just follow the wires and pretend the connectors are not there. The wiring works out.

Like this:

http://i18.tinypic.com/4biqjat.jpg

The middle black wire on the left side (ecu) is the ground which you don't need to touch.

I just bought a set of four New Age WRX coils off an '02.

Any idea how prone to failure the New Age coils are? Are they durable even if they're 5 years old?

The middle black wire on the left side (ecu) is the ground which you don't need to touch.

Don't need to ground it to the chassis?

EDIT: I suppose the grounds on the new coils takes care of that, eh? ;)

I just bought a set of four New Age WRX coils off an '02.

Any idea how prone to failure the New Age coils are? Are they durable even if they're 5 years old?

I don't think they have the same design problem. If you look at the old ones, the plastic body goes deep into the head. They crack and fail due to heat cycling of the plastic The new ones by contrast only have the rubber boot go down into the spark plug well and the main housing stays as far back as possible. So far I haven't heard of any issues with the newer style coils.

-Rob

I guess what I'm concerned about is I got the set for $50 on eBay and wonder if they're broken or something. Seems like half as much as other people have paid. The guy said he "tested" them but I don't necessarily believe him. I'll find out soon enough I suppose.

I'm still a little unsure on how to wire up the igniter..... a before and after picture would be helpful I think. So What needs to be done is the the black part where the 2 harnesses go into is what your getting rid of completely correct?

I had the coil on the #4 cylinder let go on me a couple of weeks ago. However it showed no cracking at all. I just replaced it with one from an EJ20D and all is good. I'm assuming the the 20G and 20D packs are identical, and they must be because they look exactly the same and do the same job.

I'm still a little unsure on how to wire up the igniter..... a before and after picture would be helpful I think. So What needs to be done is the the black part where the 2 harnesses go into is what your getting rid of completely correct?

The igniter in the picture has 2 connectors on either side; one with wires from the ECU, and the other for wires to the coils. What you need to do is remove the igniter and wire the ECU side to the coil side as I have shown. The quickest way to do this is to cut off the igniter connectors from both sides of the harness and wire them directly together.
Hope that makes sense.

-Rob

yah make perfect sense thanks!

Sorry to jump in, but Ive searched and searched for specs and comparisons on my engine code. All the info I've seen says my engine belongs to an sti, RA. I got the car two weeks ago from japan and its a 98 wrx. The engine code is :ej207DW1KE and the turbo on it is a vf29. Is someone making a mistake with the year, engine by saying its from a sti? Or did the wrx come with an sti motor for that specific year? Thanks, from what i can see so far you guys know your stuff. Also can i get some links to sites with specs of my motor: cams, pistons, etc.

Depending on the tranny it came with it could be a wrx or wrx RA from 1999.

Maybe worth starting your own post though....

more info here: http://www.catherineandken.co.uk/sti/wrx.html

Depending on the tranny it came with it could be a wrx or wrx RA from 1999.

Maybe worth starting your own post though....

more info here:Thanks dude, according to the site i have a wrx, and my engine code is the same as the ra and sti from that year. I tried to start a thread on here but they said I had to reply 3 times before starting a thread ( newbie rules) lol. I'll start one as soon as I can. Thanks again.

I bought some ghetto GD coilpacks on eBay and tried installing them and the motor misfired. Bit the bullet and bought a set of brand new OEM and installed them. Motor pulls noticeably harder now and the idle sounds meatier. Maybe it's just the butt dyno. I don't know. Anyway, great modification. Thanks to rob for discovering this.

nice 1 im gonna do this straight away man good job

Fixed my problem! You the man Rob! Living in an apartment so no access to electricity for soldering iron and I ended up using butt splice connectors which worked so hopefully they will continue to work.. Boosting to 1 bar now thanks!

I forgot to add that my coils showed no sign of cracks or fatigue of any kind. Replace them all regardless of what they look like if you want to eliminate the possibility of this problem!

