So for the BP motor there are a pair of very different routes to go. Accel has a super coil pack (PN 140018) that can be found for about $70 and Moroso has a coil (PN 72360) for $53. Is going that route while on the stock ecu an advisable route. Or should I just wait until going standalone and go coil on plug conversion? I won't be going standalone for a year, so the old school bits would be put to use during that time.
Ignition is the least bang for your buck as far as upgrades go.
Stock is generally the most reliable and usually works well.
And Accel has not had the best reputation in HD world for the past decade or two. Like "Cheap Chinese Crap..." kinda stuff.
The stock ignition will work fine right up to the point where you've boosted the hell out of it and can't get it to stop breaking up at peak boost even though you shrunk the plug gap to <0.020". Unless you're at that point, there's nothing to be gained by 'upgrading' the coil.
I noticed ZERO change in my high-compression SBC going from stock HEI to MSD. Other than the spark hurt more when I touched it. ZERO improvement in power. ZERO improvement in fuel economy. ZERO improvement in idle. ZERO. And I had to buy a tach adapter.
I changed it back, and lost nothing.
I noticed ZERO improvement in a Honda Civic way back in the late 90's changing the coil as well as the plug wires. ZERO.
The better question is: What are you trying to solve?
most “upgrades” are done to solve a specific issue or issues.
if there aren’t any to solve, why spend the money when you could spend it elsewhere and potentially see other gains?
The only vehicles I noticed gains when upgrading the ignition was my E21 BMWs. A hotter coil, big low resistance wires and specific plugs and gaps made a very noticeable difference. Everything else I've done it on I've noticed no difference.
If you've got a wideband O2 sensor, it's easy enough to tell if an ignition upgrade helped. If the thing is suddenly running richer at WOT / high rpm with a hotter coil, etc. then it was actually misfiring a little bit before.
On my Jeep, swapping to an MSD coil (still driven off the stock ECU) made no difference in idle, etc. but it did show richer above 4500 - 5000 at WOT and the power didn't fall off nearly as badly past 5500. The stock coil was hot enough for most of the rev range, but it couldn't quite keep up at high rpm.
There's a flat spot between 4000-4500rpm. Common with BPs and since the car is new to me, 25 years old and with 7 year old plugs (less than 25k on them, but the car has seen 2 valve cover gasket replacements in that time) I figure that going over the ignition system while giving it a tune up and refresh would hurt. That being said, I can raid the protege lx parts car for known good ignition bits and see if that helps with the flat spot.
Also, God bless cars that come with complete maintenance and repair records.
Dr. Hess said:And Accel has not had the best reputation in HD world for the past decade or two. Like "Cheap Chinese Crap..." kinda stuff.
We once suspected a Porsche 944 on our dyno had an ignition problem. The car's owner swapped the 30 year old Bosch coil for an Accel Super Stock. Result: The car lost 5 hp. It might have been an upgrade on some 1960s era muscle cars, but it was a step backwards for a car built 20 years later.
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