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Energy Requirements
Let's assume an ignition system has the voltage potential to cause a spark. Now, we need to be sure that our spark has enough power to cause a complete ignition of the air/fuel mixture. Aftermarket ignition amplifiers from a number of different manufacturers can increase the amount of spark energy making its way to the spark plug. These capacitive-discharge (CD) ignitions store the energy in a capacitor rather than in a magnetic field generated in the coil. As a result, more energy can be delivered to the plugs. These CD ignitions also work well when teamed with a high-voltage, performance coil. When these coils are used without an ignition amplifier, spark energy can actually be reduced so always check with the coil manufacturer for their recommendations.

Resistance versus Performance
There is a great perception in the performance community that the lower the measured resistance of a wire than the higher the performance that the wire will deliver. As the results of our test show, this is not a true statement. The performance output of the engine was not a direct function of spark plug wire resistance. In fact, the used stock wire with the highest resistance outperformed one of the lower-resistance aftermarket wires. The bottom line is that spark plug wire resistance is really a marketing tool rather than a purchasing consideration.

EMI & RFI Interfering with Performance
Just about any high-voltage device generates some type of ElectroMagnetic Interference and Radio Frequency Interference. You vehicle's ignition system functions at voltages between 12,000 and 40,000 volts and it can generate significant EMI and RFI dependent upon which ignition wires and which spark plugs (non-resistor, suppressor or resistor) are used. While RFI can be annoying whenever you are listening to your car's radio, EMI can severely affect the performance on a modern Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) vehicle.

Due to excessive EMI, we've personally witnessed severe and dramatic performance losses. In one case, we encountered some EMI problems on a drag-race, turbocharged VW engine equipped with an Electromotive TEC-III engine management system. We have had great experiences with the MSD Super Conductor wires on many applications, so we elected to use these wire on this project. For this project, these wires would turn out to be the wrong choice. The Electromotive TEC-III engine management system uses a 60-tooth crankshaft magnetic trigger sensor. Due to the high-resolution of this input trigger, we found out that the Electromotive TEC-III engine management system to be very susceptible to EMI. We could have discovered this sooner if we just read the Electromotive manual and used spark plug wires that met their requirements for resistance. Since we didn't listen, we found the MSD wires to not be compatible with the TEC-III engine management. The result was that even the small amount of EMI caused by the MSD Super Conductor wires was enough to cause the TEC-III to misinterpret the crank trigger signals and this caused failures to fire injectors and erratic ignition timing. On the dyno, the result was the engine making far less horsepower than we expected. After trying just about everything else, we finally decided to listen to Electromotive's recommendations and install a set of Magnecor wires that meet Electromotive's requirements for resistance. The result was 200 additional horsepower at the wheels and an engine that was running on all four cylinders. On a side note, we've never seen a problem with the MSD Super Conductor wires on any application except on Electromotive TEC-equipped vehicles. On the contrary, we have seen measurable performance increases on nearly all applications that we have tested. For any application where on-board electronics or engine management is susceptible to EMI (i.e. any Electromotive engine management equipped vehicle), our first choice would be a set of Magnecor ignition wires.

The Test Car
Giving our 1999 Civic Si a break from testing action, we decided to take our turbo EF Civic a flogging on the dyno. This 1991 Honda Civic has been the recipient of a JDM B16 engine swap and a DRAG turbo system. In essence, it's your typical budget-oriented, turbo B-series buildup.

The B16 VTEC engine is entirely stock with the exception of the DRAG turbo system which we purchased used. The car, swap and turbo system set us back less for just under $4500. It's a fun setup that drives daily and runs 13s at the strip on pump gas and street tires. With some better tires and a set of camshafts, we'd expect to see 12s.

The Dyno
Before strapping the Civic to the DynoJet, we verified the engine's condition with a quick compression check that found all cylinders to be in balance with a reading of 195psi. The timing on the ignition was verified to be at 14 degrees BTDC at idle. A fresh set of NGK BKR7E plugs were installed.

The procedure (DJHO3-CH1-10) followed was a three-run method that we typically use for turbocharged, OBD-0 type vehicles. The first run is done on a cool engine. The second run immediately follows the first on a hot engine. The third run is done after a one-minute idle. After the third run, exactly ten minutes are allowed for cool-down before the next set of wires is tested in the same fashion. The dyno and peak numbers realized from the sessions represent the "best of three" dynos.

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