"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," is a piece of advice that some choose to follow. In some cases, it's great advice. In other cases, it's not. When it comes to increasing the performance of an engine's ignition system, many enthusiasts take this approach only to miss the extra horsepower that can be extracted from air and fuel being fed into the engine. Proper ignition of the air-fuel mixture is the goal of the ignition system. Over the past 50 years, the introduction of capacitive-discharge ignition systems, coil-on-plug technologies and special-alloy thin electrode spark plugs have improved the effectiveness of an engine's ignition system. A little over ten years ago, the aftermarket was introduced to plasma-ignition technology. Today, Enerpulse may have developed the easiest way to put plasma ignition technology in your engine thanks to the Pulstar Pulse Plug ignition system. By incorporating the electronics for the ignition system within the shell of the Pulse Plug's insulator, installing a high-performance plasma ignition system is now as easy as changing spark plugs. Sound too good to be true? Sounds more like a perfect candidate for this month's Quick Test.

Ignition Systems: Fact versus Fiction A high-performance ignition system can't make your engine bigger or increase the amount of air and fuel that gets put into your engine. However, a well-designed ignition system can help to eliminate misfires and increase the amount of energy extracted from each power stroke by increasing the percentage of the air-fuel mixture that undergoes combustion. Combustion is best described as the controlled-burning of the air and fuel mixtures. No combustion takes place when a misfire occurs. To eliminate misfires, an ignition system must ensure that every cylinder on every power stroke receives a spark that is strong enough to initiate combustion. Misfires occur whenever a quality spark cannot be initiated. A spark will fail to be initiated if there is insufficient voltage available to jump the spark gap. When boost pressures and horsepower levels increase, the amount of voltage needed to jump the spark plug gap also increases. To solve this problem, the ignition system must receive an upgrade that allows it to operate at this higher voltage requirement or the spark plug gap must be reduced (this also reduces the amount of voltage needed to jump the gap). The majority of capacitive-discharge ignition systems increase the amount of voltage going into the primary side of the coil to, in turn, increase the voltage potential on the secondary side of the coil that feeds the spark plugs. The coil itself may also receive an upgrade to either be optimized with the higher input voltage from an "amplified" ignition system or it may have a different design to apply a higher step up to the secondary voltage. Of course, eliminating misfires results in having more successful power strokes on each revolution of the engine. Hence, more power is realized. In addition to reducing misfires, ignition upgrades can also impact the "quality" of the combustion process. A "better" spark can influence how much of the air-fuel mixture gets burned and how much remains un-burnt. Burning a higher percentage of the air-fuel mixture creates more energy in the form of higher heat and pressures inside the cylinder.

History of Spark

Getting a "better" spark to increase the "quality" of the combustion process has been the goal of aftermarket ignition system manufacturers for years. Historically, automakers have built engines around inductive ignition systems. These systems offer a relatively mild spark with a comparatively long duration. This type of spark is optimized for lighting the air-fuel mixtures under the conditions normally present when the engine is idling or at part-throttle cruising engine speeds. While OEM engine manufacturers have based ignition systems on inductive designs, the performance aftermarket has mainly relied up on the capacitive-discharge ignition system technology. The spark generated by a capacitive-discharge ignition system is relatively strong with a significantly shorter duration than an inductive-based spark. This spark profile is ideal for high-load and high engine speed situations. To improve the ability of this shorter-duration spark to ignite the air-fuel mixture at idle and low-speed conditions, most capacitive-discharge ignition systems also incorporate a multi-spark strategy. These multiple strikes are initiated at low engine speeds ensure that misfires are averted. A little over 10 years ago, the performance aftermarket was introduced to plasma ignition technology. Plasma technology produces a spark with a different profile than one produced by an inductive or capacitive-discharge ignition. With a plasma ignition, the majority of the energy is loaded to the beginning of the spark event from the energy stored in the capacitor circuit. The result is a super-high-intensity initial spark that has the same overall duration as the primary system in use (inductive or capacitive-discharge).

History of Plasma Ignition

Plasma technology has been used by several different manufacturers with noticeable improvement. The Direct Hits product line from Enerpulse was the first to market. This spark plug adapter fit between the spark plug wire and spark plug. NOLOGY was next on the scene with plasma technology in its Hot Wires line of spark plug wires. The Hot Wires were engineered with a built-in capacitor. The capacitor in the wires allowed the energy from the ignition coil to accumulate until the voltage at the spark plug electrode reached its ionization point. Then all of the stored spark energy could be discharged at once. A few years ago, Okada Project release, a line of ignition coils with built-in plasma ignition technology for coil-on-plug applications.

The newest plasma ignition system to come market has just been released by Enerpulse. Enerpulse has just released its line of Pulstar Pulse Plugs. With the Pulstar Pulse Plugs, the plasma technology is built in to the plug making it compatible with any type of ignition system (distributor, wasted spark or coil-on-plug). Currently, Enerpulse has a Pulstar pulse plug available for about 90-percent of all vehicles that use a spark plug with a heat range between 5 and 7 on the NGK heat range scale. With a retail cost of $100 for a four cylinder and $150 for a six-cylinder engine, it should fit into most enthusiasts budgets.

Reality Check

Before we put the Pulstar Pulse Plugs to the test, we wanted to emphasize that an ignition system is only as strong as its weakest link. Pulstar Pulse Plugs are designed to dramatically improve the efficiency of the secondary side of the ignition system. For a well-running, mildly-modified street-performance vehicle with a capable factory ignition, the Pulstar Pulse Plugs may be all that is needed to realize maximum performance. However on engines producing significantly more power, there may be a need to improve the ignition system with the addition of a capacitive-discharge ignition system and an upgraded coil to meet the voltage requirements of high-boost and high-cylinder-pressure operation. Remember, Pulstar Pulse Plugs improve the delivery of the energy after the coil. Pulstar Pulse Plugs do not increase the voltage capabilities of the secondary circuit or reduce the voltage requirements for arc over at the plug gap. If the coil isn't generating enough voltage to initiate a spark, the Pulstar Pulse Plugs aren't going to be able to help this situation.

Plasma: Horsepower or Hype

While theories can sound good in conversation, actual dyno testing is the only way to determine whether the Pulstar Pulse Plug ignition system actually improves the output. We tested three of the most popular tuner vehicles to evaluate the Pulstar Pulse Plug. An Integra Type-R was selected to demonstrate potential gains on a non-turbo four-cylinder; an Infinti G35 was chosen to exhibit likely improvements on a non-turbo V6; while an EVO IX was selected to show possible performance increases on a turbocharged, four-cylinder.

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