Ignition Upgrating? 400bhp standard ignition proven?

Fazz

New Member
Hi guys,

I've read the posts on ignition blaster coils, uprating etc from the likes of Steve and Jim I think.

Just wondering what power has been seen on standard ignition, and who else has had problems?

Strange as pearl476.5bhp has no problems on his standard set up and grade 9 plugs, boosts to 1.6bar with little spike to 1.8bar odd time also.

Any explanation for some having probs and some not?

Who has proven 400bhp with standard ignition system?

Odin - you uprated yours or the 399.7 at standard set up?
 

Fusion Ed

Active Member
400 seems fine, above this or 1.5bar ish+ things become a bit iffy. The trouble is that the ignition system really does have to be spot on, and if its not (which with the rotor arm and cap) they don't stay spot on for too long you'll get miss fires. For the sake of peace of mind and really not that much money it makes sense to upgrade the system when its doing more than twice what it was built for :)
 

campbellju

Moderators
Staff member
I don't know how standard Pearl's setup is. I'm sure someone else said they had a standard setup but with an HKS amp meaning not standard ;-). From my research, the amp is the bottleneck. You could use really tiny plug gaps but its not the most efficient way to make an engine work across the full range.

The hp is a function of the engine's VE too which is why mine was having problems before 400hp. The spark is a function of the mixture richness and boost pressure and a few other things. Here's a good link on plugs and gaps if you scroll down a bit: http://www.stealth316.com/0-frames.htm

What is common for Steve and I is a perfectly good condtion OE systems struggled at around 1.6 Bar. On mine it would squeeze to 1.7Bar at the compressor but at 1.8Bar I would have been running 0.5mm gaps that would probably still work but its all getting a bit cack.

£130 for the new amp and new coil, 0.7mm gaps easy at 1.8Bar, job done. In tuning terms, its not a lot of money. The CD ignition upgrades allow more accurate spark too so in theory you can run a more aggressive ignition map.

Food for thought, my mate just bought a £400 primera with a carb'ed SR20DE (circa 130hp), this uses the same ignition system as the R!!

Around the time I did a load of research and posted it on another site, I could maybe dig it out.

The short answer is uprate your ignition with a better amp and ideally fit a matched coil. Then set the plug gaps at 0.05mm below where you get occasional misfires or 0.1mm below if the misfires are more noticable. Lead choice is pretty insignificant when you look at the resistances involved...... unless you're getting to the limit of the standard system at around 1.6Bar ;-). Leave the cap, rotor and leads standard.

Order it tonight Ian and it'll be here next week. If you're not sure how to fit it, at worst drive up to mine the day before mapping the car.
 
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stevepudney

GTiROC CHAIRMAN
Staff member
Ian......didn't you believe me or something :lol:

The above is virtually what I said word for word in my PM, ask Jim which parts to get or look at my spec list I sent you and order the parts from Ebay

Have fun

Steve
 

campbellju

Moderators
Staff member
stevepudney said:
Ian......didn't you believe me or something :lol:

The above is virtually what I said word for word in my PM, ask Jim which parts to get or look at my spec list I sent you and order the parts from Ebay

Have fun

Steve
PSML :lol::lol::lol::lol:
 

Fusion Ed

Active Member
campbellju said:
Food for thought, my mate just bought a £400 primera with a carb'ed SR20DE (circa 130hp), this uses the same ignition system as the R!!
So does the 65bhp 1.2 K10 micra, Nissan Figaro, and my march ST.... (which also fails at around 1.6 bar)....
 

Fazz

New Member
stevepudney said:
Ian......didn't you believe me or something :lol:

The above is virtually what I said word for word in my PM, ask Jim which parts to get or look at my spec list I sent you and order the parts from Ebay

Have fun

Steve

Maybe I did, or maybe I think you're a liar! :)

Just see that some have probs and some don't, so said I'd post to see others experiences.

Seems maybe its ok to 1.6bar but above that is where issues... and not too many running above that i guess.

thks.
 

Fazz

New Member
Relax steve I was joking hence the smilie.

I wouldn't pm you if I didn't think you could give me valuable info and you always have. Thanks.

I just posted this thread to see any others info or experiences to get a more thorough viewpoint to see if my needs require.
 
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