[s-cars] Coils, POSs, Ignition Systems and Sparkplugs... Easter wishes...

[CaptMagu at aol.com]

S-heads         

With Apikol and 034 coming out with their plug and play 1.8t POS/Coil systems 
and other vendors at work on more, I just thought we ought to ponder what's 
going on here. It looks like Dave Forgie has served the group well by making 
this all happen but I was wondering what the REAL power here is. Do we have any 
numbers on how much electrical energy this new system has versus the old? Is 
the new better or not as good? The economies alone might be worth the price but 
at what cost?

Why did our old system require such expensive plugs? The new system in the 
1.8t had Audi running the NGK PFR6Q plugs that the B5 S4 runs which are on the 
same cost plateau as our Bosch F5DPORs. Why did Audi spec such an expensive 
plug for our urS-cars? We've all heard or lived stories about running other 
lesser plugs in our cars and have discovered by hearsay or firsthand how badly they 
did or did not work. 

In my case running the AEM and its lack of love for anything Bosch forced 
Dave Jones to abandon the stock POSs and Coilpacks. Instead, we're using an MSD 
Stacker 8 Ignition which is basically a Capacitive Discharge Ignition system 
and a set of Denso 129700-3881 ignition coils from a Honda CBR 1100 Crotch 
Rocket. We were running an older set of the F5DPORs   but on a lark, I decided to 
give some ordinary plugs a try. In talking things through with Dave, my new CDI 
ignition and the CBR coils should be able to fire anything with the power 
they have. Well, I stopped by Import Parts Warehouse and bought a set of Plain 
Jane(PJ) NGK BKR7E. They retail for $4.34 ea. and I paid $1.80. Now there was 
one little problem since the Denso Coils require plugs that you can unscrew the 
little contact on top. We could have done a lot more research but we just 
ended up getting these and Dave machined off the tops so they would fit the coils. 
I also bought a set of the PFR6Qs, retail $28.22 and I paid $11.71 that the 
1.8t and 2.7tt boys run and that we will run for the next dyno tuning phase 
which will occur this next week. We'll also do some back to back comparisons and 
see if there is discernible power differences. So far, the PJ plugs are 
running just fine, though limited to 18 lbs of boost because of a cruel and 
hideously restrictive tuner.

The question that begs to be asked is whether or not the 1.8t system will 
allow the use of lesser coils. There are lots of our 1.8t and 2.7tt brethren 
running less expensive plugs with good reports. What I would be interested in is 
if any of you 1.8t conversion dudes would be interested in trying an 
experiment. See if the PJ NGK BKR7E plugs would work in the AAN configuration.

Cost wise, the MSD/Denso coil option is not cheap. The MSD Stacker sells for 
$422 and I paid $120 for 2 sets of 8 coils with harnesses off e-Bay. Dave put 
in about 2 hours to rewire everything so add another $150. But given that I do 
get to run PJ plugs that only cost $1.80 a pop. Wow, I'm really making 
proress guys. 

I'll end this with a Happy Easter and blessed Passover, just for you 
Turbojew, wish to all you guys out there in S-carland.

Hap, wit dakine ignition timing not from Evahboost, Maguire