i plan on tuning my 98 prelude with a P72 and Crome this summer/fall, and i am trying to get all bolt-on parts on the prelude before i get it tuned. ignition is something that i wanted to upgrade ever since i read that preludes run rich because the ignition can't burn all the fuel mixture during combustion. but i have also been reading up on MSD ignition parts and some people say that they are more trouble than they are worth and break all the time...

so i was just wondering if i could get some input from anyone with a MSD SCI on their prelude? do they make a difference in power and overall performance? or can the stock components handle basic I/H/E, cams, and ECU tuning? Will leaning out the fuel map up top help the whole running rich thing as much as i'm hoping? Thanks for any help!

 

Don't waste you money on MSD.

 

is it just MSD, or is it all ignition parts that suck? i'm just trying to see if upgrading ignition is worth it for my future setup.

 

It's just that 'upgraded' ignition parts don't really do anything on most Hondas. The stock equipment is pretty good as opposed to some American cars that make lots of HP from upgraded ignitions setups.

Just stay with NGK stuff if you can, and don't even worry about your ignition until you see it start to break up on the dyno because you're pushing 350 whp.

 

I like MSD, I had an SCI for about three years, and then sold it to a friend whos had it for two more and its still going strong.

Its not gonna make you more power though, and like hawk said the stock stuff is plenty good. Oh, and the whole multiple spark thing goes away afteer like 3k rpm anyways.

But if you do get a box, the MSD 6A is basically the same thing as an SCI, and a few bucks cheaper. I think they just call it the SCI to appeal to the import crowd.

 

^ Out of curiosity did you have an improvement in gas mileage? Just wondering.

 

Rosco is right on. Most of the time an MSD box will outlast your car. I have the SCI box and Blaster coil. I can't notice any performance improvement. I really didn't expect one I really just wanted the capacitive discharge technology.

It actually does deliver a stronger, multistrike, spark and you can widen your spark plug gap at least .005" for a larger spark. The thing is that Honda's combustion chamber is so effecient that it really isn't necessary to improve on the factory ignition.




Modified by GlenWatkins at 12:47 AM 7/11/2006

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hu &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">^ Out of curiosity did you have an improvement in gas mileage? Just wondering.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I honestly never paid attention. They claim that it does, but if the multistrike goes away at 3k rpm, and you go down the highway at 4k then how much could it really help?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GlenWatkins &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rosco is right on. Most of the time an MSD box will outlast your car. I have the SCI box and Blaster coil. I can't notice any performance improvement. I really didn't expect one I really just wanted the capacitive discharge technology.

It actually does deliver a stronger, multistrike, spark and you can widen your spark plug gap at least .005" for a larger spark. The thing is that Honda's combustion chamber is so effecient that it really isn't necessary to improve on the factory ignition.




Modified by GlenWatkins at 12:47 AM 7/11/2006</TD></TR></TABLE>

Is that a 3rd gen? That valve cover is cool.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BB6racer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is it just MSD, or is it all ignition parts that suck? i'm just trying to see if upgrading ignition is worth it for my future setup.</TD></TR></TABLE>

For my BB6 I got the M&W Pro 10 CDI with the Crane P92 Race Coil, and Arturbo made a full plug and play harness for it. It was a good $600 setup, but now I know I wont have to torry about an ignitor or an MSD crapping out at 700whp. Talk to Arturbo or Tony if you are interested.

 

Here is an actual back-to-back test on an MSD SCI and Blaster SS coil on my engine:
<FONT COLOR="red">Red</FONT> is on stock coil and wires
<FONT COLOR="blue">Blue</FONT> is with the MSD SCI and SS coil.



like 2whp all over. if you think that that is worth it on a NA engine then go for it. Otherwise spend the money elsewhere. Oh and I get 34mpg on the highway FWIW.

Pirate

 

The thing about dyno plots like this is that IAT and Coolant temps affect dyno pulls. My guess is the car cooled down a bit on the last pull with the ignition. Theoretically the ignition is better... but for a stock NA engine it's overkill.

 

Give me a little more credit than that.

dyno run 9 50.37˚F 24.48"Mg 20% humidity, IAT ~85˚F H20 temp 182˚ SAE correction 1.2
dyno run 11 50.22˚F 24.47"Mg 21% humidity, IAT ~87˚F H20 temp 183˚ SAE correction 1.2

and 11 minutes between runs. Satisfied?

it was not just single run. it was repeatable. I am not that stupid to just assume that a single data point is adequate.

 

You all say that it is overkill on a n/a application but I am turbo and I have the msd 6btm box and the ss coil... i havent had it to the dyno to check the results. What will it do for a forced induction car?
BTW I think I need to gap my plugs now because I have intermittent bogging at high rpm and I have carbon all over my *** every day... my plugs are also coated when I checked...what do you think about that?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PirateMcFred &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Give me a little more credit than that.

dyno run 9 50.37˚F 24.48"Mg 20% humidity, IAT ~85˚F H20 temp 182˚ SAE correction 1.2
dyno run 11 50.22˚F 24.47"Mg 21% humidity, IAT ~87˚F H20 temp 183˚ SAE correction 1.2

and 11 minutes between runs. Satisfied?

it was not just single run. it was repeatable. I am not that stupid to just assume that a single data point is adequate.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Very satisfied

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GlenWatkins &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rosco is right on. Most of the time an MSD box will outlast your car.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I actually had 2 ignition boxes die on me leaving me stranded. One was an MSD 6 and the other was a Jacobs Electronics. I did have them mounted in the engine bay (one near the intake and the MSD on the firewall) which might have been the reason they died.....overall they only gave me headaches.

I also had a tranparent dist cap and you could easily see the MSD put out 4-5 sparks on each cylinder at a time.

 

well my car won't be fully built, but it won't be basic bolt on stuff either. and my car will be doing double duty as a track car and a daily driver too. i wanted this part for any peformance increase, but more for improving gas milage when cruising around town. i think i will give it a try just because i believe that the only way to know if a part really makes a difference is if you try it yourself!

also, does anyone have any input on coils? i'm seeing a lot of people running the blaster coils on their ludes...

 

get a blaster 3, the blaster 2 uses that stupid adapter thing.


<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hawkze_2.3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I actually had 2 ignition boxes die on me leaving me stranded. One was an MSD 6 and the other was a Jacobs Electronics. I did have them mounted in the engine bay (one near the intake and the MSD on the firewall) which might have been the reason they died.....overall they only gave me headaches.

I also had a tranparent dist cap and you could easily see the MSD put out 4-5 sparks on each cylinder at a time. </TD></TR></TABLE>

FWIW I had mine mounted on the inside to the floorboard next to the ecu. I've heard of the MSD DIS-4 boxes going bad quite frequently, which is actually what I'm going to be running but keep in mind thats only for DIS vehicles.

 

I use the can style blaster coil. But mine is the hi-vibration model. The difference is that the hi-vibration model is not oil filled, it's epoxy filled. The beauty of this model is that it doesn't need to be mounted vertically like the oil filled models and can be mounted in ANY position.

Yeah Rosco, that's a 3rd gen B20A5.

 

^^^did you notice any difference when you installed your coil?

 

well... im sure it would help the idle with stage 3 cams.