help with new coils for a Turbo X50...

Hi guys, In the process of doing a home service (gotta fight the boredom somehow!) I have completed one side (plugs+coils) but wanted to check how the coils should feel when seating them. Ive slid them into the holes and presumably onto the spark plugs, then inserted bolts and tightened (not too tight). But now Im wondering if the coils are connecting correctly to the plugs. Trying the old coil/plugs and its hard to believe they make good contact... is that normal? the plug doesn't really feel connected to anything metal in the coil... Also - thanks to the British weather the underside of my car is pretty corroded. The heat-sheidl that wraps the exhaust had failed at the bottom two bolts and one of the top ones (closest to the rear). It looks very unlikely I can get those top bolts out without a serious fight (and probably snapping them). Im planning on just ensuring the bottom 2 bolts are secure (over-sized washer perhaps). Does that seem reasonable? There are also many nuts/bolts that are pretty corroded (turbo-to-exhaust to name but a few). Should I try to replace these while Im in the area? Thanks for any advice! (I can provide photos if that helps?) Todd.

Ive just done the plugs and coils on my 9896 turbo and i noticed the same as you. You get the feeling that if the bolts arent done tight enough then there wont be a connection? Its certainly not like most other coil packs setups ive had. I used the 997 upgrade kit from design911 so i assumed this was the issue but i checked the ones that came off the car and they felt the same so just assumed thats how they are?

Doing the exhaust bolts will be one of those jobs you'll wish you'd never started! It's worth changing them but as your removing them they will crumble before eyes, then your left with something that you can barely get any thing other than a chisel or good mole grips to get off. As for your coil packs, you generally feel a bit of a click as they go onto the plug top, then you nip them down with the bolts. I pretty sure they're almost impossible to fit incorrectly so once they're in and nipped up they'll be good to go. Good luck with doing those nuts, I started having cold sweats at the thought of doing them! You'll need K nuts to refit them, I used std galvanised ones and plenty of copper grease. I got a bag from Screwfix and they were a few quid for a 100! OPC will charge about £5 for the Porsche approved ones, they have a slight irregularity in them that makes them one use only lock nuts.

update Thanks easternjets Long update in case anyone is thinking of doing similar (and isn't a mechanic!) So - rear bumper off, intercoolers off, exhaust shield bent up a bit (couldn't get access to the bolts (which looked like candidates for snapping off). Metal shield protecting coils/plugs removed and slid down. 5 coils come out very easily. Its a bit fiddly getting the connectors off, but patience and a flat screwdriver to flick them up a bit helped. The 6th (driver side middle) took forever to get out. Its the lack of space and all the other pipes - but I managed after probably 30mins. I blew any grit/dirt out of the plugs using compressed air, then removed them. All looked ok, black/greyish. Replacement plugs (Bosch) we already gapped to around 0.65mm. Two of them I added copper grease to the threads but stopped when I read that it can affect earthing. All plugs in. 5 of the coils went in without issue. That 6th put up a fight but I managed to 'force' it over the turbo by bending the heat shield up a little further. All connected up easily. The driver-side coil/plug shield wouldn't fit in place due to the middle coils bolt-head. So I used 4 large washers (glued together using exhaust repair paste). To get them in place I hacked the head of a bolt, screwed it into the hole, put the washers on it, fitted the shield, pushed hard to hold it in place (and the washers), unscrewed the headless bolt and quickly screwed in the original one. Worked fine. The intercoolers' frames were a bit corroded so I wire-brushed them and painted with black hammerite. Also blew out all the debris using compressed air. At the bottom of the intercoolers there are two studs that hold the heat shield in place that had completed rusted, and the heat shield had corroded too. I cut off the remaining rusty stud and drilled new holes. On the heat-shield I used exhaust repair paste to 'glue' large washers to patch the hole. Then used stainless steel bolts everywhere when reassembling (where possible, some studs remain with weren't too bad). After refitting the intercoolers I started and it fired up first time - ran for 5mins without issue. Pretty pleased Now draining oil ...