Good to hear. Another satisfied customer :banana:

-Rob

I was changing plugs on an STi and compared the coils to the WRX coils i'm using in my 20g and noticed that the boot is a different length, shorter if i remember correctly, and i was wondering if that would cause any problems?
I read that one person here used the STi coils successfully has any one else tried them?
-noah

i got 4 used '06 WRX coils with 5,000miles on the for $100 bucks at junkyard. wired'em up and it works flawlessy.

thanks Rob!!!!:D

I saw mention of a fitment issue with the legacy motors. I am considering using an EJ20H for a project (people ask why - it is easily available). It will be converted to a single turbo.


What sort of problems or issues should I expect doing this coil swap?

It turns out the legacy cam covers have a two hole mounting scheme, so the coil mounting holes don't line up. You need to drill a new mounting hole on the coil. Also I think the size of the coil body is too big, so you also need to round down a corner a bit. Best would be to try to find the WRX cam covers.

-Rob

Sweet I just aquired a set of 07 coils as well as the intake manifold harness so I am going to do some cutting and splicing this weekend!!

How did everyone with the old-school Liberty RS/JDM Legacy heads out there mount their new USDM WRX coils?

I've swapped a JDM Legacy EJ20G into my '91 Legacy SS. I have also converted it to run with the stock EJ20G ECU and the 2003 USDM WRX ignition coils. The USDM WRX coils don't fit into my heads and I'd like to know how everyone else out there solved this problem.

One idea is to mount the USDM WRX ignition coils externally and run old-school spark-plug wires into the spark plugs inside of the heads.

If there's a way to mod the old-school Liberty heads, or the USDM WRX coils to fit in there, please let me know.

Pics would be highly appreciated :)


Cheers!
P.

How did everyone with the old-school Liberty RS/JDM Legacy heads out there mount their new USDM WRX coils?

I've swapped a JDM Legacy EJ20G into my '91 Legacy SS. I have also converted it to run with the stock EJ20G ECU and the 2003 USDM WRX ignition coils. The USDM WRX coils don't fit into my heads and I'd like to know how everyone else out there solved this problem.

One idea is to mount the USDM WRX ignition coils externally and run old-school spark-plug wires into the spark plugs inside of the heads.

If there's a way to mod the old-school Liberty heads, or the USDM WRX coils to fit in there, please let me know.

Pics would be highly appreciated :)


Cheers!
P.


Look 2 posts up. I'll see if I can scrounge some pictures from the liberty board.

-Rob

BUMP for the pics being gone!

Fixed.

Thanks Kaymin. Nice to see you are local now.

-Rob

a local to pre2002?

Hey, I was wondering what kind of solder you guys used as well as soldering gun. The gun I have available to me is not very precise, i doubt i'd be able to solder the wire I picked up (14awg) directly to the pins just for lack of clearance or space. I also went looking for those crimp connecters but all the ones I found were too wide and I couldn't get them to all sit in there nicely. How'd you guys all do it?

I used a pretty big gun and soldered the wires directly to the pins, it was a pain, but I personally wouldn't do it any other way. I just loaded a bit of solder on the wires, slid them underneath the pin on the coil pack, put some solder on the tip of the gun, then heated up the pin and the wire and pin fused together. I tugged and twisted the wires pretty good afterwards to make sure there were no cold solder joints.

Mike

First, use a 30-40w iron. I hate those guns. Second, you could cut away some of the plastic that surrounds the pins for better accessability. Oh and 14awg seems a bit overkill. You could go 16-18 which would be easier to work with.

-Rob

I agree with everything Rob said, I just used a big gun cus I have one, and I don't have a small iron.

In other news, here are some pics of making these coil packs work with legacy ej20g heads/valve covers!!!

First: pop the copper bushing out with a socket and a hammer.
Second: Cut part of the metal part off of the coil pack as shown in the first picture. You can use a hack saw or a zip disk.
Third: You need to cut off the smaller metal mounting hole on the coil pack on only two of the packs. This is because the mounting is different on the passengers side, the big hole doesn't line up with the holes. If you cut these small holes off you can run the mounting bolt along side the coil pack with a washer on it to hold it in. I didn't show a pic of this.
Fourth: Take a dremel or hand file and remove a small amount of material (plastic) where the arrows are pointing in the second picture.
Fifth: Sit back and admire your work.

