TECH TALK - ask your technical car questions

[Striker94]

if you're talking about power to weight, then yes

[boganbusman]

Pulse Plugs

Waste of money.

4-pin spark plugs

Waste of money.


A good quality copper plug is the best you will ever get or need. If he really did see an improvement with those pulse plug things, then some other part of the ignition system is not pulling its weight.

Get the coil checked, and replace if neccessary. Plus a new cap, rotor, leads and copper plugs and I guarantee that it will outperform any fancy, overpriced plugs that you can poke a stick at.

[steelsnake00]

A good quality copper plug is the best you will ever get or need.

Oddly enough, very true. A decent copper plug will outperform Iridium and Platinum "racing" plugs on all but distrubutor setups, where the gap in higher range copper plugs will give a less even spark.

[Jopuma]

Pulse Plugs

Waste of money.

Not.

A good quality copper plug is the best you will ever get or need. If he really did see an improvement with those pulse plug things, then some other part of the ignition system is not pulling its weight.

He's tried copper before and finds the pulse plugs to be way better than copper. Pulseplugs > platinum > copper. The original spark plugs he had in it before weren't burning all the gas, causing the engine to sputter and rev itself. After changing the plugs the car ran better, all the gas was getting burnt, and it didn't sputter or rev on its own anymore.

[steelsnake00]

Pulseplugs > platinum > copper.

Really, Iridium plugs are supposed to be better than any of them. But still, all the highest spec automotive applications still use copper plugs, from standard 4-pots to engines like 034M's 950bhp I5 20VT. That says enough about their performance.

I agree with bogan, most likely cause is something else eletrical- poor ground, dying distributor or coilpack, damaged leads. Et cetera et cetera. If pulseplugs are that much better, why don't cars come with them as standard?



Lots of reading indicated mixed results at best.



This in particular made interesting reading:
"A fool and his bad math are soon parted…..or something..

I’m laughing at all these ‘experts’ explaining how this has to be BS. However, their logic is flawed and they clearly know nothing about cars.
A spark plug does not run on 12 volts. Modern high energy ignitions use coils and capacitors to build large charges of electricity to put through a plug when the time comes.
As an example, the old 80’s GM HEI ignition systems put 20-50,000 volts into the spark plugs.
Now do your math. At 50,000 volts, that’s only 20 amps to get a million Watts.
WELL within the capability of any alternator, battery, and electrical system of the average car. Newer coil on plug ignitions are even higher in energy.
I guess you geniuses never heard of a capacitor.

The simple fact is that car manufacturers ARE using this technology, but instead of requiring $25 spark plugs, they are moving the pulse circuit into the ignition system where it belongs in a new vehicle. Or hadn’t you noticed that a new Accord gets better mileage than a 1983 model? These plugs are clearly an attempt to adapt this common high output ignition technology to older vehicles.

The marketing gimmick here is that they’ve put this into a component that wears out and needs replaced more often. Good business, and cheaper and easier to install for the average consumer than the one time equivalent, like an MSD Blaster ignition system which puts out a tested 40,000 volts, in a 180mJ pulse.
http://www.msdignition.com/ignition_1_5900.htm"

[Striker94]

and i still thought that spark plugs run at 10,000...

\

Thanks for enlightenting me...

[boganbusman]

He's tried copper before and finds the pulse plugs to be way better than copper. Pulseplugs > platinum > copper.

Platinum doesn't come close to copper plugs. They are only good for long service life, which is handy for V6 vehicles that have limited access to the rear plugs. I don't know much about Iridium myself, but I doubt it has a significant advantage over copper, considering the cost.
And as steelsnake has kindly pointed out, Pulse plugs are indeed a waste of money.

Now go school your dad on ignition.

and i still thought that spark plugs run at 10,000...

Some probably do, because the voltage of different systems can vary a lot, but ideally you would want higher voltage than that.

[Striker94]

I could probably learn more about cars here than at uni...

[baumaxx1]

I could probably learn more about cars here than at uni...

Umm... doubt it. U go to uni to be a qualified engineer.

[Grez~Supra_RZ-S]

I work with an ''apprentice engineer'' from university. Kindness aside, hes a retard, and shouldnt be let near tools.

[Striker94]

@baumaxx-I just said that to emphasize the point that these guys know a lot about cars, most notably boganbusman.

[boganbusman]

@baumaxx-I just said that to emphasize the point that these guys know a lot about cars, most notably boganbusman.

What I know is nothing. If you ever head over to a real car club forum, then you will see some guys who know something.

[baumaxx1]

Ok, I'm guessing they do a lot of work with them. I'm getting there.

[Striker94]

Well, if boganbusman knows nothing, then I know absolute zero.

However, at leat he's good at explaining stuff to idiots like me.

[Danyutz]

He was comparing himself with the auto clubs specialized users. That doesn't mean he doesn't know a thing.

[boganbusman]

I think he knows that, Danyutz . . .

[Striker94]

I think he knows that, Danyutz . . .

yep, that's correct.

[zeqlon]

Quick question from a car-noob : in the later NFS games you can take an already very performant car (say, 911 turbo), slap on new parts, tune it some and bang, fastest car in the world. There's probably some concession to gaming and fun in there, but can you obtain noticeable results in real life by tuning cars that are already high-performance ?

[steelsnake00]

Quick question from a car-noob : in the later NFS games you can take an already very performant car (say, 911 turbo), slap on new parts, tune it some and bang, fastest car in the world. There's probably some concession to gaming and fun in there, but can you obtain noticeable results in real life by tuning cars that are already high-performance ?

Yes, but it takes a lot of effort and money.

For example, look and 9FF's GT9. It's a 996 911 Turbo with close to 1000bhp, but the amount of work it required to gain that kind of power output, not to mention the modifications made to the chassis, bodywork and drivetrain to keep it under control are phenominal.

And it still has a comparatively slow 0-60 time, because the chassis STILL can't quite handle that much power.

[boganbusman]

You can dramatically improve a vehicles performance without too much effort, but if you're aiming for 'fastest car in the world', and if you want it to be streetable, then it takes an incredible amount of work.

[Grez~Supra_RZ-S]

Definitely. The biggest concern when increasing the power of an engine in a car like the 911, particularly the RWD variants, is that its very, very easy to mess the way the car drives up. A lot of money and research is spent on cars like these, to ensure the chassis, the brakes and the suspension are controllable with the power. Unless you start upgrading everything, as you would with a normal car, then its a pointless venture.

[Striker94]

I don't know much about cars, but this is my take- Most cars are only designed to handle the amount of power the engine initially provides. If you just come in and slap a giant supercharger onto it, the chassis will obviously behave like a bat from hell.

I think a 10-20% power gain on an average car isn't that hard to gain, but if you're aiming to, lets say, double the original output, then you're definately going to have to just about overhaul most of the engine, recalabirate the gearing, remap the ECU, stiffen the chassis, adjust the shocks, install aerodynamic parts, improve the drivetrain, clutch response and strength etc. etc.

BUT, then to make it street legal, you'll have to add a catylic converter, exhaust, engine changes plus a whole lot more.

[baumaxx1]

Yeah... if you bump up the power without upgrading the rest of the car to suit it'll be hard to drive... so upgrade everything as a package.

Street legality, there are tons of pitfalls, so choose mods wisely.

[viper16]

I still cant understand that if you modify a car to make that much power why dont they strenghten the chassis to handle it

[Grez~Supra_RZ-S]

The chassis of a car is the strongest point anyway, so most manufacturers will build them strong enough that even for most applications, if you double the power the chassis will remain fine. It all depends on the car.