Do high powered ignition boxes add power?

1) If you're not having problems igniting the cylinders in your engine, does a high'er' powered ignition box add power?

2) A high'er' powered ignition box normally allows you to open up your plug gap. Does that add power?

3) Is it marketing hype?

I know the combustion process is a controlled burn and not an explosion. But, if I compare it to a grenade...I don't see a reason for a higher powered ignition source. If a small one ignites the grenade, how much benefit is added with a bigger ignition source? Either way, the grenade is going to explode with, what I assume, is the same 'power', right?

Have a good day!
Michael

I'm not an expert in the ignition field but I do know from my testing that we had more horsepower from our high powered ignition boxes than the old 6al that we had. On the old Maverick it picked up about .05 in the quarter going from a Mallory box to a Jacobs box. All we did was switch the boxes, no timing changes.

With lots of boost and lots of nitrous a better ignition becomes more important but I see what your saying about if it fires do you need more. We run a digital 7 box now on 16v which we dynoed at more power than the same box on 12v. The next setup that we will use is something like this on our BBF turbo or procharger motor if it happens in the next few years.

on another note. when I had one coil go bad on my old f150 I replaced them all with the set from Jegs and gained about 3/4 mpg from the old good running setup.

ignition match to the engine . you are right if the fire happens , all is ok . what's going on in the chamber is not equal to all engines .

Ask Dan what happens when your ign box aint big enough for the application......................

EXACTLY ... the ignition not being completed in every cylinder happens LONG before actual misfire.

IF your ignition system COMPLETELY ignites the mixture in the cylinder EVERY TIME then you don't need a better one but, how do you know??? Untill you get to a point where a better ignition no longer helps is the only way to actually know.

When you have gotten to that level then going to an even better ignition is sensless.

I contacted MSD for a recommendation on ignition system for my car. My car being streetable he said the 7 series will run hotter and more prone to fail unless I run a cooling fan on it however it may operate for some many years. I chose the digital 6 box and a digital retard box for more retard functions , nitros,start, etc. If your running high compression , boosted , or race gas race engine only I would go with a dig 7 setup. Contact MSD and they will give you the best recommendation.

cobra501 wrote:I contacted MSD for a recommendation on ignition system for my car. My car being streetable he said the 7 series will run hotter and more prone to fail unless I run a cooling fan on it however it may operate for some many years. .

FWIW I have run a MSD 7AL2 in my 100% street driven 466 Torino since 1992... same unit.. NO failures...(no fans) my only ignition failure has been in the dizzy itself.

Shane

If one needs more spark...more spark will net more power. Opening up the plug gap may or may not help...what it will darn sure do is work the rotor button, cap and wires harder.

Was talking with Mike D. the other day and he has a few customers that once they stepped up the ign box they could throw more fuel at it and make more power..............now these are some bigdog super and procharged alky deals. They were not on the edge of actually cutting out, just added fuel was not netting any power increase.

The MSD8 box with a 16v batt was the hot ticket he said, as the MSD 10 didnt work so well. Tractor puller guys use them a bunch. Only a grand, what the hell.............

How long does those Pro Mag 44's last?

jones wrote:How long does those Pro Mag 44's last?

I know Wolfe uses that setup on the new big block but I really don't know the life. I would figure a good while.

Speaking of plug air gap, has anyone ever thought to measure what kind of air gap there is between the rotor blade & the 8 plug wire pick-ups inside the cap since the juice has to jump across this air gap too?

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Speaking of plug air gap, has anyone ever thought to measure what kind of air gap there is between the rotor blade & the 8 plug wire pick-ups inside the cap since the juice has to jump across this air gap too?

Hopefully, there is not as dense of an atmosphere inside the cap - (EDIT: an addition for further understanding of "speaking of plug air gap") - as there is within the cylinder at the time of firing.

rmcomprandy wrote:

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Speaking of plug air gap, has anyone ever thought to measure what kind of air gap there is between the rotor blade & the 8 plug wire pick-ups inside the cap since the juice has to jump across this air gap too?

Hopefully, there is not as dense of an atmosphere inside the cap.

there is unless you pull a vacuum. the physics major is coming out in me

whatbumper wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Speaking of plug air gap, has anyone ever thought to measure what kind of air gap there is between the rotor blade & the 8 plug wire pick-ups inside the cap since the juice has to jump across this air gap too?

Hopefully, there is not as dense of an atmosphere inside the cap.

there is unless you pull a vacuum. the physics major is coming out in me

OK ... physics major; would you like to explain the effects of compression upon density to us ... ?