When I held the packs up before cutting the metal part it looked like a lot of this plastic was going to be in the way, meaning having to cut very deep and expose the internals. Just remove a few mm on each side and corner the edges, test fitting after each small cut and you're good to go. I used a hand file because it really only needed a couple passes to fit, not really worth getting the dremel out, unless you don't have a file.

With the copper bushing out, the hole is big enough that you can use the legacy mounting bolt to secure the coil pack, no need to drill a new hole. Since this bushing is gone though, I suggest using a star washer to ensure good contact with the ground wire.

http://www.magix-photos.com/mediapool10/3F/3C/34/B0/B1/4D/11/DB/B7/44/DC/9A/18/E2/32/D7/oma/10/1538B3F0F56211DCB09AC0FCD8C5C333.jpg

http://www.magix-photos.com/mediapool10/3F/3C/34/B0/B1/4D/11/DB/B7/44/DC/9A/18/E2/32/D7/oma/10/3007A600F56211DC81F99CBCD8C5C333.jpg

If anything is unclear let me know and I fix it.

I just finished this at my friends house and drove the car straight to work. It definately pulls stronger and much smoother but I'm still hitting what feels like a stumble or possible fuel cut at 3800rpm in every gear. Did you guys have to do a ecu reset after this? my car also threw a CEL but it went away, it feels somewhat like how it is usually in safe mode because, doesn't really matter where throttle position is at, at 3800 it just hits a wall. You guys have any issues? I'll probably reset the ecu at home...

oh yeah and the main title diagram for the wiring and how it's shown is reversed, which was a bit confusing, miswired one, but finished alright.

strange, drove it to work, had that constant stumble, then after work, got in it and went home, and it was having this really strange stumble around 2800, then it warmed up and I did a few pulls and everything seems to run really really well right now. So strange, my car is so bipolar. Well hopefully this will just be the end it'll work out well, so far so good!

oh yeah and the main title diagram for the wiring and how it's shown is reversed, which was a bit confusing, miswired one, but finished alright.

What did you find wrong with my diagram?

-Rob

There was nothing wrong with it, just a bit confusing.

Pin1 : Pin2: Pin3
+12v : GND : Trigger
Red : Blk : Green <--- wire colors I used in my picture
RY : BY : GY <--- '02 WRX harness colors

It was just reversed compared to the picture right below it

Pin1: Pin2: Pin3
Trig :GND:+12V
Green Black Red

matches the pic below.

There was nothing wrong with it, just a bit confusing.

Pin1 : Pin2: Pin3
+12v : GND : Trigger
Red : Blk : Green <--- wire colors I used in my picture
RY : BY : GY <--- '02 WRX harness colors

It was just reversed compared to the picture right below it

Pin1: Pin2: Pin3
Trig :GND:+12V
Green Black Red

matches the pic below.


That's why in the line above what you quoted it says;
Using the above picture as a reference, the pinning is as follows from left to right:
The picture above the description has it oriented correctly
:D
Plus it's how the wiring diagram from the WRX manual has the pins numbered.

-Rob

EDIT: I went ahead and flipped the second picture to avoid future confusion.

Hey guys, a friend on here sent me some coils for spares from japan, which look an aweful lot like the us wrx coils im about to convert to. I was wondering if anyone knew what exactly these are. Heres the pics, and the part numbers on them are the following...

22433AA390
Diamond
FK0053 12V
6725

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k191/NATRacing/Random%20pics/IMG_1150.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k191/NATRacing/Random%20pics/IMG_1152.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k191/NATRacing/Random%20pics/IMG_1153.jpg

im hoping i can just use these, they look identical and gave the rubber insulator boots that dont crack.

