INSTALLED: Evo IX SpoolinUp COP & Denso IKH24 plugs

[Kracka]

First of all I will start by mentioning my car has 46k miles on it with untouched stock NGK spark plugs and have never once given me any ignition problems or misfires.

Yesterday I removed the stock coil/boots/wires and installed the SpoolinUp (http://www.spoolinup.com/) COP setup (used coil version) retaining the stock spark plugs (untouched, never removed) to see if there would be a noticeable difference. I will note that my coils/boots/wires came out of my car appearing to be in perfect condition with no noticeable wear or discoloring of any sort.

http://www.dsmstyle.com/photopost/data/547/IMGP1377.JPG

http://www.dsmstyle.com/photopost/data/547/IMGP1378.JPG

This thing obviously looks amazing in the engine bay, the only thing I'm not impressed with is how the one coil plug touches the o2 sensor plug. This makes me think the passenger side coil should be rotated slightly clockwise in order to fit better.

At first I didn't really notice a difference at all with the COP installed, but after a bit more driving around it does seem to be revving up smoother when leaving from a stop and the low-RPM (<2000) drivability definitely seems smoother (this is huge for me since I have FP4R cams). It's tough to say whether or not this smoothness can be credited to the COP or if it just means my stock wires/boots were due for replacement. It does seem that even people with very low mileage IX's are still reporting this same improvement in smoothness though. DAY 1 COMPLETE and I am satisfied with my purchase thus far!


Today I removed my stock spark plugs and overall they look very good as well. Again, they never once gave me any ignition problems or misfires that I noticed. I believe they look very good especially considering their age and show my car to be in good running condition with a proper tune. This is the first time the stock spark plugs were ever removed from my engine and are currently sitting at a (from passenger to driver side) .025", .025", .023", .027" gap (factory spec is .020-.024" gap).

http://www.dsmstyle.com/photopost/data/547/IMGP1382.JPG

Although I generally am a fan of NGK, I decided to replace my stock spark plugs with Denso IKH24 iridium plugs since I wanted to go 1 heat range cooler due to my mods and increased boost level (26 psi peak with the stock turbo). They came out of the box pregapped to .030-.031" and I left them there; very tight consistency which I haven't seen with plugs I've bought for other cars in the past. I installed them with a small amount of high-temp copper anti-seize on the threads and some dielectric grease on the top.

http://www.dsmstyle.com/photopost/data/547/IMGP1385.JPG

Here are the final installation pictures:

http://www.dsmstyle.com/photopost/data/547/IMGP1387.JPG

http://www.dsmstyle.com/photopost/data/547/IMGP1389.JPG

The car felt and pulled very smooth during the final test-drive. With the new plugs the car felt even smoother yet and did seem to pull a bit cleaner into the high RPM's. With the gaps set to .030-.031" there was no break-up or misfires. It would have been interesting to see how the car performed with the new plugs using the stock coils/boots/wires, but I don't feel like tearing everything apart again since I'm very satisfied with the end result.

DAY 2 RESULTS are impressive, I'm glad I did this round of modding. It is not a night and day difference like some are claiming, but it does make a nice subtle change leading to a smoother driving car. I'm not going to make any horsepower claims or estimates since that should only be done with dyno sheets as backup/proof.

[Kracka]

My final thoughts and impressed posted!

[v8klla]

send him your pic its better than whats on his site.

[123abc]

How come on an Evo its alright to do that on wasted spark but on a DSM everyone jumps on your back unless you have an amplifier?

I noticed the same differences you speak of when I put together my COP setup using Intrepid 2.7L coils.

[mike55112]

How do these compare to the spark tech non cdi kit?

[Shane@DBPerformance]

How come on an Evo its alright to do that on wasted spark but on a DSM everyone jumps on your back unless you have an amplifier?



Most of the cheap COP kits for DSMs use questionable coils and the DSM ignition system is a bit different. The Evo also has a weak stock ignition system, while the stock DSM ignition system is very strong.

[scheides]

Awesome dude! I'm glad you like it, next time you're up here, perhaps a re-tune with a bit more boost is in order :) I'm glad someone else had a similar experience as me, not an insane improvement but just general driveability and overall smoothness gains. One guy claimed he saw like 40whp gains with this....there's no way, unless his stock ignition was fuct up. Will be curious to see if you see any mileage improvements.

How come on an Evo its alright to do that on wasted spark but on a DSM everyone jumps on your back unless you have an amplifier?

I noticed the same differences you speak of when I put together my COP setup using Intrepid 2.7L coils.

There's two ways to look at a mod like this:
-it's not needed if the car isn't breaking up, its one more thing to break/go wrong
-its worth doing if it is proven to improve driveability and power (probably assuming a re-tune to actually see it)

Either way, .030 gap at any reasonable amount of boost(24+) is fantastic! As long as its reliable, its worth doing in my book!

[Shane@DBPerformance]

One guy claimed he saw like 40whp gains with this....there's no way, unless his stock ignition was fuct up.

Jim changed his perfectly fine looking stock iridium spark plugs to a new set of stock spark plugs and gained a massive amount of power, maybe that guy had a similar thing happen or he had a bad coil/blow out.

We have dyno tested some of the replacement aftermarket expensive coils, like these http://www.lethalperformance.com/99-01-svt-cobra-ignition-coil-on-plug-kits-c-13_685_3126/weapon-x-99-04-cobra-xcop-racing-cop-ignition-coil-set-p-18284?zenid=ovmpnusoc5m90ae0dhuk8af750 and the Okadas on Hondas. Changing to a new set of spark plugs gave a measureable gain on both cars, swapping on the new coils after already changing the plugs didn't gain gain any power. We didn't spend all day playing with around with opening up the gap though either. I haven't seen running a bigger gap make a huge difference in power at WOT on turbo cars(we are normally just happy to avoid misfires though), but it does make a difference in idle, cruising and start up.

The SpoolinUp non-CDI kit is definately a nice upgrade for the Evo guys.

[scheides]

It's been said that running these coils with the larger gap will let you run more boost on pump gas, have you seen that at all shane? There's people tuning to ~28psi more and more, I'm curious to see if that's possible on a well setup car.

The startup, idle, and cruising gains make these worth it for me.

[Shane@DBPerformance]

It's been said that running these coils with the larger gap will let you run more boost on pump gas, have you seen that at all shane?

I don't know. Who runs pump gas in MN besides you, now that Kracka moved away? :)

I could possibly see some 28psi on the BP 93 pump gas that we have now. With the 91-92 swill that most of the gas stations around here sell, we usually had to pull so much ignition timing when we tried to run over 25psi that we didn't gain any power.

I could also see the the stronger ignition doing away with any light misfires under higher boost, the kind you really can't hear or feel that much but get picked up by the ECU as false knock or causes real knock(cars often detonate during misfires).