RTz

Sounds like you already have a Motec box in hand?

Mr Insanity, Food for thought... A coil is only as good as its controller. In this case its the EDIS module itself. A coil has many attributes. For example, primary current, saturation rate, dicharge rate, voltage, current, etc, etc. I have every reason to believe Ford factored their coil pack into the design of the module. I expect it to be fairly well optimized for THAT coil pack. People I trust tell me that one of the most difficult things in designing a module is factoring in the dwell. Dwell can easily be calculated at a steady rpm. What happens when the engine is accelerated or decelerated? The module cannot go back in time and ‘start over’. There are several strategies to deal with this. Some I understand. Some I don’t. What happens when you install a different coil pack on EDIS? If its qualities are different, particularly charge/discharge rate, you could easily find yourself a step back.... and not even know it. Without proper test equipment and experience its a crap shoot. **However** As I mentioned previously, I used a Dodge coil pack once. One of the goals of the project was to see just HOW forgiving EDIS could be. I deliberately did the following to my 510... Along with the Dodge coil, I installed an EDIS6 VR sensor on an EDIS4 system, with custom cut teeth that are ENTIRELY different then any factory teeth (see below), and not one trace of shielding! Outwardly, the system ran fine. It was a noticeable improvement over the factory electronic ignition, both in performance and fuel economy. **But** Did I get lucky? How much performance had I lost, if any? Who knows such things? Without proper testing its impossible to know. I will say this.... a properly installed EDIS system, with matched components, should work pretty well on most applications. No need to change it.

Sticky

If you're after performance, none of the stock manifolds are optimal. Ponder this... with a quality valve job, including porting the surrounding area (bowl, unshrouding, etc) the valve could theoretically flow 80% (or thereabouts) its area. An N42's port area is only 53%!

Pete covered that in his last post... second paragraph. There is a never ending combination of parts that will work tegether... some better than others. I have never seen an "all in one" source. Spend some time with Google and you'll find enough to keep you busy for a LONG time.

You're all wrong... JohnC is right

Pete, I've only checked a couple makes of OE coil packs for primary resistance (Dodge and Ford). Have you had opportunity to check other makes?

This thread has progressed to the point that I think this needs to be mentioned. The primary drawback of dual-post coils is that it puts the spark plugs in series. This means their polarity is opposite each other. See Below... Courtesy Wolf... This has been hashed out here... http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=114147 However, I agree with Pete... for 99% of applications its perfectly adequate. The weaker spark is still more than sufficient most of the time... I know of people running over 20psi on dual post coils.

I've never used an Accel coil. Technically, it should work just fine.

Stop by sometime?!?!?!

Wolf is a good choice. However, its not the only choice. MS will run COP (coil-on-plug) but it isn't well documented (last I checked). Motec, Autronic, Haltech, and several others will as well. I'm having trouble reading you. Are you saying running EDIS with a different brand of coil pack? If so, it is a possibility. I once ran a Dodge coil pack on an EDIS system. It would take some research on your part but I believe its an option.

My bone stock '78, with exception of slightly lighter wheels and A/C, weighs 2700 flat (dry).

PERFECT... thats it! Kudos. I see what you mean in the link... I think, from a performance perspective, the longer wires are negligible... but definitely distracting. I like your plan... build an attractive coil plate and you should be 'there'. Maybe replace the oil fill with a low profile cap as well?

Thank you! So I take it your running your LS2 without the plastic covers? That would be something I’d like to see. The covers look good but EVERYONE uses them... I think you’d have something unique if you could fancy things up enough to run without’em. My experiences with MSD have all been analog... their digital stuff could be a different story. I should have qualified that earlier.

Richard, I’ve heard the Mercury CDI coils are pretty good... I have no first hand experience so take it with a grain of salt. Have you looked into J&S Safeguard? John’s website isn’t that impressive... its mostly just an introduction, so don’t let that turn you off. In a nut shell, he builds some of the finest ignitors in the biz. and couples them to a ‘smart’ knock system. Its capable of detecting which cylinders are knocking, and optimizing timing on an INDIVIDUAL basis. So you end up with a quasi-custom timing map for EACH cylinder. He makes 2,3 and 4 channel systems, and has adapted a 3 channel system to a VG30DE (becoming wasted spark). I have spoken to John about installing two 3 channel systems... he said that application would work very well. To my knowledge, his stuff is all inductive. As I understand it, about half of the Formula 1 cars run CD and the other half inductive. I’m not trying to start a debate. Just trying to make the point that they both CAN work. I hate to see you spend all that money on a system when inductive could get the job done. If the system is designed to work well together, I don’t see the problem with inductive. Thats just my opinion... I could be wrong

gjc5500, Glad we could help

Pete beat me to it... I'm also of the opinion that 500HP is do-able on the stock ignition. Its been done many times. Do you have reason to believe they won't be up to the task or are you just covering your backside? I understand there are a lot of variables but it may take more than 18psi to get to 500. Lum is getting pretty close to 400hp at 15psi.

Thanks Pete.

Richard, These coils have a built in ignitor. So, as far as I know, there is no way to make them work with a CDI box. Also, I'd be surprised if they were any better than the OE coils you already have. Pete, Do you know any way to make that work?

A-mod is proof of that. I was at Bremerton a few years back for a National Tour. One of the multi-time champs was there (sorry, can't remember his name). Unbelievably fast.

Interesting description of VG's from Wikipedia... "The purpose of the generators is to stick out of the stagnant air near the surface of the wing, and into the freely moving air outside the boundary layer. This layer is typically quite thin, but dramatically reduces speed of the airflow towards the rear of the wing. The generators mix the free stream with the stagnant air to get it moving again, providing considerably more airflow at the rear of the wing and thereby providing the control surfaces with more power. This process is typically referred to as re-energizing the boundary layer. Vortex generators increase drag and delay separation and stall effects. They also improve the effectiveness of control surfaces (e.g Embraer 170 and Symphony SA-160) and, for swept-wing transonic designs, alleviate potential shock-stall problems (e.g. Harrier, Blackburn Buccaneer, Gloster Javelin)."

I'm aware of the reg. that prohibits flight with frosted wings. I'm not aware of the 'polished frost' reg. Now I've got to look it up It does make sense though. The weight component of frost is not the issue, nor is the shape change. Just simply the roughness, like you said. 3.13 is purely about frost. Ice is a different animal. All of the texbooks I have read (FAA endorsed) say the same thing... ice can/does change the shape (and adds weight). It most certainly is not legal to depart with ice on the wing of a GA plane, no matter how smooth.

While I agree with you that AOA is paramount, I'm not sure I catch your drift regarding wing shape. Its generally taught that a very small amount of ice build-up on the leading edge can reduce lift by 30% and increase drag similarly, due to the change in shape. Light frost is to be taken seriously as well as it causes early separation. Admittedly, I have only read bits of this thread so I may be off base with what you're getting at. VG's aren't part of the curriculum, but I will go so far as to say that the purpose of VG's, as I understand it, are to 'delay' separation. I need to look into this further.

Jon, Found a diagram of the angle of attacks' roll in speeding up the air over the top side of an inverted wing... Go here and look at the second diagram.... http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/fluids/airfoil.html

Jon, The missing piece is in the angle of attack... fly the plane inverted and the required angle of attack makes the air's path around the 'top' of the wing longer, just like when upright.