billyNOTnice 93 Cobra AEM Stand Alone EPM Coil Near Plug conversion

[billyNOTnice]

Well as some of you, probably very few may know over the winter i decided that I was tired of using the PMS, and wanted to step my game up to a full stand alone engine management system. Well after plenty of research I decided to go with the AEM EMS. Shortly after installing it i had the usual issues with some timing errors due to the EMS not getting along with the mustang distributor. So i removed all my ignition parts (distributor, msd coil, msd 3step, MSD 6al box) and replaced them with the AEM Engine position module, and 9 LS1 Coil packs from a Camaro. Most of you probably have never seen anything like this, so i thought i'd share. I made the coil pack brackets with about 15 mintues of wandering around Ace Harceware brain storming. I bought all msd LS1 terminals and boots, and use 90* boots for my plugs. I ordered a 30 foot spool of Taylor 8mm Spark plug wire and custom made my own wires. I bought the tayor crimper too.. made life way easier than pliers. I just got the car running today. It was a very long process. I used 100ft of wire to wire the coil packs into a wasted spark setup and the AEM EMS controls them. I was very suprised when i was all done it fired right up and drove up the road. I had absolutely zero issues. I've never been so lucky before lol. Here's a few pics, enjoy. Sorry about some of the crappy cell pics, but i forgot my camera a lot. The one pic is just some of the settings i had to change in the AEM software to do the swap.

[lib88stang]

Looks good, never would have thought of that approach

[Viper_ed]

What's the real benefit of going with the COP setup instead of the ignition components you already had?

[billyNOTnice]

well mainly it's just better. no more timing drift like with the old dizzy. I can now make my car idle at 750 rpms like nobodies business. My main reason for doing the swap was because of timing errors i was having with my AEM not liking my distributor. the aem likes exact values, the distributor was kinda like ehh... here try this... and the AEM was like nah i don't think bud... the coil packs are all around the better way to go, but you'll have this with any new style ignition. I just wanted it so i could correct the issues i was having with my EMS, and tune happy.

[no1fordgirl]

Good job :)


Going to the cruise Friday downtown? see ya there ;)

[billyNOTnice]

yeah I plan on being there!!!

[no1fordgirl]

yeah I plan on being there!!!

Good! Havent talked to you in forever! :)

[gmkillr]

Wow, very nice!

I have hear alot of good things about this swap.

Are you going to do any after dyno #'s?

Do you have the before dyno #'s?

[billyNOTnice]

I've never been to the dyno before, so I really have no before/after comparrison. I can't imagine that I would net too much of a overall performance gain out of this. start up, idle, and overall driveability is going to be the biggest difference in doing this.

[mlowry1260]

Billy,

you did a fine job on this conversion. Way to jump in there & make it happen! You're right, there may be little or no gain in absolute power. But, it should be far better in accuracy & tunining consistency with the EPM. The AEM ecu doesn't tolerate timing errors well.

Looks cool too!

[Big408]

Glad to see some people on SCS have done this conversion (at least one).
I am fighting the timing errors with my AEM and am about to try a couple different stock distributors (351W TFI Roller). This is just to get me to track quickly, but plan to do the LSx coil conversion very soon.

Any help is appreciated:
Are these the coils that everyone uses:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-C...Q5fAccessories

Did you use or do they make a pig tail to plug into this harness (to wire to the AEM?

Which outputs did you wire to on the AEM?

I like the pic of your AEM settings. Are these specific to your application or would this be the same for anyone using these 8 coils?

This is the EPM I will use:
30-3253: ALL Ford 351 Windsor Sm Blocks

-Derek

[Rodeheaver's]

so now you have a cam postion sensor instead of a pick up coil doing both jobs?? looks like a nice set up, i think its a huge plus to get away from the 20 year old wiring and the s/p shakers...

[Martin0660]

A lot of the 2.3 megasquirt guys are going this route with a crank trigger and the LS coils as well. Seems ot be plenty hot ignition even for high boost with no ignition box.

[bgblockelcamino]

wouldn't it be easier to put an ls1 motor under those coils too?
j/k

looks like a badass setup. can't go wrong with aem have seen very good results with their standalone setups

[billyNOTnice]

Glad to see some people on SCS have done this conversion (at least one).
I am fighting the timing errors with my AEM and am about to try a couple different stock distributors (351W TFI Roller). This is just to get me to track quickly, but plan to do the LSx coil conversion very soon.

Any help is appreciated:
Are these the coils that everyone uses:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-C...Q5fAccessories

Did you use or do they make a pig tail to plug into this harness (to wire to the AEM?

Which outputs did you wire to on the AEM?

I like the pic of your AEM settings. Are these specific to your application or would this be the same for anyone using these 8 coils?

This is the EPM I will use:
30-3253: ALL Ford 351 Windsor Sm Blocks

-Derek

let me try to answer some of your questions... first those coils are the LQ9 coils... which supposedly are the best/hottest coils off the stock market today.. LS2 coils would be a very close second from what i've seen on video tests. LS1 coils aren't as hot, but I shall see if they can handle 500+hp. I used the LS1 coils because my buddy gave them and the coil harness to me for free. You can buy individual pigtails for each coil, but they are like 12 bucks each. You can also buy a plug from GM to plug into the LS1 coil harness, however they were 50 bucks, so i just cut the plug off and soldered the wires to my other wires i ran. There is no AEM "conversion kit" for this setup. At this point it's only pieced together by a lot of research and help from others who have done this. Now as for wiring it into the AEM, i used 100ft of wire, no lie. i saved a little using the LS1 harness. basically you have a positive, ground, a low ref (not used) and a signal wire from each coil. your coils are paired in wasted spark (easy to remember.. 1,3,7,2+6,5,4,8)
1+6 coil triggers pair up then as follows.
3+5
7+4
2+8
so after you solder them together you'll have 4 trigger wires to run to the AEM. i soldered the power wires together and pulled my power source from the old ignition coil plug i cut off, grounded the ground wires to the back of my head, and I was ready to go. The outputs on the aem you use are (#48,23,24,28) 3 of those you will need to get pins to pin into your ECU harness connector because there aren't any wires in those slots.

ok i wrote more than enough, i can help you through this if you need me to when the time comes... oh one more thing, as for the LS1 settings, they should work since they are for the EPM and LS1 coils. I will see if i can find that out though to be sure.

[billyNOTnice]

thanks for all the comments to guys! makes all the work worth it.

[yeahloh95]

nice job glad to see someone trying something new

[billyNOTnice]

yup nothing left to do really... some test and tune, and suck up that 10 second slip and some dyno #'s and i'll be good.

[wick]

Impressive. I like this.