[Oreo]

Well even when my brain is focused on work and other things it seems to be multitasking Fusion Sport performance ideas in the back ground.

Back in the day we had points and condensers, we did add-ons for higher energy spark then came electronic ignition but we still swapped out for bigger coils and spark boxes. Today we have COP and I was wondering if upgrading the coils would help overall performance. With a little digging I found Accel and MSD make coil packs for the F150 2.7L engines (according to RockAuto same part number as the Fusion Sport) and are touted as higher energy, better spark, better throttle response, better efficiency. This continued my pondering of the question if we are increasing boost and changing fuel curves and ratios via a tune wouldn't we want a better spark for the optimum efficiency? Can these after market coil packs actually gain us HP/TQ and MPG?

I found this video on the subject for NA cars but why wouldn't this also apply to our TT setup?

The other part of the equation for me is the spark plugs themselves. When we boosted compression in a NA motor we ran cooler plugs. Wouldn't this also be the case for the increase boost we are pushing into the little 2.7?

Just my brain wondering out loud...

 

[ike]

On my last A4 (2.0T) with a tune many guys ran plugs 1 range colder. I'm no engine scientist though...

Good little wander. Thanks.

 

[Vert]

I had to run a colder plug on my last 2 boosted mustangs and I don't think it would hurt on tuned Sports. I also think its not a necessity since we're not pushing the motor to its limits just yet.

 

[ike]

I also think its not a necessity since we're not pushing the motor to its limits just yet.

Here's to hoping we get some more mods which will allow a bit of pushing to the limits!

 

[Pinky023]

Hopefully, Unleashed and/or Livernois will see this thread and give us their opinion.

 

[froshy00]

Are you able to data log ignition timing or retard % or anything simmilar? i would imagine its timing on individual cylinders, so may even be able to see if one is specifically worse then other... so If your pinging it would theoretically automatically take out timing. If you can see how much and make a plug change and then compare. You would know if plugs could help!

 

[Pinky023]

Just checked pricing. About $50 each. MSD sells a 6 pack for about $250. Not crazy money if they make a difference...

 

[froshy00]

The above was about spark plugs specifically of corse...

Coils are a strange thing cause they are lazy... only put out what they have to. So unless we are maxing out the stock ones, aftermarket "more, bigger' better" wont help

 

[MattQ]

When I was in the pontiac grand prix scene we never used anything other than factory coil packs. MSD also made coil packs for us but they were proven to be no better than factory. They were that good. Even with cars making 400+ hp (from the factory they make 200-260hp) the only thing we ever changed was plugs, gap and larger wires. I'm sure all of Ford's ignition systems are right on par. Though this is a completely different platform and over 20 years newer technology. I just wonder if swapping out anything but colder plugs would really make a difference. Especially since we are limited to a few amount of mods right now.

 

[MattQ]

Plus another reason why you really won't see a factory ignition system be inadequate now a days is because of the amount of pressure the government puts on auto manufacturers to get the best fuel economy as possible, regardless of the application. So Ignition is usually great to begin with. Which is good for people like us

 

[jayson]

Colder plugs wont make a difference unless you have a problem with detonation. Colder plugs are just that, they dissipate heat faster to prevent pre-ignition. If you dont have a problem with knock or timing being retarded due to that, they wont make a difference.

 

[Oreo]

So while I was drinking my coffee this morning I took a look at the charts again from the "Dyno Run" from the video. I'm starting to question the whole video. Now I'm not mathematical genius but I a not understanding the math they are using.

Initial run STOCK

With Accel SCOP Installed

Claimed performance gains...

I see max gains of 5hp and 4tq. But if you look at the low end the coils give up approx 12.5hp and close to 20tq? Am I reading this wrong?

 

[Oreo]

Ok, I went back and watched the video and they cherry picked two points along the graph where the SCOP performs better than the OEM. While the SCOP has a smoother curve that bottom end loss wouldn't be acceptable at all. I would imaging the OEM variance with within the tolerance factor of the Dyno.

 

[Vert]

Ive followed several mustang forums and several members had aftermarket coils prematurely fail and one guy lost a motor due to lost spark.
Im not saying these are bad, but Im sticking with the stockers,

 

[froshy00]

Im glad the graph looked bogus to more then just me!

 

[adrianr514]

Short answer is it can, however, the plugs we are running from factory are already colder plugs. The factory coil packs and plugs should be good for really what ever potential power we can bring out of these vehicles before doing anything crazy like 500hp+ Big Turbo kits. The only real reason to switch plugs to colder is if you are detonating which could potentially be resolved by switching to a better quality fuel. As far as the Coil packs go is you want a different color top like red or yellow.

 

[Rice]

Ive followed several mustang forums and several members had aftermarket coils prematurely fail and one guy lost a motor due to lost spark.
Im not saying these are bad, but Im sticking with the stockers,

+1000 here it was always something you never messed with if you didnt absolutely have to.

 

[Oreo]

Ok to dig this back up there was a conversation on the FB page that brought up the subject of gaped plugs, cooler plugs and plug upgrades. As pointed out by adrianr514 above we are already running colder plugs. Well you know me I can't just take something on face value or on what the manual says so I pulled a plug this morning to take a look.

Manual says Motorcraft SP-542 is what we are running. Plug pulled this morning was a Ford CYFS-092-YPT which does cross reference over to the SP-542. I was surprised to see that our factory plugs are Iridium. I also verified the plug gap and it was set to .030". A question about the stamping on the plug base was posted so this evening I pulled the plug again and the base stamping is "ILTR7N8 Japan N0078".

So there was also conversation about "Gapped Plugs". Initially I thought of just changing the gap of the plug but then thought of all the multi electrode fancy marketing driven plugs on the market and thought maybe it was one of those. It was confirmed that the "Gapped Plugs" are simply our factory plugs set to a gap of .026" (factory spec is .028"-.031"). In discussion asked why smaller and the assumption is with the increased pressures a smaller gap promotes a better spark that can't be blown out. Yeah like a candle, blown out. I have heard of this in the past so it makes since.

So I also utilized my Google-Foo and tried to see if I could decode the plug data. Utilizing to sites I found both with older information this is what I found about our stock plugs.

Going off the Ford Coding CYFS 092 YPT I get the following:

C- Unknown
Y - (18mm), .968” (.360 Short Travel) OR (14mm Thread), 25mm Full Thread
F - Conical Seat
S - Suppressor (Carbon)

09 - Extremely Cold Range (Range 02-09)
2 - Extended Power Tip

Y - Small (less than .7mm dia) Finewire Center Electrode w/Platinum Copper Core Ground Electrode.
P - Standard Platinum Electrode
T - Unknown

Using the only two reference charts I could find:
http://jimsprojectgarage.weebly.com/motorcraft-spark-plug... (older Info)

http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthread.php... (newer info but still old)

So these are in the coldest listed range available If I’m decoding these correctly.

 

[Pinky023]

Very well done Oreo. Thanks for your time and research!

 

[Rice]

Very well done Oreo. Thanks for your time and research!

Thank you for the confirmation it was something in the back of my head i wanted to follow up on