KB Boost-A-Spark

MikeVistaBlue06

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If it boosts the current flowing to the coils, then that is good and it will improve spark energy.

Beware if it only boosts spark voltage as that does not boost spark energy.

HTH

Mike
 

05bluestang

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If it boosts the current flowing to the coils, then that is good and it will improve spark energy.

Beware if it only boosts spark voltage as that does not boost spark energy.

HTH

Mike
It taps into the coil supply side. So it would boost the current going to the coils and improve spark energy?
 

05bluestang

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What does the manufacturer say it does? If all they claim is a voltage increase on the secondary side, I would say beware...

Mike

Fron the Kenny Bell website:
Adjustable from 0-50% (13.5 - 20 volts).
• Increases spark energy - ALL 12 VOLT IGNITION SYSTEMS. Highest voltage of any ignition system concept.
• New Kenne Bell "Long Spark" Technology increases AND regulates voltage. NOT a CD with an inherently "short spark."
• More energy than CD systems. Over 2 amps at the plug (10 times more than OEM and 4 times more than other aftermarket ignition systems).
• Eliminates engine misfire under boost or high load.
• Ideal for supercharged, turbocharged and nitrous applications.
• Will fire spark plugs with up to .100" gap and 30 psi boost. 2500 microseconds vs. 200 for CD's.
• Regulates ignition voltage within .1 volt, regardless of battery voltage.
• Allows wider plug gaps for MORE POWER. Other ignition systems must run closer plug gaps.
• Automatically adjusts spark energy to meet engine requirements i.e. rich, lean, supercharged, high compression etc.
•Two (2) models. Supercharged / Turbocharged or Normally Aspirated. Pressure or vacuum switch included.
• Attractive red anodized extruded aluminum weatherproof case.
• Developed on the Kenne Bell Dyno.
• Easy to install. Just connect to primary coil wire.
 

lito

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IMHO you should try to find what is the real problem your having before throwing more money at it.
 

Tommygun

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if your mods are listed in your sig then you do not need a boost a spark

the boost a spark is for those making 20+ lbs of boost

I run one on my turbo car so I can have the gap at .30 vs .22
 

fin1

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if your mods are listed in your sig then you do not need a boost a spark

the boost a spark is for those making 20+ lbs of boost

I run one on my turbo car so I can have the gap at .30 vs .22

Stock COPs, no boost-a-spark, 21 lbs of boots and plugs gaped at .028. I know others that run over 25 lbs of boost w/o boost-a-spark.
 

Tommygun

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I know lots of people who do as well, its just not even considered for someone in the 8-12lbs of boost imo
 

05stroker

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Stock COPs, no boost-a-spark, 21 lbs of boots and plugs gaped at .028. I know others that run over 25 lbs of boost w/o boost-a-spark.
I agree . I have done 24 PSI on a F1A Procharger 7200 rpm at .030 and no blowout . I have the MSD coils though , but from what I have learned they are not any better than the stockers . I have yet to see anyone gain anything from the BAS.
 

05bluestang

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My problem (According to Chris Rose) is that for some reason my spark voltage is too low. We ran the plugs at .35, no dice, got worse, then we followed Techcos instructions and used ungapped plugs in it, power went up but is still shitty. Sometimes it runs like a 500hp car and some days it's down on power but still runs good (meaning no misfires that I can tell) I'm stumped, Tillman want's to tear into the wiring harnesses for the engine to look for a short, but before I let them do that I want to explore any possible options before I :kill:myself..................
 
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05mustang_TT_charged

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Stock COPs, no boost-a-spark, 21 lbs of boots and plugs gaped at .028. I know others that run over 25 lbs of boost w/o boost-a-spark.

Same here and recently switched to Brisk 2 Heat Ranges colder plug and I am now experiencing Spark Blowout. I will be trying a BAS to see if it fixes my problem. I have Stock COP, 21 psi., and Brisk 12 Series (2 Colder). Just started having some spark blowout.
 

