On Thu, 22 May 1997, Shane F. Ingate wrote:
> Has anyone used Nology "Hot Wires"? For those who know what these are,
> Nology make plug wires with a built-in capacitor. The resulting spark in the
> plug is of extremely short duration (compared with the slow-duration MSD
>spark,
> eg) and of a much higher temperature than conventional hi-tech ignition
> systems. Nology claims that the long-duration (1-3 millisecond) sparks are
>lost at
> rpms greater than 2000 (because the piston has risen to, and gone way past TDC
> while the plug is still sparking. Nology claims that their hot short-duration
> (4 nanosecond) spark provides spot-on hot sparking at the whole rev range.
[...]
> Prices are less than $300 (I think) for a V8.
$300 for spark plug wires? That's an even worse rip-off than ShitFire
plugs! To avoid that whole discussion, let me sum up the experiences of
zillions of Miata owners with ShitFires thusly: they don't make a
difference, but they sure as hell will stick to your wire boots so well that
you'll have to replace ytour wires with the plugs. Why? They cleverly
decided they didn't need ridges on the insulator. The ridges not only make
a longer path for the spark voltage to escape the gap, but also minimize the
surface area to which your wire boot will bake itself.
I hope Nology have a good replacement warranty because capacitors don't
typically like high temps and high voltages for long periods of time. The
high voltage especially tends to break their innards down. I would expect
these wires to fail more quickly than good quality normal wires.
>
> The application I am thinking about is for my Triumph TR6, where
> I really want an ignition improvement for starting and low-mid rev range
>(1500-4000 rpm).
> Yeah, I know, its not a Pantera, but I KNOW you will forgive me. Besides,
> the ensuing thread will benefit the go-faster Pantera folk.
> I have a MSD 6-AL on the Pantera and it starts INSTANTLY! I want this kind
> of reliability in my Triumph too, but am examining all options (including
> pointless-systems, and combinations of pointless-MSD-Nology components).
If I were you I'd go with the time-proven solutions like magnetic or or optical
tripping of an MSD-type box.
I looked at their web site and they're just twisting fizziks in
meaningless ways. For instance, they use W = P * t (though they present it
as P = W / t) to explain that their short spark makes more power (small t).
They musta skipped out on high school fizziks since that's the formula for
the amount of power *required* to do work over time. Bozos.
They also claim to be somehow magically producing 100KW. I have news for
them - they only have the power (W) that the ignition coil produced... unless
they're tapping into some mysterious force in the universe that the rest of
us don't know about. Besides, once you've reached the sparking voltage
(sufficient to ionize a path) additional current would do nothing but
increase erosion of the spark plug *outer* electrode (conventional ignition
polarity) (note that their Silverstone plugs only address erosion of the
center electrode).
Does Nology sell strap-on magnetic gasoline molecule aligners for $100 too? :-)
These guys are selling hot air to people who believe what they read. Sorry
Shane... no insult to you intended - after all you were wise enough to
question their claims.
> My own research out on the web shows that Nology "Hot Wires" are pretty
> popular among the kids who "race" modern Japanese cars, but none of them
>attest
> to whether they actually notice a difference.
I'd bet it's good enough for them that they're expensive and colorful. 1/2 :-)
-Andy
PS - If you wanna really see what Nology are about, look at p.19 of their IPO
prospectus. They're estimating they'll use 36% of the proceeds for debt
retirement and 25% for marketing. Sounds like smoke and mirrors inc to me...
72 Pantera: power 91 Miata: quickness 96 A4Q: traction
84 RZ350: all the above
Subject: Re: Nology "Hot Wires"
Date: Thu, 22 May 1997 12:02:28 -0700
Shane and all,
I am not sure about these. I checked out their web site, and a number of
statements strike me as pseudo scientific. For example, they claim that
longer spark duration is not as precise as short duration (ignition
occurring "sometime" during the spark). A long duration spark should start
ignition at the beginning of the spark. The long duration is to try to get
a more complete burn, as well as insure ignition of the fuel-air mixture.
Most modern ignition systems already use a capacitor to store up the energy
before the spark fires. I am not sure what the effect of additional
capacitors in the wires would have. Also, if it does work, you can buy
capacitors for a lot less than $300.
Their claims on the "Silverstone" spark plugs gets even more interesting.
They talk about resistance being "bad" because it "resists" the spark.
Resistance acts, in a way, like a wider gap, in that it causes the coil
more time to build voltage, resulting in a hotter spark. It does, however,
delay the spark, and should be taken into account on timing. Also, it can
result in NO spark at higher RPM, if the coil is not up to the voltage
requirements. Another interesting point is their "solid silver" electrode.
Silver melts at 960 degrees Centigrade (approximately 1700 degrees F.)
Combustion temperatures can be around 2000 degrees Centigrade!
Ted (Darth) Mitchell
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