I really want to make sure the pins and such are the same, part numbers are diffferent than the us coilpacks, but looks and size is identicle as far as i can see

what did you guys do with the untouched ground? did you just plug the connector back in and leave it there?

anyone who has successfully done this please read my problem thread. i could really help in getting mine fixed.

thanks.

That's why in the line above what you quoted it says;

The picture above the description has it oriented correctly
:D
Plus it's how the wiring diagram from the WRX manual has the pins numbered.

-Rob

EDIT: I went ahead and flipped the second picture to avoid future confusion.

Must have missed that, haha. Whoops. Sorry, wasn't trying to nitpick. Definately owe a big thanks for this sticky. Very useful mod.

Hey guys, a friend on here sent me some coils for spares from japan, which look an aweful lot like the us wrx coils im about to convert to. I was wondering if anyone knew what exactly these are. Heres the pics, and the part numbers on them are the following...

22433AA390
Diamond
FK0053 12V
6725

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k191/NATRacing/Random%20pics/IMG_1150.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k191/NATRacing/Random%20pics/IMG_1152.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k191/NATRacing/Random%20pics/IMG_1153.jpg

im hoping i can just use these, they look identical and gave the rubber insulator boots that dont crack.
I mentioned in the email, as I am sure you know now, but I will post in case someone else wants to know in the future. Those are EJ20H coil packs.

your not going to believ this but i found my original coil... i kept it aside for you in case you need one. I have not done the swap yet, was hoping to do some more research in order to confirm these are wired the same way. They are wired and ready to install, i just want to confirm they work the same as the wrx coilpacks before i go threw the trouble of installing them.

So NASIOC, will EJ20H coilpacks, as seen above, work and wire up the same way as wrx coilpacks? they look identical to me...

your not going to believ this but i found my original coil... i kept it aside for you in case you need one. I have not done the swap yet, was hoping to do some more research in order to confirm these are wired the same way. They are wired and ready to install, i just want to confirm they work the same as the wrx coilpacks before i go threw the trouble of installing them.

So NASIOC, will EJ20H coilpacks, as seen above, work and wire up the same way as wrx coilpacks? they look identical to me...

I don't think anyone here is going to be able to answer that definitively. My guess is that they are going to work the same. I would suggest that you convert just one cylinder and verify that it runs as expected. If it doesn't, it would be pretty easy to revert back.

-Rob

thanks rob. Theres no wire diagrams of the EJ20H that would show a similar set up as the newer wrx's?

Also I if you like. I can clip the EJ20H wiring harness to send the ends to you for a cleaner wiring job.

that would have been mint but i already sealed and wired the individual ones in there, came out pretty nice. Thanks for the offer.

Cool, sorry I didn't mention that earlier :D.

HELP!
Just just this swap and I have no idea what I could have done wrong...
Can someone think of something really stupid that I might have missed?
I followed the instructions over twice.
My coilpacks I bought were a grey colour instead of being all black.
Off of a 2005.
Is there any wiring difference there?
I have a version 1 WRX (GC8-A EJ20G)

_Matt

you got rid of the ignitor correctly as well?

yep and I even tore off all the shrink wrap I had put on to take a look again.

Is anybody running high boost on this kind of coilpacks to show me that they really work?
The reason I'm asking is because I have a lot of ej20g spare coilpacks that I use every time I break one under high boost....and it is really getting old.

i'm running 16.5 pounds on the conversion and the difference from the old style coils is massive. no stuttering or misfires under WOT.

i'm running 16.5 pounds on the conversion and the difference from the old style coils is massive. no stuttering or misfires under WOT.Well,I'm running 22 that is probably why:lol:
For how long have you been running 16.5?and what do you mean by massive? Where the old style in good shape too?

Another one now happily converted!

Amen!

i'm in the middle of this, should my car be able to run on only three of them?

my soldering iron died on me on the last one and I just wanted to try it on three.

it cranks, starts and dies. does that sound normal?

just wanted to know before i get disappointed when i get all 4 done.

