NGK

or magnecore wires too

NGK plugs + Honda OEM wires (also NGK) =

How do I complete proper sentances for people to understand?

SOURCE: NGK Website
<u>CONSTRUCTION</u>

A ferrite magnetic layer consisting of a mixture of rubber, plastic and powdered ferrite magnetic materials... NGK wires have a <FONT COLOR="red">lower resistance than conventional carbon core wires</FONT> (8k ohm/meter vs. 16k ohm/meter)... <FONT COLOR="red">At the center of NGK Resistor Spark Plug Wire Sets is a fiberglass stranded core</FONT>... High quality <FONT COLOR="red"> EPDM and Silicone coverings are used</FONT> to resist high heat, oil and chemical damage for increased durability... NGK Resistor Spark Plug Wire Sets utilize a construction method known as <FONT COLOR="red">"variable pitch" wire winding</FONT> to create resistance to radio frequency interference.

SOURCE: Magnecor Website
<u>LOW-RESISTANCE" SPIRAL WIRES</u> [ i.e. NGK wires - bdc]

By far the most popular conductor used in ignition wires destined for race and performance street engines are spiral conductors (a.k.a. mag, pro, super, spiral, monel, heli, energy, ferro, twin core etc.). <FONT COLOR="red">Spiral conductors are constructed by winding fine wire around a core. Almost all manufacturers use constructions which reduce production costs</FONT> in an endeavor to offer ignition component marketers and mass-merchandisers cheaper prices than those of their competitors.

In the USA in particular, most marketers of performance parts selling their products through mass-merchandisers and speed shops include a variety of very effective high-output ignition systems together with a branded not-so-effective ignition wire line using a spiral conductor. <FONT COLOR="red">Most perpetually try to out-do their competitors by offering spiral conductor ignition wires with the lowest electrical resistance</FONT>. Some publish results which show their wires are superior to a competitor's wires which use identical cable (on which another brand name is printed). The published "low" resistance (per foot) is measured with a test ohmmeter's 1 volt direct current (DC) passing through the entire length of the fine wire used for the spiral conductor.

<FONT COLOR="red">"Low-resistance" conductors are an easy sell, as most people associate all ignition wire conductors with original equipment and replacement ignition wire carbon conductors </FONT>(which progressively fail as a result of microscopic carbon granules burning away and thus reducing the spark energy to the spark plugs) and with solid wire zero-resistance conductors that were used by racers with no need for suppression. Consumers are easily led into believing that if a spiral conductor's resistance is almost zero, its performance must be similar to that of a solid metal conductor all race cars once used. HOWEVER, NOTHING IS FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!

What is not generally understood (or is ignored) is that as a result of the laws of electricity, the potential 45,000 plus volts (with alternating current characteristics) from the ignition coil (a pulse type transformer) does not flow through the entire the length of fine wire used for a spiral conductor like the 1 volt DC voltage from a test ohmmeter, but flows in a magnetic field surrounding the outermost surface of the spiral windings (skin effect). The same skin effect applies equally to the same pulsating flow of current passing through carbon and solid metal conductors.

A spiral conductor with a low electrical resistance measured by an ohmmeter indicates, in reality, nothing other than less of the expensive fine wire is used for the conductor windings — a construction which cannot achieve a clean and efficient current flow through the magnetic field surrounding the windings, resulting in poor suppression for RFI and EMI.

Of course, ignition wire manufacturers save a considerable amount in manufacturing costs by using less fine wire, less exotic winding machinery and less expertise to make low-resistance spiral conductors. As an incentive, they find a lucrative market amongst performance parts marketers who advertise their branded ignition wires as having "low-resistance" conductors, despite the fact that such <FONT COLOR="red">"low-resistance" contributes nothing to make spiral ignition wires perform better, and RFI and EMI suppression is compromised.</FONT>

In recent years, most ignition wire manufacturers, to temporarily improve their spiral conductor's suppression, have resorted to coating <FONT COLOR="red">excessively spaced spiral windings</FONT>, most of which are crudely wound around strands of <FONT COLOR="red"><u>fiberglass</u></FONT> or Kevlar, <FONT COLOR="red">with a heavy layer of high-resistance carbon impregnated conductive latex or silicone compound. This type of construction hides the conductive coating's high resistance when the overall conductor is measured with a test ohmmeter</FONT>, which only measures the lower resistance of the sparse spirally wound wire (the path of least resistance) under the conductive coating and ignores the high resistance of the outermost conductive coating in which the spark energy actually travels. The conductive coating is rarely shown or mentioned in advertisement illustrations.

