how to swap you vr6 coilpack to a ford zetec one

hi all thought this might be of help to some of you guys with dying coilpacks. as most of you know there quite prone to cracking and causing miss fires but replacement items are 120ish. me being tight didnt want to pay that so looked into other coilpacks from other cars. a bit of web searching found that you can use a ford v6 edis coilpack (off the zetec engines i believe) these coilpacks are used by alot of peolpe running megasquirt as there known to be cheap, reliable and give a very strong spark.

the links below is off vwvortex and is not my work but i did this today and can confirm its an excelent upgrade over standard as is really simple! took me about an hour and a half today

http://www.gti-vr6.net/library/engine/using_1999_Ford_Windstar_3.8L_coil_pack/
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4223032-Ford-Coil-Pack-on-VR6-with-Pics

now you need to modify your leads for this to work as the vr6 ends dont fit the ford coilpack, i chopped off my vw ends and retro fitted the ford click type ones, this is a little tricky but i did it with no more than some soapy water, snips and a small screwdriver. heres some links to give you an idea...

http://www.boostengineering.net/v/vspfiles/assets/images/how to convert your spark plug wires.pdf

the only problem i had was i got the firing orders mixed up so did it like this......

vr6 ford
1-------1
5-------4
3-------2
6-------5
2-------3
4-------6

as soon as i swapped them right it fired up straight away and idled smoother from cold

after reading a bit more this mod could give better mpg's and smoother power delivery as the ford coilpack gives a stronger spark.

i paid 20 for the coilpack and 6 ford leads off ebay but could be bought cheaper from a scrappers.

hope this helps somebody out as it has me

if ive missed anything just ask, cheers Ash

 

Thanks for the write up.

- can you point to the links again as they're broken?

 

great idea well worth knowing this,i cant get the links to work though

 

is this for the 12v or 24v

 

hope there fixed now, as for 24v im not too sure could possibly work?

 

Good links.
However as an owner with a 150K MK3 VR6 w/original coil pack I can say duff leads and worn plugs lead to arcing at the coil terminals and then failure of coil and sometimes ignition amplifier, if there is enough flyback voltage. Also M2.9.1 and M3.8.1 and M5.9 ECUs have load/rpm dependant dwell tables to match the coil pack.
24v 2.8 has similar coilpack and parameter tables in ME7.x.

 

nice idea gunit... i modifyed mine to a higher out put coilpack onto the stock vr6 amp ,,

 

Do you have a part number for the pack and the leads?

 

hi, no part numbers sorry. i used a ford v6 zetec coil pack and made my own leads, but since then ive found some ford KA 1.3 leads (same fiesta engine too) fit perfect! they com in different lenghts, 2 long and 2 shorter so ideal for the vr6! oicked a set up second hand of ebay for a quid! there 8mm thick too

 

Hi i know this is an old thread. But i have just bought the modeo v6 coilpack with everything (ht leads, the 4 pin wire plug and coikpack) now im stuck at which spark leads to get. Gunit has said ka leads but im thinking i will be 2 leads short so i will buy 2 lots but can anyone tell me which to buy?