1. is the intake side the "wasted" spark side??
2. this article suggest to reroute the wasted side differently so it is actually firing at the same time as the combustion spark.---does anyone do that and if so what is the outcome?

Ford 2.3L Sparkplugs and Coil Packs - HotRodHigh.ca

 

Dude, stop messing with it, you have the best system your truck can have, it works well and delivers top notch performance.


This article is false. I am building a 2.3L 8 plug turbo engine right now, so for me, knowing how the system works was critical. The Ford setup fires on both plugs simultaneously, so it already does what you want. However, it only fires one coil pack during startup, which is why the author of that article discovered it won't run with one pack removed. Had this author done more homework, he would have learned that his conclusions were false. Once the engine is running, the system fires both coil packs simultaneously. If you read his article, he reports CELs and other issues. These are caused by the adverse effect messing with the firing order has. With a wasted spark setup, the plug that is firing on the exhaust stroke has very little resistance because the gases not hat side are not compressed, while the intake is compressed, which increases the resistance to the spark jumping the gap. If you leave it as it was designed, then everything works perfectly. But if you change the firing order, so that both plugs on the same pack on on the compression stroke, then the resistance doubles. This means that the ignition will be slightly delayed because it takes a few milliseconds longer to charge the coil pack enough to jump the gap. Your spark will be weaker too. This puts more stress on the coil pack itself too, the more resistance the plugs have, the greater the level of decay to the insulator within the coil. Once that insulator breaks down, the coil can no longer deliver its full output.

When Ford engineered the system, the second coil pack provides the needed energy to get the second plug to jump the gap. without putting excessive strain on either pack. To reduce electrical load during startup, Ford designed only one pack to fire. This is because the rapid ignition of firing both packs during startup could put excessive strain on the pistons and rods. Once they are up to speed and the engine has warmed up, the second pack comes online.

The design was not just for emissions, unlike the article claims. The dual plug setup from a flow standpoint is not much different front he older single plug setup. Yes I know the cam is setup slightly differently, but if you swap the dual plug roller cam to the older application the performance only increases slightly, it mostly just changes the power curve. Yes the old N/A single plug head resulted in an engine that produced 88 hp at the crank. The dual plug setup by using dual ignition points bumps the performance to 110 hp at the crank. Thats a lot of extra power.

The best things you can do to maximize your performance are:

1: Use the OEM coil packs, aftermarket "performance" ones offer no real benefits, but wear out plugs more rapidly and can cause the wires to break down more rapidly, and they themselves are less reliable. If you do use a performance coil, the MSD is the best one. Still the only reason to use such a coil is if you are either running extremely high RPM or you are running forced induction. For all other circumstances, the OEM Motorcraft coils deliver the best of longevity and spark energy.

2: Use Finewire double platinum or iridium plugs. This delivers more spark energy while maintaining long spark life and keeps the gap within specs longer. This can result in slight performance and economy gains. The best brands to use are Motorcraft, Autolite, and NGK. No not use any other brands, as poor results and low longevity are the frequent result. Absolutely do NOT use BOSCH or any multi electrode plug. The added benefits of using an Iridum plug is that the longer life means you won't have to replace them again for a while, nice since these are not the easiest trucks to change spark plugs on.

3: Use either OEM Motorcraft wires (those are nice because the new designs have these neat handles that makes the driver side ones easier to remove), or Magnacore performance wires. The Magnacores are the only wire that delivers the full spark energy without having to use carbon resistors to suppress EMI. Other performance wires produce large amounts of EMI, and can degrade rapidly. This is largely because they use lower quality mass produced wire. The Magnacores are a lifetime wire, if you take care of them, they never need replacing. They are the only aftermarket wire I would install over Motorcraft.

Beyond that, there is nothing more you can do to increase performance via the ignition system. All a performance ignition system really does is prevent power loss due to faulty components under extreme conditions. For a street vehicle with no real performance systems, it does nothing.

 

naw man im not messing with it lol. My truck is a slow pig and will always be a slow pig.I know what it is. When i posted that story i thought i might be having some coil issues but instead i had crossed two wires( swapping wires in my quest to fix what is evidently something else) What the article said did not seem to be true based on my own truck but i was just trying to use the info to help me.That is the main reason for asking about it.

 

Ok. These engines do make a great platform for a turbo setup, but that does take some money. The parts to do so are readily available though. But expect to spend a couple grand by the time its done. If done right, they blow away all but the most extreme v6 and v8 engines in Rangers. Still a bit sluggish off the line, until the turbo spools, once you get it off the line, they are very fast.

Glad you found the problem.