Ignition Upgrade Questions

[Mike1357]

Alright. I have a JDM H22A and as of late I've wanted to upgrade the ignition system. Currently I'm using the internal coil distributor on my original external coil single cam harness.

My plan is to purchase a digital MSD 6A, the MSD 82923 cap and rotor (intended for a 90-91), and the Blaster SS Coil. I will also have a non-internal coil dizzy I'll be doing this to.

Basically I'm looking to bounce the setup off of people who have either tried it as is, used any one component or used similar parts. Anything I should know? Tips, tricks?

[Jarrett]

Is your desire to use upgraded ignition components simply because you want to have aftermarket parts there, or are you experiencing issues with your stock setup? I ran an aftermarket Blaster 2 coil on one of my old Accords (1990 EX) and can say that I noticed next to zero difference whatsoever. This has been corroborated somewhat by the experience of others in the Honda community at length since my experiences.

[Mike1357]

The last two times I was on the dyno I noticed a fair amount of unburned fuel, so much so that at higher rpms there was a haze behind the car. That coupled with an idle that has been slowly developing a slight miss, I wanted to do a cap and rotor. I know I can just use a 90-91 cap but I feel I could benefit from the upgrade. The plugs I have currently are no more than a few months old and are the factory recommended plugs. There's no "bling factor" to having a 6A as it will probably be mounted inside the passenger compartment and the only reason I want to use an MSD cap is just for quality reasons. I've also heard that internal coil distributors are less efficient and sometimes more problematic. I'm sure I could get the same results from just using OEM parts but I like the idea of having multiple spark pulses per cycle just for efficiency reasons.

[wagon-r]

The only way you can have significant unburned fuel (i.e. more than about 1% of fuel consumed) is misfire or severely retarded ignition timing. If you are having a lot of misfire, there is something seriously wrong with your engine or ignition system. Which needs to be identified and fixed.

There is no efficiency advantage to multiple spark pulses, unless you are using a wide-band oxygen sensor and have tuned the engine to run lean (about 17:1 air/fuel) or are running very high turbo boost. In fact, the multiple high-energy pulses take energy, which puts more load on the alternator, which decreases fuel economy.

[frohawker]

I have a 90 f22a1 with MSD Blaster SS, 8.5mm wires, extreme cap (external coil), rotor, and a modified external coil distributor for the past almost 5 years. The only time I noticed any sort of difference was when I first installed them which consisted of a slightly different, more "throaty" exhaust note. That has faded away. I only have them on there because my dad (RIP) bought them for me a couple of months before he passed. I have the MSD digital 6a sitting in a box in storage because any and everything that box will do can be done with a correctly set up ECU. He bought all of that to complement the ZEX system I also have sitting in storage. So FWIW, just get some good OEM components and call it a day unless you're going for a particular look, style, or set up.