HT leads / Spark Plugs

rG-tom

rG-tom

rG-tom

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Hey guys,

Whilst i'm fitting my new throttle body and replacing all my inlet manifold gaskets, i've decided to change the spark plugs and perhaps the HT leads too.........what benefit will i gain by going for magnecor leads and NGK plugs over standard bosch / motorcraft set up? The magnecor leads are STUPIDLY expensive, like £95 for a set then need to buy the plugs on top of htat, where as i can get a set of Bosch leads and NGK plugs for £76.

Will I see any real world benefit by going for magnecor? Also, how do I know if need to replace the leads?

Cheers

Tom.
 
not magnecore. in terms of aftermarket leads, they are the most basic/simplest design and cost the most. avoid magnecore
 
I don't see how different leads can effect performance at all, can someone enlighten me? (assuming they are not faulty to begin with)
 
I had a set of Magnecor leads fitted to one of my previous cars, Electrosports 70s. Excellent quality, fitted perfectly and withstood the temperature much better than alternatives. Delivered an excellent spark as well, decent conductor and well insulated.

I'd go with the Bosch & NGK plugs myself though, as any 'gain' is likely to be placebo or at best, unnoticable. I only saw a slight improvement as I was coming away from older kit, refreshing with new.

And no, "Performance" HT leads really don't offer any improvement at all. In fact, I've seen a lot of aftermarket ones that are worse than the originals.

I suppose the only point where it might become an issue would be if you were running a very high discharge ignition system, which could induce arcing or similar in lesser leads. Not sure :)
 
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Tesla said:
I don't see how different leads can effect performance at all, can someone enlighten me? (assuming they are not faulty to begin with)
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Think speaker wire, how can better wire improve my sounds quality, wire is wire....

Less resistance to the current less oxidants in the cable etc etc.

Effect is small though and i think most ppl changing leads are coming from broken / degraded ones anyways.
 
Think speaker wire
Click to expand...

You have to be careful though - like with speaker wire, the majority of stuff banded about is complete tripe. As long as you've got a decent quality, decent diameter copper conductor that's well insulated, you're set to go. Any more is just pointless frippery :D
 
i read a big test carried about by aston martin for their DB9R racer (i think it was that car).

the OE V8 leads have a voltage loss of 12-16% for the longest run (coil to furthest plug)

magnecor (single core) got that down to 8-9%.

a special brew quad core got that down to 2-3%
 
The difference in speaker cables is down to the fact that they are in effect a low pass filter. Capacitance and resistance in tandem to affect the frequency content.

With HT leads, all you need is for a fat spark to happen on time, which means nice and thick and with good insulation. All but the cheapest of cheap are good enough for the job in a performance sense and you need not spend a fortune.
 
I went for Magnecor because I was replacing everything else on the ignition side, they weren't that expensive and look mega cool :D

s0ck, have your tips turned white? I had them in the 220 and the tips turned white. I took them out and replaced them with some boggo NGK's. Put them in the 420 and checked them a few K after and they were still white.
 
DRZ said:
All but the cheapest of cheap are good enough for the job in a performance sense and you need not spend a fortune.
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He is absolutely right of course, until you get it on the rollers and you're like, "wtf is my other 10BHPZ?!?!?" :p
If you're that type of person who will then go out and buy the 'better' ones anyway, just get them from the outset.
 
agw_01 said:
I went for Magnecor because I was replacing everything else on the ignition side, they weren't that expensive and look mega cool :D

s0ck, have your tips turned white? I had them in the 220 and the tips turned white. I took them out and replaced them with some boggo NGK's. Put them in the 420 and checked them a few K after and they were still white.
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Can't say I've checked, doubt they've done 6k yet. Only today I got the waterpump sorted, quite chuffed with myself now :p

All I can say is I RR'd the car the week I bought it with approx 184BHP, a 'service' later which included abovementioned plugs/leads/new rotor arm/dizzy cap/decat and I got 211BHP, which I was quite pleased with :)
 
OE leads will be more than fine. More expensive leads and plugs makes no difference 99 times out of 100. Saying that I wouldn't get really cheap leads made from bits of old electric fence wire wrapped in some insulating tape or anything.
 
s0ck said:
All I can say is I RR'd the car the week I bought it with approx 184BHP, a 'service' later which included abovementioned plugs/leads/new rotor arm/dizzy cap/decat and I got 211BHP, which I was quite pleased with :)
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Nice one! Is the car standard?
 
Matt82 said:
not magnecore. in terms of aftermarket leads, they are the most basic/simplest design and cost the most. avoid magnecore
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Simplest design? You mean like a conductor covered with insulating material? That's never going to work is it...

I pity the fools that have spent silly money on Nology wires though. They are the same people that buy solid silver power cables for their hifi amps :p
 
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