(the forth isn't plugged in at all)

it should run rough, mine idled with 3 before.

it should run rough, mine idled with 3 before.

not sure what was wrong before but i finished it all up and it idles better then before now. but now i think one of my connections somewhere came undone. lacking power and i'm getting back fire. so i'm thinking i'm running on 3 or less cylinders

i had one come loose because of a crappy crimp, check you connections.

i had one come loose because of a crappy crimp, check you connections.

i got rid of all my crimps. soldered everything.

got it running but on three cylinders. swapped that coil pack with another one to check the wiring. pretty sure that coil pack is dead.

FWIW & Archival purposes, anyone running a Stinger 4424 or 8860 standalone with external igniters, the trigger wires are as follows:
From ECU
Pink Cyl 1 trigger
Orange Red stripe Cyl 3 trigger
Yellow Red stripe Cyl 2 trigger
Grey Black stripe Cyl 4 trigger

Yellow wire to old coil pack connectors is common 12+.

I found an interesting method of soldering the wires to the plugs. I took .250" 16-14 gauge quick disconnects, and you can slide the bottom end over each pin, and they literally click in. The pin somewhat slids into the crease where you would normally crimp. With all 3 in place its a very snug fit. Im not to handy with the soldering gun yet so I cut off a tiny bit of solder, and it fits perfectly down the quick disconnect where you would normally crimp. So with the solder in place, I click the quick disconnect in place, and then let the solder melt and fall onto the pin. Gave it a tug to make sure the connection was good. With all 3 in place it came out looking like this.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c397/gongeuzler/coilconv.jpg

To me this seems like a good idea, but then again the first time I touched a soldering gun was to do this swap so im still pretty new at it. What do you guys think? Some heatshrink and some epoxy and it should be good? Im hoping to get to the conversion this weekend.

nice dude! looks clean unlike my **** but i just cut off the surrounding plastic and soldered right onto the pins and epoxied over it lol

ah not bad. I ended up just buying a wrx engine harness for something like $40 just so I can have the pigtails

ah not bad. I ended up just buying a wrx engine harness for something like $40 just so I can have the pigtails

wow! you must have found one used!

I have a set of new age coil plug connecters (with wire ofcourse) if anyone needs a set.

i just did this conversion yesterday.. my car wasnt firing up. and it kept blowing fuses .. ne idea what causes this problem? everything is wired up as the instructions says i bought the pig tails for the newer coil packs and we wired merged it from there. if ne 1 can help with whats is going wrong please contact me thanks alot guys

Helppp!!!

make sure non of the pins arent in contact with each other inside the new coilpacks, if they are touching it can cause the short to blow fuses, something is wrong with the wiring, check it all again, even the basics.

Anyone got any sources to get 02 coils? every store around me is charging 190+ for each coil. Ill buy some used ones even i need some asap to get my car running.

Anyone got any sources to get 02 coils? every store around me is charging 190+ for each coil. Ill buy some used ones even i need some asap to get my car running.

Get used ones. The new style hardly ever fail in comparison so going used is usually a safe bet.

Anyone know of a site that might have used coil's? Like a auto wreckers place or something?

I have two 05 sti coils for $50. Wire up the same as the 02's and such, thats what im running on my car right now and these are my spares

just finished the conversion on my car, works wonderful. couldn't be more pleased :) thanks for the write up!!

Is there a model of the EJ20 that has a central coil pack rather than a coil on plug design? Reason I'm asking is because I have a set of nology plug wires that seem to be made for one and it's for an EJ20G.

Yeah the EJ20K and the GC8 EJ205/7 both used central, manifold-mounted coil packs.

Awesome mod, thanks Rob.
I had to hack ish out of them to fit the Legacy style cam covers but well worth it.
18 psi and it pulls clean.

cool. Glad it worked for you.

-Rob

an one knows if you can convert 98 rs into Coil on plugs?

an one knows if you can convert 98 rs into Coil on plugs?

I'm sure it could be POSSIBLE, but why would you want to?

Almost two years later, one of the all time greatest hacks on a 20G.