ChevyKiller

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Same here and recently switched to Brisk 2 Heat Ranges colder plug and I am now experiencing Spark Blowout. I will be trying a BAS to see if it fixes my problem. I have Stock COP, 21 psi., and Brisk 12 Series (2 Colder). Just started having some spark blowout.

The solution is not to buy the BAS (which does NOTHING on the 3V's) - the solution to your problem is to upgrade the wiring to your coils...:deadhorse:

To put it simply - think of your alternator - if you run an alternator that puts out 19.2 volts but use the 12 volt stock wires back to the battery - do you think the battery is going to see 19.2 volts? I went through this personally. When I upgraded the wire to the battery to 0 gauge - instant fix.

The same exact thing with the BAS. I never got any spark increase out of it - I took it off and as soon as I upgraded to a bigger gauge for the coil wires - blowout disappeared.
 
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RRRoamer

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The same exact thing with the BAS. I never got any spark increase out of it - I took it off and as soon as I upgraded to a bigger gauge for the coil wires - blowout disappeared.

Where you able to measure an increase in voltage on the primary side with the BAS? Fundamentally, increasing primary voltage is a VERY sound idea. Of course, I have NO idea if they did it right on the BAS.

And in general, Power (P) = Voltage (V) * Current (I). P is also = V^2/I and I^2*R. The more power you get into that coil, the more power available to generate a high voltage spark on the secondary. Decreasing the resistance on the primary will allow more current to flow through the coil, aka: more power. But increasing voltage should do the exact same thing.

Doing what you did and upgrading the wiring to the coils (aka: decrease primary resistance) is probably the very best first step (and the cheapest as well). After that, you can either change the coils to something that will store more energy in the primary or up the voltage at the coils to get more energy into the spark.

Of course, as far as coils are concerned, all we ever hear is "they are xxk volt coils" which doesn't tell you a damn thing about how well they actually work. You could rewind the secondary on a coil until it could produce a million volt spark. Unfortunately, it would have so little energy in the spark that it couldn't light off the Hendenberg, let alone a blown engine with several hundred psi of cylinder pressure. So, they need to use more, thicker wire and/or better cores in those "high voltage" coils to actually store more energy in the primary. That, of course, means the coils WILL be bigger than the stock ones by default. The ones I have seen all look to be the same size as stock (with a different paint job of course), so I have to wonder just how much more energy that can possibly have. And I have yet to see any of these companies actually release detailed specs on their coils.

Driving the primaries with more voltage is definitely a good thing. I = V/R, so increasing voltage will also increase the current flowing through the coil. More voltage and more current equals more power stored in the primary of the coil. That's all good. And you get this extra power with the exact same coil that came on the car.

But that only works if the BAS is actually implemented correctly and actually allows that extra current to flow through the coils. Which assumes the wiring and the coil can handle that extra power.

One other thing to keep in mind folks: It takes XX volts to ionize the spark path and generate a spark across the plug. That value changes depending on a LOT of variables, but it goes up with increased cylinder pressure (which is why spark blow out is a big issue for blown cars, but almost unheard of on stock cars). If it takes 20k volts to ionize the spark path and you have "60kV" coils on it, you WILL NOT have 60kV going across the plug! You will have 20kV. And falling fast as the current further ionizes the conductive path across the spark gap. I have no doubt that even stock coils on stock wiring can generate enough voltage to ionize the spark gap on pretty much ANY blown engine. The problem is that by the time it does, it has used up SO much energy generating that voltage, it doesn't have any energy left for current flow. Which leaves a very weak spark that is easily "blown out" as it just doesn't have enough energy to light the fire.

Here is an example of why not just a spark is needed, but energy as well. I built an ignitor circuit for my grill ( I was tired of the stock grill ignitor not working half the time). This circuit was pretty much a single cylinder electronic ignition system using a coil from my old pickup (1981 Ford F100) and one of it's old spark plugs. It was microprocessor controlled and used an IGBT that was designed for switching ignition coils. It could easily generate a 400hz spark (equivalent to that V8 running at 6000 rpm) across that plug. A nice purple spark too.