The suppression achieved by this practice of coating the windings is only temporary, as the spark current is forced to travel through the outermost high-resistance conductive coating in the same manner the spark current travels through the outermost high-resistance conductive coating of a carbon conductor used in most original equipment and stock replacement wires.

<FONT COLOR="red">In effect, (when new) a coated "low-resistance" spiral conductor's true performance is identical to that of a high-resistance carbon conductor.</FONT>

Unfortunately, and particularly with the use of high-output ignitions, <FONT COLOR="red">the outermost high-resistance conductive coating over spiral windings acting as the conductor will fail from burn out</FONT> in the same manner as carbon conductors, and although in most cases, the spiral conductor will not cease to conduct like a high-resistance carbon conductor, <FONT COLOR="red">any RFI or EMI suppression will be lost as a consequence of the coating burning out</FONT>. The worst interference will come from the so-called "super conductors" that are wound with copper (alloy) wire.

However, <FONT COLOR="red">despite the shortcomings of "low-resistance" spiral conductor ignition wires, these wires work satisfactorily on older production vehicles and race vehicles that do not rely on electronic engine management systems, or use on-board electronics effected by EMI</FONT> — although with the lowest-resistance conductor wires, don't expect much RFI suppression on the AM band in poor reception areas.

<FONT COLOR="red">Some European and Japanese original equipment and replacement ignition wires including Bougicord and <u>NGK</u> do have spiral conductors that provide good suppression — usually none of these wires are promoted as having low- resistance conductors — however, <u>none are ideal for competition use, as their conductors and pin-type terminations are fragile and are known to rarely last as long as good carbon conductor ignition wires.</u></FONT>

<FONT COLOR="red">To be effective in carrying the full output from the ignition system and suppressing RFI and EMI in particular, spiral conductors need windings that are <u>microscopically close</u> to one another and precisely spaced and free from conductive coatings.</FONT> To be more effective, the windings need to be wound over a core of magnetic material — a method too costly for wires sold through mass-merchandisers and most speed shops who purchase only the cheapest (to them) and most heavily promoted products.

BDC, I hope you didn't think I was referring to you...

Denso Iridium For Plugs !!!

what's a good long lasting spark plugs and wires for a stock 96 civic dx?

NGK plugs + Honda OEM wires (also NGK) =

What about Nology wires though ? they claim a larger spark. Or what about Bosch Plugs ?

SOURCE: Magnecor Web Site

<u>"CAPACITOR" EFFECT WIRES with grounded metal braiding over jacket</u>

The most notable of exaggerated claims for ignition wires are made by Nology, a recent manufacturer of ignition wires promoted as "the only spark plug wires with built-in capacitor." Nology's "HotWires" (called "Plasma Leads" in the UK) consist of unsuppressed solid metal or spiral conductor ignition wires over which braided metal sleeves are partially fitted. The braided metal sleeves are grounded via straps formed from part of the braiding. Insulating covers are fitted over the braided metal sleeves. These wires are well constructed. For whatever reason, Nology specifies that non-resistor spark plugs need to be used with their "HotWires." In a demonstration, the use of resistor plugs nullifies the visual effect of the brighter spark.

Ignition wires with grounded braided metal sleeves over the cable have come and gone all over the world for (at least) the last 30 years, and similar wires were used over 20 years ago by a few car makers to solve cross-firing problems on early fuel injected engines and RFI problems on fiberglass bodied cars — only to find other problems were created. The recent Circle Track Magazine (USA, May, 1996 issue) test showed Nology "HotWires" produced no additional horsepower (the test actually showed a 10 horsepower decrease when compared to stock carbon conductor wires).

The perceived effect a brighter spark, conducted by an ignition wire, encased or partially encased in a braided metal sleeve (shield) grounded to the engine, jumping across a huge free-air gap (which bears no relationship to the spark needed to fire the variable air/fuel mixture under pressure in a combustion chamber) is continually being re-discovered and cleverly demonstrated by marketers who convince themselves there's monetary value in such a bright spark, and all sorts of wild, completely un-provable claims are made for this phenomena.

Like many in the past, Nology cleverly demonstrates a brighter free-air spark containing useless flash-over created by the crude "capacitor" (effect) of this style of wire. In reality, the bright spark has no more useful energy to fire a variable compressed air/fuel mixture than the clean spark you would see in a similar demonstration using any good carbon conductor wire. What is happening in such a demonstration is the coil output is being unnecessarily boosted to additionally supply spark energy that is induced (and wasted) into the grounded braided metal sleeve around the ignition wire's jacket. To test the validity of this statement, ask the demonstrator to disconnect the ground strap and observe just how much energy is sparking to ground.

