Coil-on-Plug Systems

[Gary Ohst]

List,
         
I've never found a set of spark plug wires I like, so I am looking into
using the new coil-on-plug technology that is just starting to appear on
production cars and hopefully might soon become available at reasonable
cost.

Does anybody have information on the coil-on-plug units Ford is now
using on some versions of the 1997 model year 32-valve 4.6 liter V8? 
How big are Ford's coil-on-plug units?  Do they fit on conventional
spark plugs or is it an intergrated plug/coil unit?

I found a few coil-on-plug websites which are summarized below:


1) This is a company promoting a new coil-on-plug system probably 	for
OEM buyers.

http://www.sae.org/ns-search/sae97/previous/monday/sberu.htm?NS-search-set=/33fdf/aaaa003DTfdfe8d&NS-doc-offset=5&



2) Here is some stuff from Motorola's automotive page.

	http://mot-sps.com/automotive/ignition3.html


3) Just a few sentences on Ford's system:

	http://www.lincolnvehicles.com/MarkVIII/ignition.html

4) This is an aftermarket coil driver package that can handle 4 	devices
including a coil-on-plug system.

	http://www.id.net/~ati/igd4.html

5)  All I cound find on what Delco is up to.  Just a few sentences at
the end of a general racing technology page.  To my knowledge, GM has no
production coil-on-plug units like Ford.

	http://www.delco.com/autosmart/96_spring/track.html


These seem like they could be fired with the current version of EFI332
hardware.  Since I am building a 4 cylinder motor, it seems like it
should take no more individual driver capacity than a 4-pack
wasted-spark coil for a V8.

Anybody have further information or ideas?

--Gary--