Going to do the mod.. one of mine is misfiring.

can i get STI's if only they are available?
is there a "best year to get" ?

thanks evan

hhhhhb

Going to do the mod.. one of mine is misfiring.

can i get STI's if only they are available?
is there a "best year to get" ?

thanks evan

I don't think it will matter. Get what you can find cheap.

-Rob

thanks

check this out...... http://picasaweb.google.com/evankanga/WRX#

the final 5 or 6 pics there show the cover, the old and the new.

the new coil packs have a larger diameter spacer/ bolt hole than the old style.

are people just using the skinny old style/original bolt and popping out the bolt plug thing, or are they drilling out the hole on the head for the new style bolt plug and using the skinny bolt.

??

i dont really want to drill in to the cover.

since this is not a direct fit.. does that mean i have some strange early jdm model ej20?

thanks all.... reallyy
--evan

since this is not a direct fit.. does that mean i have some strange early jdm model ej20?


Yes. :)

any advice from the peanut gallery?

As long as you can get it secured on top of the spark plug, fit isn't real important. You could remote mount the coils, take off the boot, and run short spark plug wires to each one if you really wanted to.

The main thing is you don't really want them shaking around and you want the spark plug to be fully engaged with the boot.

i will go out and check out what i can do fitment wise with the copper bolt home pressed out. i am afraid it is going to be a pain, and might need to dremmel off a little material from the area around the hole on the coil side to make it fit.

--maybe just mounting manifold mounter coil packs would be easier?

I just finished doing mine (Legacy RS-RA heads, same as your van; offset holes), you have to hack off the big corner of the metal coil as pictured in the earlier post about Legacy fitment. I cut in about 1/2-inch deep from the corner... Use a Dremel, and buy a container of cutoff wheels. I tried a grinder, but it started to make a mess of the thin plates. Shoot it with some paint before install to prevent rust.

Left (drivers) side of the motor will fit easier than the other, for some reason, only a little filing of the ignitor case is needed. The other side required a lot of grinding (Dremel again, w/ drum sander) of the plastic case, on multiple corners, just work slowly and test fit a lot. Both sides will orient with the wire pigtail on the bottom. I re-used the original thin mount screws, one is plenty to hold it in.

It's a bit more of a hack on this motor, but end result is the same.:banana:

Aerotech

i have found much out today.. but check out my latest pics and see if it makes sense.

it seems i have two igniters to bypass. http://picasaweb.google.com/evankanga/WRX#
the last two pictures show i have two igniters[ up on the right corner.. is this normal???
there is also an airflow sensor connection on the intake

so if i have two igniters.... what to do?

i am sure i can get fitment, but the electrical would be nice to know ahead of time


253 255 2168 just to shoot the $%^& if it makes it any easier

the coil packs now fit perfect!

--still waiting on advice on the supposed two igniters shown in the pics
thanks for all the help.
--evan

i have to igniters?? http://picasaweb.google.com/evankanga/WRX#5250447612070767858


#1
red--green stripe
blue[lighter blue]
black
green--yellow stripe
yellow--blue stripe

#2
red--green stripe\
blue[darker]
black
green--white stripe
yellow--blue stripe


does this make any sense to anyone.. and no -- i did not build this. i'm only trying to clean it up



--thanks evan

Sorry, that's beyond my experience... never seen that before. My best guess is that there's one for each bank of cylinders... looks like the installer marked the positions. You are going to have to shoot the wires with a multimeter or continuity tester to see for sure what goes where.
Pull the plugs off the ignitors and check continuity between there and the coil connectors, and also to the ECU plug that has the ignition pins... make a diagram or map of what goes where, it will help.
What you're trying to do is establish the trigger path from the ECU to the ignitors to the coils, then eliminate the ignitors by bypassing them so the wiring goes from ECU right to the coils. Make sure your battery is disconnected first.
Pay attention to the 12V routing, as mentioned in the write-up, Subaru wiring is usually 12Vdc switched = yellow/red stripe, but that stops at the coil connector, the red wire on the coil pigtail is 12V, the yellow is the trigger.

