Is there a decent, reliable coil out there I can use to get a hotter spark and hopefully get full combustion? I hope nobody suggests Accel... I have one of those $45 paperweights in my garage. I'll look into some 8mm wires sometime in the spring. Any other suggestions are appreciated.

 

"search!" haha.

A few months ago I dug through all the v6 threads on this. Yes, everyone (except 1 guy) hates the Accel piece. Most people seem to like the MSD blaster.
As for wires, the Taylor 8.2 mm have positive reviews.
Summit sells both of the above for a pretty good price (last time I checked).

 

I was thinking MSD (hint: I plan to have the engine bay in a black and red color scheme, so yellow wouldn't do), but then I was thinking that the coil would be almost the same as the Accel POS, not being able to be used on a DD that goes more than a quarter mile at a time without overheating and shorting internally. I'll have to see what I can find.

 

Interesting reading for you.....
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/afte...t-deliver.html

 

So, basically, unless I'm drag racing, I'm stuck with the stock coil, of which my engine has already been through 3? Wonder what the turbo guys are doing with their setups (of course, I'm sure they're running a multiple spark system).

 

I'm running a MSD coil. Have been for years without problems. I did relocate it to mount on the firewall instead of heat soaking it with the stock mount.

 

Here are the only Dave Ray approved coils

NAPA IC12 (NOT IC12 SB) black
MSD 8200 chrome
Summit G5215 chrome
Carquest 26189 black

I use the summit one. Dave was the lead engineer at GM and designed our Ign systems. #1 of his rules is never use an epoxy fill coil, only oil can type and even then only a select few pass his spin test on reliable spark at high rpms. Not all coils are made the same or at the same place.

A MSD box is also a good idea, just put the 6al on my V8, I can tell it burns better with the dual spark up to 3000rpm. If your broke get a summit ign box, just a Mallory with a diff sticker n a cheaper price but MSD is the king for a reason.

On wires he says only use good spiral wound ones.

 

I'm not looking for any fancy ignition at the moment... All I want is for the ECM to stop spitting out a code 45 even though the plugs look like she's running LEAN (all 6 don't have any signs of tan or normal combustion on them and are white)... I haven't data logged yet, but I am beginning to think it's a combination of weak spark and a floozy TPS, since the engine does this with either system, any combination of the 12 fuel injectors I have (well, actually 10 injectors, 2 are electrically bad), either set of 7mm plug wires, new cap and rotor, either one of my stocker coils, and no vacuum leaks.

I'll also try regapping my plugs and seeing what happens. Maybe an R44 (running R43's) plug would help?

 

white plugs are fine, Just means you got a complete burn. Yea I know what they say but if you look deeper into the plug, you might find your ok.

Though many still like tan

"A lot of amateur tuners, some of whom are fairly successful, will look at some plug freshly removed and offer advice based on the color of the oil deposited on the insulator nose. In fact, if the plug is hot enough there won't be any color, and if there is that still has nothing much to do with air/fuel mixture. If you think about it you'll realize that the only color you can get from an air/fuel mixture is the color of soot. When the mixture trapped in an engine's combustion chamber has more fuel than can be burned with the available air, then combustion will be incomplete and the excess fuel will remain as soot, which is not brown or tan or magenta or any color other than black. And if your engine's mixture is too rich, the sooty evidence will be present on the spark plug's insulator, in a very particular area.



You won't find any soot out near the insulator nose, on a plug that's running hot enough to keep itself from fouling, because temperatures there are too high to let soot collect. But the insulator is much cooler deep inside the plug body, and coolest where it contacts the metal shell, which is precisely where you "read" mixture strength. Look far inside a plug, where its insulator joins its shell, and what you'll see there if your engine's mixture is too rich is a ring of soot. If this ring continues outward along the insulator to a width of even a millimeter you can be sure the mixture is rich enough to be safe, and too rich for maximum output. In most engines best performance is achieved when the mixture contains only enough excess fuel to make just a wisp of a "mixture ring" on the plug insulator.
"

 

Well, I checked all 6 plugs this afternoon, and, after running for a bit in the driveway:
1, 2, 4, and 6 were tan due to idle enrichment (had to move the car so I could get out in the morning). 3 seems to be either oil fouling or excessively rich (guessing oil fouling as I know of 2 cylinders, 4 and 6, that need valve seal work), and plug 5 was loose. I regapped all 6 plugs to slightly more than .045 (I have a small engine plug gauge that only goes up to .035 and I had to add .018 and .030 for a slightly bigger gap than the .043 they were set at before), cleaned the threads, and retightened all of them. So far I'm not throwing a code 45 and the engine is idling better, but we'll see what happens in the morning.

IF the #3 cylinder is the one that's rich, I'll swap out the injector for one of the others.

Would it be advisable to run R42's to help find out what's going on? I still have a set from when I had my 2.8...

 

Hey Maverick H1L I know this question is off the wall but I just have to ask you since you been very helpful and knowledgable with questions I have asked you. Do you know what the voltage is for checking our injectors with a ohms meter? I was reading this post and you mentioned changing out injectors or so.

But the question is Do you know what OHM should be throwing out when testing the injectors? I'm sorry to throw this out like this.....

 

entrig, for your 91 (different from my 302 ECM), IIRC the ohms reading per injector is 12.4 ohms plus/minus .8 ohm, with no more than one full ohm resistance between the highest and lowest injectors. I will verify later when I can get at my 92 FSM.

 

I can tell ya Dave says no car ever need a gap bigger then .045 but that usually in response to the early 80s when GM put on the emmsion sticker to use a .060 gap. [my 80 say .060 on it.] GM quickly went back to .045


Id put a box on your xmas list, the dual spark is worth it.


Check your TPS in action, someone in tech was just saying something about that.

Dunno on plug, if 3 is oil fouling, could run a fouler plug, the tip is covered in a shield. You using real thin fancy syn oil?


Id though get one of the Dave approved coils if you want reliable spark.


Folks find it funny that he hates the epoxy filled coils, he also hates the incap HEI stuff. Same reasons, heat is bad for coils[and the ign modual], expoxy holds in heat, and hidden under a cap gets it even hotter. All coils must be external oil filled can types and pass a 12,000RPM test spin.
And only 4 coils make it. Though GM still uses epoxy ones. Why; they are cheaper. And people wrongly believe its "newer" fancy tech stuff over the can type you seen on a 40 Ford. Its actualy not.