Claims by Nology of their "HotWires" creating sparks that are "300 times more powerful," reaching temperatures of "100,000 to 150,000 degrees F" (more than enough to melt spark plug electrodes), spark durations of "4 billionths of a second" (spark duration is controlled by the ignition system itself) and currents of "1,000 amperes" magically evolving in "capacitors" allegedly "built-in" to the ignition wires are as ridiculous as the data and the depiction of sparks in photographs used in advertising material and the price asked for these wires! Most stock ignition primaries are regulated to 6 amperes and the most powerful race ignition to no more than 40 amperes at 12,000 RPM.

It is common knowledge amongst automotive electrical engineers that it is unwise to use ignition wires fitted with grounded braided metal sleeves fitted over ignition cable jackets on an automobile engine. This type of ignition wires forces its cable jackets to become an unsuitable dielectric for a crude capacitor (effect) between the conductor and the braided metal sleeves. While the wires function normally when first fitted, the cable jackets soon break down as a dielectric, and progressively more spark energy is induced from the conductors (though the cable jackets) into the grounded metal sleeves, causing the ignition coil to unnecessarily output more energy to fire both the spark plug gaps and the additional energy lost via the braided metal sleeves. Often this situation leads to ignition coil and control unit overload failures. It should be noted that it is dangerous to use these wires if not grounded to the engine, as the grounding straps will be alive with thousands of volts wanting to ground-out to anything (or body) nearby.

Unless you are prepared to accept poorly suppressed ignition wires that fail sooner than any other type of ignition wires and stretch your ignition system to the limit, and have an engine with no electronic management system and/or exhaust emission controls, it's best not to be influenced by the exaggerated claims, and some vested-interest journalists', resellers' and installers' perception an engine has more power after Nology wires are fitted. Often, after replacing deteriorated wires, any new ignition wires make an engine run better.

From my experience, Magnacore sucks. I had them on my 92 SE-R and they tend to pop off of the spark plug and few a few times off of the distributer. and I know I am not the only one that that has happened to.

SOURCE: Magnecor Web Site

<u> How do I stop wires popping off spark plugs (and distributor caps and ignition coils)?</u>

Although this problem is not common, it is an irritation for owners of the vehicles concerned. From our experience, after working with vehicle owners to solve this problem, we offer the following suggestions as to why this problem occurs:

Boots or connectors not fully pushed on (and/or metal terminals inside not engaging):

The most common cause. If you are fitting wires to an engine where it is almost impossible to easily reach the spark plugs or distributor and/or ignition coil/s, it is advisable to check the wires after the vehicle has run a few miles to ensure that boots and terminals are properly engaging and not just hanging there. An engine miss will usually develop before boot/terminal assemblies or connectors actually pop off spark plugs (see specific instructions in Magnecor wire set boxes).

Our best advice is not to rush the job. After the engine has been cooled down, before removing and re-fitting the wires, remove all engine components that need to be removed to properly access the wires. Installers often try to avoid removing other engine parts to access ignition wires, only to end up having to do the job over again because the wires can't really be fitted correctly without removing other engine components.

Metal terminals inside flexible style spark plug boots have been widened or distorted by rocking boots from side-to-side to remove, or by attempting to force boot/terminal assembly over the spark plug at the wrong angle when installing:

A common cause after the removal and replacement of spark plug rubber boot/terminal assemblies to replace spark plugs. Although boots generally don't always completely pop off the spark plugs, the boot/terminal assemblies will be loose on the spark plugs. Unfortunately, all flexible silicone rubber spark plug boots have a tendency to bond to the spark plug porcelain, and combined with the metal terminals inside locking onto assorted size, shape and material spark plug tops (nuts, ferrules), it is sometimes almost impossible to easily remove the wires from difficult-to-reach spark plugs. The best approach seems to be carefully twisting the rubber boot (with fingers as low as possible on the outside of the boot) and pulling the boot straight up and off the spark plug. Forcefully rocking on a boot to break the seal and disengage the terminal inside will inevitably widen and distort the mouth of the terminal and cause it to fit too loosely on the spark plug top when the boot/terminal assembly is re-fitted to the spark plug. The same problem can occur when the boot/terminal assembly is forced over the spark plug at the wrong angle during installation. Observing the angle the spark plug protrudes from the cylinder head will help with guiding the boot/terminal assembly straight down over the spark plug. Whenever possible, only remove spark plug boot/terminal assemblies when engine is cold, as spark plug tops expand into the terminals to lock even tighter when spark plugs are hot (or warm, some engines). With care, a damaged terminal mouth can be gently brought back into shape with long-nosed pliers.

