Tibur Waltson wrote in rec.autos.tech
The sparks in my car isn't as strong as I want it to be. I have an
ignition coil and an ignition module that I will hook up to the car.
The coils will install in parallel.
The grounding of the other coil will trigger the second ignition
module. This will give it two coils. I thought maybe two coils
are stronger than one and should increase gas mileage. Will this work?
Having looked at the drawing you provide, I can see a problem or 2,
and I don't think that this will help at all. Possibly cause more
problems.
First of all, manufacturers have to build engines and components to
be able to meet certain standards as far as longevity, emissions and
fuel economy go. While the stock system is not optimal it is robust
and reliable. Now, the ignition coils and plugs do not affect that
to a great degree. If they provide a hot enough spark for the fuel
to ignite, then they are doing all that they can do. A hotter spark
is not going to help very much, if at all.
In the late 60's there was an advantage to moving from points to
a capacitive discharge system. And that had more to do with not
having to worry about points wearing out or burning than anything.
Now that all cars have computer controlled pointless ignition systems
there is little to wear out.
As far as burning fuel goes, and this is what your idea is all about,
your car gets a mixture of gasoline and air into each cylinder. It is
then squeezed and the spark plug fires, creating a fast burning flame
that increases pressure on the cylinder, forcing it down. If you get
a spark strong enough to ignite the fuel mixture, any more will not
help. Will a match or a propane torch or an acetylene torch do a better
job of igniting a gas any better?
The problem lies not in the ignition but in what is being ignited.
To increase performance you could probably do a better job of mixing
the fuel so it will burn more evenly, or provide more air, so that
the computer will provide a corresponding increase in gas. Or both.
And finally you could use a different fuel that would burn hotter,
Nitro comes to mind.
Now, as far as your design goes, it cannot give you any help.
An ignition coil is nothing more than a transformer. A transformer
has 2 coils of wire surrounding a magnetic core. It works by having
a changing current in one coil cause a changing magnetic field.
That field will induce voltage in the other coil. The amount of
current, and voltage, depend upon the number of windings in each
coil. If you have more windings in the primary coil than the secondary
coil, then you will have greater current, but lower voltage. If you
have more windings in the secondary, then the voltage will be higher
and the current will be lower.
In an ignition coil, the secondary (going to the plugs) has a lot
more windings than the primary. Thus you have a high voltage, but low
current spark. You need the high voltage to jump from the electrode
to the ground of the spark plug. And the heat from the spark will ignite
the fuel in the cylinder.
In your design, if the timing is off even a little bit your voltage
will feed back into the second coil, preventing electricity from
flowing through it, possibly even inducing a current that will damage
or destroy the controller.
If they fire at exactly the same time (within milli seconds of each
other) then the best you could hope for is the same voltage and twice
the current. Which will do nothing to help ignite the fuel, and will
actually burn up the spark plug a lot faster. With the added problems of
splicing the spark plug wires together. Spark plug wires are not made
for splicing, they will fail in a big hurry.
The only way this could help is if you ran your coils to 2 different
spark plugs in the same cylinder. The problem with that, aside from
having to pull the head, drill and tap it, and replace it, is the
fact that the head was designed to work with one plug in the position
it is in. If all is well it already burns all the fuel, and that is
the most you could hope for. If your plugs are a nice golden brown,
and you pass emissions, then playing with your ignition will not
get you anything. If your car is not burning all the fuel, then you
have problems somewhere that need to be addressed. Ranging from
a dirty air cleaner to dirty sensors, to a worn out engine that needs
to be rebuilt.
If your engine is good, and it is tuned properly, then in order to
improve performance you need to increase air flow, and fuel to the
engine, then change the length of time the valves are open and closed.
But, nothing is going to give you a massive increase in horsepower,
except for a massively bigger engine.
And one of the fun things about cars from the 50's and 60's was how
mediocre the various components were, performance wise. And how easy
it was to get a huge increase in horsepower by changing those
components.
--
Dick #1349
"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."
Andre Gide, French author and critic (1869-1951).
Home Page: dickcr.iwarp.com
email:
[email protected]