Post-Coil-Quest ION Plans

[garfield at pilgrimhouse.com]

On Tue, 2 Jun 1998 18:45:24 -0500, "Raymond Brantley" <351w at airmail.net>
wrote:

>Hey guys , before you run out and throw down 180.00 let me see what I
>can do for an aftermarket replacement.

Just a couple tidbits first: I WAS able to quickly find a pair of Mits
coils in the yards about town. I have to wait a couple days before I go
get them, cuz they have to pull them, and these places won't let you
near their cars! Sheesh.

Second thing is I checked with NAPA to see how much their "replacement"
would be, and it was only $17 less list. See, that's the trouble with
lower volume parts like this; little volume, not much of an
after"market". But of course these are list prices, and as RB points
out, someone with connections will likely do much better. The main point
is, compared to GM parts, they're a tad expensive!

So, since I paid $50 for a pair of "previously owned" coils B), sight
unseen (hope they're OK), I s'pose if the cost could be gotten down to
say around $100 a pair new. That wouldn't be too bad. The other thang I
GOTTA say, just as before is, DON'T go buying these coils as if we KNEW
they were gonna work with ION. WE DON'T!!

*************
I repeat: PULLEEZE DON'T go buying these coils as if we KNEW they were
gonna work with ION. WE DON'T!!
*************

I'm not even gonna plunk down the money for a complete set to completely
run a lab rat on, until I've confirmed that they will fire OK from
either an inductive module driving them, OR a CDI system like the DSE/SC
design.

BTW, since there is a possibility that others might wanna fly in loose
formation thru this eXperiment, I thot I'd put some thots down in print
on how I'm hoping/planning to proceed on this project meself.

This is gonna be kinda stream-of-unconsciousness, so it'll probly be
long and rambly.

I have a GM lab rat that I KNOW I can gradually make ping in a nice
controlled fashion (lucky me, huh?; it's had that problem from day one)
by advancing the timing a tad too far. So pieceOcake as a knock source.
I also have a fuel injected lab rat (the GM is NOT, sadly) that I can
use to wire up one cylinder's injector to manually create misfires of
one or more cycles long. So much for the guinea pigs.

Now, how I says to meself, says I, do I test this tech without building
a complete IGN system for ALL cylinders? Here's me plan (Sanity Check
Lite on your instrument panel should be glowing bright red at this
point). I'll build one ION circuit for one Mits coil, and build enough
of an IGN system for that one coil, which will be triggered inductively
from the normal spark wire (with a plug still attached to the wire, but
NOT in the cylinder firing it, so's I don't toast the stock IGN). Thus,
only this one "cylinder under test" will have the ION eyes'd IGN
mini-system connected to it's real plug.

Now for firing the inductive style coil setup, that's a slam dunk. All I
do is build a simple trigger to take the inductive kick off a small coil
wrapped around the normal/drone sparkplug wire, and fire a conventional
module, like a GM 4-pin'er, hooked to this lone Mits coil.

Now, on the other side of the coil, I'll need a 80-400V supply to run
the ionization detection part. Hmmm, weeeeell, I can build one of those
DSE/SC CDI systems, using the 12v-to-Xvolts inverter portion to provide
the ionization "bias" voltage. But that's perfect, cuz then the next
step is:

Firing the coil as a CDI style setup, same trigger arrangement obtains,
I'll use the same DSE/SC CDI system, but this time for BOTH firing the
coil, as well as the power source for the ionization bias voltage, just
like SAAB does theirs. Even tho touted as a multispark system, the SC
CDI design really fits the bill nicely, cuz it can be set to produce
only TWO sparks in rapid succession, with a very fast relaxation time
after that, before we open ION's eyes, and with a simple mod, can be
made to even produce only one zap if needed. And whilst firing the plug
with the 300-400V for the coil, I'll just divide the inverter supply for
that down adjustably, so I can try out a range of detection/bias
voltages from 80-400V at the same time.

Thas me plan. Anyone else wanna go along, or even tweak up the plan with
improvements, say on; that's where I'm headed. The above steps don't
amount to alot of money, and part of the apparatus is likely to be of
lasting value, regardless of the outcome, namely the CDI IGN system.
This also eliminates major mods to any of the lab rats, eliminates the
expense of gambling on coils at 4-6-8X at a wack, and is sorta portable,
so that you could try it out on a bunch of diff. engines to see about
any "sensitivities" with diff. engines.

Gar