If you are using Magnecor wires on a race engine, and are removing and replacing the spark plug wires regularly, you should take into account that you are putting many years of wear on the spark plug terminals in a short period of time (on most street-driven cars spark plug wires are removed, at best, only once a year). Unlike other spark plug wires used for racing, Magnecor wires can last many years on the same engine — therefore, you need to take special care to avoid damaging or deforming the spark plug terminals, which by the nature of their design and construction are small and easy to damage or deform if enough force is used. All Magnecor spark plug terminals are made from heavy gauge stainless steel and can usually withstand more abuse than normal terminals, but again, if enough force is used, any spark plug terminal can be damaged or deformed. If you do badly damage a terminal, we can usually repair the wire for you.

Spark plug connectors too full of silicone grease:

A common cause on engines (particularly those of Japanese origin) which suffer the problem of moisture accumulating in spark plug holes. In the interests of water-proofing the spark plug connectors, well-meaning installers fill an extended spark plug connector with too much silicone dielectric grease, which can prevent the terminal inside from ever locking onto the spark plug top. Driveability problems caused by water in the spark plug holes can be cured by applying a little silicone grease inside the connector bottom seals to prevent arcing or to the porcelain insulator of each spark plug (provided moisture is removed and kept from accumulating in the holes) — however, driveability problems will not be cured if a connector’s terminal cannot connect over a spark plug top because too much silicone grease is stuffed into the connector. Too much grease stuffed into flexible spark plug boots will cause similar problems.

Distributor and/or ignition coil problems:

Spark plug and coil wires can also pop off or out of distributor or ignition coil towers. The usual causes are similar to those that affect the spark plug ends of the wires including, in particular, stuffing too much silicone grease into the wire/s distributor and/or coil boots. In fact, we advise installers never to apply silicone dielectric grease inside a distributor or coil boot. If you need to insulate a distributor cap or ignition coil you should apply the silicone grease to the outside of the boot (where the boot meets the distributor cap or ignition coil) — distributor cap and ignition coil towers are tapered, and too much lubrication inside can cause boots to work their way up and off the towers on vehicles that experience considerable vibration.

Some performance aftermarket distributor caps do not have a chamfer at top of the brass inserts into which the wires’ terminals will fit, so care needs to be taken to avoid the wire’s brass distributor terminals being caught on top edges of the inserts and becoming distorted (and too loose in the insert) if terminals are forcibly fitted. Usually, if a brass terminal does become distorted, bending it back to its original shape (compare with an un-distorted terminal on another wire) is all that’s required.

Exhaust gas is blowing through a spark plug gasket (gaskets are used on some spark plugs to seal between the plug and the cylinder head) or through the body of the spark plug:

A surprisingly common problem on vehicles using extended spark plug connectors to reach spark plugs in deep holes. The only cure is to replace the spark plug gaskets each time the plugs are removed and re-fitted, particularly if the vehicle manufacturer recommends replacing the gaskets. If you remove and replace your spark plugs regularly (for example, on a race engine) then you should pay particular attention to the condition of the spark plug gaskets. Also, spark plugs themselves have been known to leak around where the porcelain body seals into the metal base. Dark colored marks left by leaking exhaust gases on the porcelain will indicate this problem — the only cure is to replace the spark plugs.

In each case, above, the pressure of the exhaust gases can force the spark plug boot or spark plug connector off the spark plugs.

Engine vibration, G-Force, torque twist and un-loomed wires:

Engine vibration or shaking, if excessive, can cause ignition wires to disconnect, particularly if wires are stretched to fit onto spark plugs or into or over coil towers. Always make sure Magnecor Race Wires (the R-100 10mm version in particular, because of the extra weight) are properly loomed up and supported so that wires cannot swing and/or strike against nearby engine, body or suspension components, which can cause wires to be loosened or pulled from spark plugs, distributor cap and/or ignition coil/s during high G-Force cornering or braking. This is primarily due to the pure silicone construction of the jackets of Magnecor's 8.5mm and 10mm cables, which are much more flexible than other cables, and do not get stiff over time.

On Mazda rotary engines (in particular), allow enough slack to prevent the torque twist of the engine disconnecting wires from ignition coils.

Spark plugs are too short or too high:

An all-too-common problem with owners of Japanese origin engines fitting non-original spark plugs that too short or too high compared with the original plugs. Engines that use wires with extended spark plug connectors need to be fitted with spark plugs that are the same height as the original spark plugs to enable both the terminals inside the connectors to properly engage spark plug tops, and properly position seals that cover the spark plug holes. Always compare different brand spark plug heights with original spark plugs before fitting them to the engine.

How do I complete proper sentances for people to understand? What that your question?