Vaccuum is merely the absence of pressure and cylinder pressure at the time of spark is - OH, about ten times atmospheric pressure depending upon the compression ratio; AND, that has something to do with the density
IF i"m wrong ... please inform me of what is correct.

I was unaware that compression had anything to do with the atmospheric conditions in the cap. that is what you replied to. I guess I misunderstood your response.

And actually the electrical conditions inside the cap actual create a more dense "atmospheric" condition inside the cap.

But what do I know???

whatbumper wrote:

jones wrote:How long does those Pro Mag 44's last?

I know Wolfe uses that setup on the new big block but I really don't know the life. I would figure a good while.

We are running 4 of them for about a year now on our pulling tractor.
Haven't had any failures yet but somtimes the point boxes fail.

With the Promag 44 the engines are much easier to tune on alcohol because they will always make your mixture burn.
Before the Promags we were runnin Mallory supermag IV's.

Frank

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Speaking of plug air gap, has anyone ever thought to measure what kind of air gap there is between the rotor blade & the 8 plug wire pick-ups inside the cap since the juice has to jump across this air gap too?

Dave,

Yes, I have. If you will notice, there are some rotor buttons with an "E" stamped on them, on the brass. They have a wider gap than earlier style rotor buttons without the "E". The earlier rotor buttons are getting hard to find, however when I can get them, I generally buy up a bunch.

Hope this helps,

Charlie

whatbumper wrote:I was unaware that compression had anything to do with the atmospheric conditions in the cap. that is what you replied to. I guess I misunderstood your response.

And actually the electrical conditions inside the cap actual create a more dense "atmospheric" condition inside the cap.

But what do I know???

YES, probably misunderstood ... read the thread again as I replied to the inquiry about the "DIFFERENCE" between spark jumping the gap in a distributor cap versus what it is when jumping the gap at the tip of the spark plug in the cylinder; all while running.
I believe there to be a huge difference in those density conditions but, IF I'm wrong, please explain it to me.

yeah in the cylinder that's different. we only run about a .024" gap on our plugs with a digital 7 ignition on 16v. with them gapped wider when the boost came on it would blow the flame out.

c.evans wrote:

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:Speaking of plug air gap, has anyone ever thought to measure what kind of air gap there is between the rotor blade & the 8 plug wire pick-ups inside the cap since the juice has to jump across this air gap too?

Dave,

Yes, I have. If you will notice, there are some rotor buttons with an "E" stamped on them, on the brass. They have a wider gap than earlier style rotor buttons without the "E". The earlier rotor buttons are getting hard to find, however when I can get them, I generally buy up a bunch.

Hope this helps,

Charlie

Thanks Charlie, that's what I was after.

Is there any real noticeable performance difference using the early vs the late rotor? Or did they change rotor's design/gap on a whim?

Randy Malik may remember better than I, so hopefully he will chime in. The early style longer rotor buttons were used up until 1974. At that time (1974) the factories changed to the shorter style rotor buttons, with the wider air gap. It had something to do with federal emissions laws, (thus the "E") and retarded timing, if my memory is correct.

As for a performance difference, I doubt if there is any, or if so, it's very little. However, I still try to use the longer rotor on these Motorcraft distributors I build for use with the TFS tunnel ram manifolds. Some people don't realize this, but TFS expects you to use a crank trigger distributor with the TFS tunnel ram.

Hope this helps,

Charlie

c.evans wrote:Randy Malik may remember better than I, so hopefully he will chime in. The early style longer rotor buttons were used up until 1974. At that time (1974) the factories changed to the shorter style rotor buttons, with the wider air gap. It had something to do with federal emissions laws, (thus the "E") and retarded timing, if my memory is correct.

As for a performance difference, I doubt if there is any, or if so, it's very little. However, I still try to use the longer rotor on these Motorcraft distributors I build for use with the TFS tunnel ram manifolds. Some people don't realize this, but TFS expects you to use a crank trigger distributor with the TFS tunnel ram.

Hope this helps,

Charlie

Ya Charlie, I remember it was 1974 or there abouts and the "E" rotors were anything meant for OEM type use. Back then you could buy the long rotor from Eklin or Standard which was labeled "not for highway use".
Now, I've seen rotors that have tips long, short and anywhere in between as I think that federal mandate is gone and companies don't seem to re-engineer anything; just copy what was there.

you would be surprized what a good coil could do