R8 Coil Instructions

R8 Coil Instructions

The complete kit comes with four main sets of components_ An optional coil bracket that fits on the center of the valve cover, 4x Audi R8 Coil on plugs, and wiring components.

Before you start — what you need that is NOT in the kit

Have these on hand before you begin. They are not supplied with the kit.

• 1k ohm resistor — required in the under-hood diagnostic box for correct tachometer operation (1990-1993 cars).
• A length of wire — to run your ECU’s tach output to the tach input on your ECU connector.
• Soldering iron, solder, and heat shrink — pins 4 and 5 on the igniter connector must be soldered together.
• Small jeweler’s flat head screwdriver — for de-pinning the OEM connectors.
• 1.6 patch harness (1990-1993 cars only) — sold separately.
• Basic hand tools and a torque wrench for the valve cover bolts.

Let’s start with the mechanical installation of the bracket and coils. Remove the OEM coil packs (see the appropriate chassis year section for what to do with the connectors you remove). Install the R8 coils onto the bracket with the supplied hardware. De-torque all your valve cover bolts before removing the ones where the bracket goes. Connect the main harness to your coils. Mount the bracket to the intake side of your valve cover and then follow the torque specs and order in the service manual.

Once the wire clicks onto the spark plug, you may need to press the top of the boot a bit to get it to seal nicely in place. 2001-2005 engines have slightly smaller plug boot holes, and also two of the spark plug holes are raised slightly. The plug wires should fit the lower holes with a slight gap. For the raised holes, a little trimming is required to slim down the boot.

For wiring, the instructions are different for 1990-93, 94-00, and 01+ chassis. Please follow the guide for your year of car. The instructions are the same regardless of which year engine you have. The following diagrams maybe be helpful for 1990-2000 chassis owners.

1990-1993

For these early year cars, we are replacing the stock igniter, so it’s a little more involved. Most issues arise when pinning the wires from the igniter connector to the supplied 3-pin connectors.

Unplug and remove the igniter (located near the fuse box).

Connect the extension harness to the main R8 coil harness and route accordingly so that the other end sits near the 8-way igniter connector. Note that there are two versions of the main harness. V1 has brown wires, and with that version simply match up the colors of the wires to the 90-93 patch. V2, which began shipping in September 2019, does not have any brown wires. With the V2 harness, match up the red wires and the green wires to the 90-93 patch to ensure they are plugged correctly.

Carefully remove the orange secondary lock from the 8-way connector.

Fit the orange secondary locks to the connectors.