Ignition Amplifiers

[fmicle]

Does anyone have one of these? Are they any good? The advertising sounds quite good, but most of the times if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is BS...
I found them through one of the websites suggested on this forum:
http://www.performancecenter.com/ignition-amplifiers

[Tamago]

garbage.

[Reddog99]

MSD is a good quality product but is not needed or intended for most modern vehicles. These were hot stuff back in the days when cars came with a mechanical points ignition systems, but they don't do anything for a modern car and would be a waste of money on a Yaris.

[botchilah]

If you're running crazy high boost (like 30psi and up) on a very big and powerful turbo with loads of race fuel, on an engine revving like crazy, making 700wheel HP and up, you will need an ignition amplifier.

OR if you run a stand-alone ECU that converts your ignition system into a wasted-spark ignition system (like the AEM EMS Gen1 PnP ECU), you will need an ignition amplifier to make it easier, otherwise spend close to eternity finding the right dwell settings.

[severous01]

1) it only takes about 3kv to spark a plug

2) it doesnt matter how much spark is there, the fuel will ignite, the piston will move down, and the engine will run

3) unless it's a timing change it will do nothing for engine performance...believe me. please

[yarhead]

interesting subject! hmm, interesting argument and well expressed. ok, how about this spark plugs here.. these, seem to make sense but how much of a spark does a cylinder filled with gas and air mixture need to completely burn the mixture. and, are they necessery on these advanced modern engines?

[severous01]

i've seen these before in magazines all over cars/trucks/off-road. never had anyone i met use them before...but for the price (about 20 each) they better last forever and double my fuel economy...as well as add about 25 hp.

seriously. you can only come so close to a perfect burn ratio of 14:1. lean mode is 17:1 and power enrichment mode is somewhere near 11 or 12:1. lean mode is used only for slowing down or idling down, lean mode if done longer would burn up pistons. power enrichment mode is there to make sure there's plenty of fuel to burn, not all of it will and that's why the cat is there. you need more fuel to make more power and at WOT you need some extra so you dont backfire, lean miss, or maintain power (as in maintain speed, not increase power/speed).

so, with that said, looks to me like someone need some tuning, and a wideband o2 sensor, not a spark plug

[Reddog99]

Originally Posted by severous01

1) it only takes about 3kv to spark a plug

2) it doesnt matter how much spark is there, the fuel will ignite, the piston will move down, and the engine will run

3) unless it's a timing change it will do nothing for engine performance...believe me. please

Regarding spark voltage, that's not exactly right. The voltage required to jump the gap depends on the pressure in the combustion chamber at that time: more pressure requires more voltage. That's why an engine with a weak spark system can run OK at low speeds and start missing at high RPM or under load. So for example, although 3kv might be sufficient to spark a plug at idle, 40kv or more might be required for a spark to jump a gap at full throttle & high RPM.

[JumpmanYaris]

So I think its prety much what he said in a way it will run anyways, however he didnt mention anything about driving it, and yes it is going to drive but you are going to feel the diffrence in the motor even still with low volatage or if it was to have a bad spark

If I am understanding what SEVEROUS and REDDOG are saying.

[bearda]

I've heard very few good reviews of the Pulstar plus, and a lot of bad ones. For one, when they did a GB for the Pulstar plugs on mazda3forums.com their quality control was awful. About half of the participants had to have at least one plug replaced due to misfiring. Some of the people who finally ended up with a good set of 4 noticed faster startup, but nobody could prove any power increase.

[Tamago]

find your power in better places people.

[botchilah]

Originally Posted by Tamago

find your power in better places people.

I disagree on a lot of things with what Tamago says (although I just keep it to myself lol) I have to agree with him completely on this one especially with an engine like ours. Putting an ignition amplifier in our lightly tuned (I/H/E)cars with bolt-ons, even a small turbo and s/c bolted on is quite frankly overkill. IF your car runs significantly better AFTER putting an ignition amplifier, chances are there's something wrong with your car's electronics and / or ignition system.

Now if you're running a 71mm or bigger turbo T4 or T6 frame turbo, past 30psi, running ethanol-blend fuel, at 11,000rpm yadayadayada..............

[eTiMaGo]

Well... I'll be able to chime in soon...

When I got the car first modded by the local garage, I had one of these installed. Its function is to boost the spark plug voltage to 16V, but since I had it since the very beginning, I'm not sure f it really had much of an effect...

But then yesterday I was rearranging some wiring in my dash after removing the head unit, and I tucked the box away somewhere else and must have disconnected a wire, because the engine would not start.

So I swapped back to the regular old 12V wires, didn't get to drive the car yet but I doubt it will feel any more sluggish... wait and see...

[fmicle]

Originally Posted by eTiMaGo

Well... I'll be able to chime in soon...

When I got the car first modded by the local garage, I had one of these installed. Its function is to boost the spark plug voltage to 16V, but since I had it since the very beginning, I'm not sure f it really had much of an effect...

But then yesterday I was rearranging some wiring in my dash after removing the head unit, and I tucked the box away somewhere else and must have disconnected a wire, because the engine would not start.

So I swapped back to the regular old 12V wires, didn't get to drive the car yet but I doubt it will feel any more sluggish... wait and see...

So, what's the verdict?

[eTiMaGo]

I feel absolutely no difference

[gatoman]

Originally Posted by Reddog99

Regarding spark voltage, that's not exactly right. The voltage required to jump the gap depends on the pressure in the combustion chamber at that time: more pressure requires more voltage. That's why an engine with a weak spark system can run OK at low speeds and start missing at high RPM or under load. So for example, although 3kv might be sufficient to spark a plug at idle, 40kv or more might be required for a spark to jump a gap at full throttle & high RPM.

so let say i have a brand new yaris... would it do any good if i buy more powerful sparkplugs?

[cdydjded]

I spoke to MSD a while back about their DIS4 box, according to them the factory coils in the Yaris will not accept amplification. MSD is not "garbage" as stated by the ilustrius Tamago, I think he meant to say at the current level of modifications that most Yaris's have the MSD would not give any results worth the $$$. I assure you that anyone running a S/C or Turbo would benefit from more ignition spark.