Was at the tire shop today and one of the gearheads there said that I should strongly consider replacing the stock coil packs on my ranger with some MSD Blaster or Accel ones. Claimed they would boost performance and gas mileage with no effect on the engine, plus its a simple matter of just unbolting the old ones off and bolting the new ones on. He said cost would be about 100 bucks and I'd make it up easily with the gas savings.

So I'm posting this for comments from those with experience and or recommendations.

 

We have a vendor here who is an FTE sponsor, and I was thinking about it seriously. I'm just now back on my feet again jobwise, and that price is familiar.

Getting to them is easy - one on each side of the engine in plain sight. It would be good to do a COMPLETE plug change to platinum to take full advantage of it, and be sure of the gap for the new plugs. With performance coil packs the gap may be wider.

 

High performance coil packs will do nothing for you. High performance packs are intended for high rpm applications, where stock coils are incapable of producing enough power fast enough to fire the spark reliably. They will not increase fuel economy as has been proven both in EPA tests and numerous independent tests.

The increased voltage will also cause an accelerated electromagnetic decay of the plug wires. With 8 wires to replace, that is not a good prospect.

My advise, is that unless you are going to be regularly revving the engine to 8,000 rpm or beyond, its not worth it and you will not observe any gains in performance. The only way you could remotely justify them on a stock engine is if you have a bad coil pack anyway, and even then, when you take into consideration the added wear and tear on the wires and plugs, I still don't think its worth it.

 

I'm not normally a cynic when it comes to high performance mods and I wondered myself about the additional voltage. The wires and plugs are new, about 3000 miles ago. I'm not racing to the parts store and will be interested in some more comments. But I'm hesitant for the very reasons you mention.

 

well i have the accel coil packs u talking of
also have talor 8mm wires
ngk iriduiam plugs
iv also have a jet chip some like it some dont
expencive set up but been year an 1/2 every thing looks new motor pulls hard all the way to redline without a miss an i drive it like i stole it

 

I put a jacobs ignition system on my 84 ranger with the 2.3, I also had to open the gap on my plugs. It increased the idle and throttle response, it started quicker with less plug fowling. I would say say it did wonders on my old wore out motor and yes there was a slight improvement in mpg. The newer systems are pretty good stock, but the older ones could use some help.

 

If you WANT performance - you have to think in terms of maintaining that level of performance. Nothing is free!

I may dump cash into my wheels from time to time, but it's less than if another person did it. I do my own work.

A coil pack set will last a very long time, as will wires. It really isn't that tuff to lift the upper intake once you have done it once and are used to it, so the plugs are not that bad to do an all-around on.

"DO! Or DO NOT! There IS NO try..."
~Yoda