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So, I'm about to do my sparkplugs and decided to do a little research on ignition coils. Are they worth upgrading? I found them on ebay ranging from $70 - $750 (for plasma direct) that apparently will supply 10x more spark.

What should I know about ignition coils? Are they limited by the spark plugs, or are the sparkplugs limited by the coils?


OKADA Plasma Direct Ignition Coil $750



Nology Hotwire Coil-on-plug Conversion kit: $220

 
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I don't see a reason for the upgrade unless you are pushing massive amounts of power you don't need those. They are horribly expensive too IMO. There are other things you can do for that price that are more worthwhile. I've also read you need a tune after you install them or you may throw a code. You also won't feel much if any power increase.

 
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those products are both garbage. nology is a very old scam i thought everyone knew about, and the okada ones are unreliable. members on here had em and they barely lasted a few months before one failed. the oem coil on plug ignition is already a huge upgrade over wires and they last near forever. many guys run stock coils with 400+hp civics and have no problems. stick with parts that have been proven to perform for 100k+ miles not some random junk that nobody is using. i guarantee if they were that good, they would be coming stock on new cars. same goes for the pulstar spark plug junk. companies will come up with anything to make money.

 
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Like everyone else has already said, coil over plug is already a huge upgrade over the ignition systems in earlier models and it doesn't leave much room for improvement. There hasn't been a good alternative offered for OEM coil packs on any honda engine that I've seen, whether they be for a D, R or K series engine.

On the D17a2 the best mod you can do to gain a bit of power without needing to spend $1000+ on K-pro and more intense engine upgrades is a stage 1 cam, for under $400 you can gain 25hp.

 
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Awesome advice, thanks.

 
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so you can gain a whole hp huh?

its not worth doing. lol its not going to make a difference on ur car. its like those pulstars. lol

 
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haha that always cracks me up. like the gas really ignites better with a bigger spark. it either ignites or it doesnt plain and simple.

 
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I gotta say those first ones look nice though Not 750 dollars nice though.

 
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they actually tested out on a dyno with a SRT4 along with a whole buncha other spark plugs...

and the pulsestar showed minimal gain from stock while the NGK (i forgot which one, but believe it was the iridium) showed much more hp gain

 
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you can get the okada's for $500 but the stock ones can shoot a bolt almost all the way across the engine bay I watched skipbarber edwin do it once lol

it is one of the few things that does not need upgrading

 
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^ Sweet... We should have coil pack wars one day... It's like roman candle wars except more... electrifying.

 
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the only reason iridium plugs may show better dyno readings on some cars (mainly high performance motors that are heavy with electronics) is due to them using less electrical energy to make the same spark since they use a fine tipped electrode. even denso has a disclaimer that iridium plugs are not meant to increase hp, only to offload the electrical system a bit.

 
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I'm going to expand on this a bit if you don't mind Steve, because you've basically stated when an ingnition upgrade is something to look into seriously.

Ignition upgrades are beneficial on extremely heavily modified engines where there's enough fuel and air being thrown into the cylinders that misfires begin to occur, the increased energy at the plugs compensate for the fuel rich environment and prevents the misfires and loss of power. If your running less than 700hp you probably don't need an ignition upgrade.