Nice setup in that van...air/water intercooler and all! I have a 1986 Syncro, and can't use that setup since my gas tank is living in that space above the transaxle. Anyhow, I went over to the dark side and am doing a TDI conversion now, ditched the Subie setup.

have fun with the tdi conversion

i did a 2001 ALH fly by wire with the immobilizer and everything.... and can only tell you to GO WITH A MECHANICAL INJECTION PUMP! no other advice needed.

as for gearing i did a 1.14 3rd and .70 4th with 29" BFG's on a syncro ... larger nozzles but with the manual tranny IP, and loved it. great MPG's do a TD, or AHU only

i also snapped an axle while wheeling///and flipped it over on it's side. whoops

thanks for the advice

However... to the rest.. have you seen this and ...any advice??

thanks
evan

well... i opened up the loams and traced wires and cut out the twin NA legacy igniters and made some temporary electrical connections. it fired right up and everything is fine so far.

solder next and then off for a test drive.

thanks everyone

Nice!:banana:

I got mine all back together only to fry the (very rare and expensive) ECU with a mis-wired aftermarket O2 sensor...:unamused: Took my sweet time with the coil setup, but rushed and botched a simple 3-wire connection.

Bollocks.

Question on symptoms of failing coilpacks...

Is a repetetive hesitation on full boost (about 4500, 5500, 6000) a possible coil?

I was going to do this conversion anyway but it seems more urgent now.

My Power FC is reading 15-20 knock level when this happens.

Thanks,
-Mike.

Yep. Main symptom is misfires under boost, getting worse as boost and RPM goes up. Misfires will feel like hesitation or bucking when severe enough.

-Rob

Yep. Main symptom is misfires under boost, getting worse as boost and RPM goes up. Misfires will feel like hesitation or bucking when severe enough.

-Rob

Awesome, thanks for the info.

Changed one out during lunch break (yes I am a sick man). Runs much better until I do the conversion. :)

-Mike.

Will bad coils cause misfire that you can hear at idle but not break up at higher boost(12psi)? I do have a bit of hesitation sometime in the upper rpm range and then it cleans out and pulls hard again. Other times it pull hard right to redline its very random.

Will bad coils cause misfire that you can hear at idle but not break up at higher boost(12psi)? I do have a bit of hesitation sometime in the upper rpm range and then it cleans out and pulls hard again. Other times it pull hard right to redline its very random.

does it hesitate under full gas and like 3/4 or even like 9/10 throttle feel fine?

that's how mine was and one of them was cracked

Ya if your not at full throttle the car seems pretty good if not stronger than when at WOT. To me it feels like its pulling timing, but I guess it could be the coils causing misfires. The car doesn't break up even at full boost which is why I didn't think it was the coils, but I guess if they are on their way out this is how they would do it lol.

Completed (sort of) my coil conversion tonight. I just twisted and taped the ignitor wires for now to ensure it was all connected correctly.

Did not actually go for a ride since I have other things to install but let it warm up and revved it to about 6k. It is smooth as butter up top but idle is a little rough and searched between 1500 and 1000 for a while when cold. I think this is more the result of my PFC not being tuned correctly after removing the boost control kit and going back to stock solenoid and MAP.

I'll post back up once the car is tuned. I suppose I may have a bad coil but it's not likely (then again my stock MAP could be bad too).

-Mike.

Will 05 STI coils work for this conversion?

Going over the EJ20G while it's on the engine stand and sure enough, one of the coils is cracked:sadbanana:. At least it will be easier to do while the motor is out of the car.:D Great write-up!

Will 05 STI coils work for this conversion?

Im using 05 STi coils, well supposedly from what DS1 says. It took many PM's and a couple months of BS shipping excuses to get them so who knows what they really are but at least they work.

Nice well hopefully its the problem. It's just so hit or miss. Just before the car is fully warm it seems to go like a raped ape then dog at full temp. If you continue driving it, it will sometime be fast again. Could the IAC cause this issue or maybe even the recir valve?