Squeezing Ponies

fowljesse · Post by **fowljesse** » March 20th, 2006, 2:50 am

Hi, all! I'm new to this site, and love it! Thanks to everyone making it happen! I have had a SE for almost a year. I'm new to computerised cars, but have been hot-rodding for a while, and have ideas for ignition upgrades. Let me know if it's a bad idea for our cars (These work well on big old American engines). I know they won't make a big difference, but every little bit counts...

After adding the external coil and good wires, I was thinking about shortening the leads (I did this already on the old NGKs that came with the car and ended up with a couple of feet of extra wire). This is good for maybe 8-10 ohms less resistance on new wires (more on old ones), but tedious to do. Then I'd index the plugs, and open the gap slightly. I know this sounds scary, but I've done it for years (only with a strong coil). This causes them to burn slightly hotter, so I'd go with a set of plugs 1 heat range cooler. Of course, I make sure they're not arcing to the heads.
Let me know if there is any REAL reason (not just flaming) that this would not work. if it sounds okay, I'll do it and report any changes, including gas milage.
Also, I'd like to know if anyone has hooked up MSD?
Lookin' forward to learning everything I can, and sharing my knowledge of `Voodoo~ hot-rodding

Jesse

lakersfan1 · Post by **lakersfan1** » March 20th, 2006, 7:25 am

You're going to cut your plug wires for 8-10 ohms? You do realize that the stock style wires for this car are about a THOUSAND ohms resistance per foot, right? An aftermarket 'performance' style plug wire might ONLY be a HUNDRED ohms per foot.

fieromx3 · Post by **fieromx3** » March 20th, 2006, 1:05 pm

yea if u do all that you would be lucky to get 1hp gas mileage wont really be helped. if u want a good strong ignition than get ford edis idividual coil packs but this requires the use of megasquirt EMS and get good performance wires and new spark plugs.. there is really no point cutting the wires for just 10ohms get msd, accel, magnecore wires they are rated for 50ohms of resistance per foot

fowljesse · Post by **fowljesse** » March 20th, 2006, 4:13 pm

I don't expect noticable gains w/ these small things. It's kinda like a hobby. Maybe everything together will amount to something. It makes a bigger difference on big, lumbering, less efficient American cars with really long leads.

Rick Johnson · Post by **Rick Johnson** » March 20th, 2006, 10:53 pm

When My distributor failed I did a lot of reading up on aftermarket sytems and found the gains are very minimal at best. The external coil is worth it, anything else isn't IMO. Money is better spent elsewhere.

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » March 20th, 2006, 11:29 pm

A bit of knowledge to go with all these negative replies. First the stock ignition is weak for the motor and for a high performance motor at that. Of course this is inherent in any distributor set-up, especially with an internal coil. So a good external coil will definately help in the top end when the stock internal starts to run out of power.
Indexing and opening the gap is a good idea and will also benefit from the external coil. Careful though, the piston comes close as it is and much extra gap could lead to a busted plug and scored piston.
I'd also suggest some 8.5mm Magnacore wires to go along with the upgrade.
As for the Mega Squirt being needed you know that there are plenty of other systems that will controll the spark if that is your aim. I'm currently working on the wiring for a MSD multi-coil set-up myself, but really won't have the parts to acutally assymble and try it out till later this year.
I'd bet a good ignition will give pretty decent gains on the top end power, but doubt you see much fuel consumption gain.
Advance the timing a bit after you get her all installed and I bet you can squeeze a few more ponies out of it.

Good luck and welcome ot the boards.
PS, I learned most of what I know from old hotrodders.