When I went to test it, the bloody thing couldn't light my LP grill! I spent about 5 minutes scratching my head (and cussing) trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Then I finally remembered that whole pressure thing. It takes MUCH less voltage to light a spark at atmospheric pressure than it does inside our engines after compression. MUCH less. So, there is actually very little voltage across the spark. The current is limited by the secondary coil winding resistance (and the resistance across the spark gap), so I had VERY little energy in the spark, even though the coil could fire it effortlessly.

I went back in the house and grabbed board and mounted a couple of copper wires on it with a 5/8" gap (yes, 675 thousands). The coil fired that almost most as easily, but it was DEFINITELY dumping a LOT more energy into that gap than the plug. Back to the grill and the ignitor lite it off instantly, as expected.

So just keep in mind that there is a hell of a lot more going on in an ignition system than "voltage"...
 
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05bluestang

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Ok, how do you upgrade the wires without tearing the harness apart? I don't really feel I am qualified to do that?

Another question, what fuel pressure do you guys see with GT500 pumps and 9 to 10psi of boost? Does it stay constant or does it go up with RPM and if it does how high does it go? Mine stays around 39 to 40psi when cruising and spikes into the low 50's when I get into it. Sorry to be pain in the ass, but I want to cover every option. But then again pressure does not necessarely mean flow either, how do you mesure the actual fuel flow on an S197?
Fuck, I'm just gonna go :dead2:myself............
Spent all this money and all I bought was a bunch of grief............
 

RRRoamer

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Ok, how do you upgrade the wires without tearing the harness apart? I don't really feel I am qualified to do that?.

You don't. It's actually pretty simple though. The power to the coils come out of the BEC and then daisy chain from coil pack to coil pack. The PCM switches the ground leg of each coil on and off to start charging and then discharge the coil, so each ground leg of the coil goes back to an individual pin of the PCM.

The question I have is this: Does anyone know what pins the coil pack connector uses and where we can find them? I HATE hacking up my harness and would MUCH rather pull out the old pin from the connector and stick in a new one with larger wire. The same goes for the connector blocks in the BEC...
 

05mustang_TT_charged

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Fuel pressure should be around 39-40 psi and when in boost it should rise 1 psi. for every pound of boost.

40 psi. at idle then 10 psi. from supercharger = 50 psi. of fuel pressure at WOT. I think you can datalog flow but I am not sure how accurate it is.

Ok, how do you upgrade the wires without tearing the harness apart? I don't really feel I am qualified to do that?

Another question, what fuel pressure do you guys see with GT500 pumps and 9 to 10psi of boost? Does it stay constant or does it go up with RPM and if it does how high does it go? Mine stays around 39 to 40psi when cruising and spikes into the low 50's when I get into it. Sorry to be pain in the ass, but I want to cover every option. But then again pressure does not necessarely mean flow either, how do you mesure the actual fuel flow on an S197?
Fuck, I'm just gonna go :dead2:myself............
Spent all this money and all I bought was a bunch of grief............
 

dysan

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I wonder if you increase the voltage too much to the stock coils if the insulation won't be able to keep the power contained and if it will create a short/arc inside the coil never reaching the plug.
 

MLC40

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You don't. It's actually pretty simple though. The power to the coils come out of the BEC and then daisy chain from coil pack to coil pack. The PCM switches the ground leg of each coil on and off to start charging and then discharge the coil, so each ground leg of the coil goes back to an individual pin of the PCM.

The question I have is this: Does anyone know what pins the coil pack connector uses and where we can find them? I HATE hacking up my harness and would MUCH rather pull out the old pin from the connector and stick in a new one with larger wire. The same goes for the connector blocks in the BEC...


+1 If anyone has this info please post it up.
 

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