AM's '96 Ford Aspire mod thread

[AeroModder]

Just ordered a set of those Pulstar pulse plugs. We'll see if they actually do have any effect, or if it's just another addition to the unicorn corral.

[Daox]

Tried em (thankfully didn't pay for them). They made no noticeable difference. One went bad almost exactly one year after I installed em and I went back to normal plugs.

[Frank Lee]

The Coupe still has it's Pulstars after all these years.

[AeroModder]

From what I've heard, there's been some design and materials changes since they came around. I've been told the newer Iridium variety ones are better than the old plugs.

I currently run Autolite copper plugs.

[user removed]

The original plugs in my 97 Ranger were replaced at 125k with no big change in performance or mileage. The gap was twice the original and still no significant difference.
If plugs like that get any better, you will never have to change them, just clean a regap for the life of the engine. Wires are also dated 1997 and still work fine at 16 years age next month.

regards
Mech

[AeroModder]

On the wires, I noticed a HUGE difference between old and new when I took my ohm meter to them. The new wires measured at about 700 ohms on the shortest wire, and the old were around 11-12k. Those were replaced 2 years ago, and still measure around 7-800 ohms.

Update: The new plugs came in yesterday. I spent some time researching what gap to set them to, with iridium tips needing less arc voltage as compared to copper plugs, so they can run a higher gap. My car's gap range is .039" to .043", so I set them at .044".

I've also been doing a tune-up on it, so I'll wait a tank before installing them to isolate the changes. I did a Seafoam piston soak at the end of this last tank, and replaced the distributor cap/rotor and cleaned the MAF sensor and throttle body at the end of the tank before that. My last tank was an unusually high 49.8 MPG, and I did the Seafoam treatment just before the fillup.

[AeroModder]

Installed the Pulstar plugs today. They do make it feel a bit more peppy, and seem to add another couple MPG on the highway during light load, but the faster growing flame kernel retards the timing a bit, which makes low RPM performance suffer. Under high load at low RPM it'll stumble sooner than my copper plugs would. The Scangauge actually showed negative timing when this happened. Also, it felt like there was a misfire at half throttle in 5th gear at about 25-30 MPH. It happened more than once, so it wasn't just a fluke. I do have one spark plug wire that has some connecter issues, so I might see if that's the culprit and order a new set.

Unfortunately, my plans of testing these for a few tanks before making any changes crashed along with my air dam after it met a piece of a blown truck tire on the freeway. I had to pull the dam off on the side of the freeway, and marked a 3 MPG loss without it. The dam is bent inward and the undertray is split in two. Thankfully I recently bought a new sheet of coroplast, so I'll be rebuilding it soon.

[AeroModder]

Well, I'm already back to my copper plugs. These started misfiring, and when I took them out for inspection, I saw a ton of carbon fouling. They're too cold of a heat range for my application. Back to Autolite coppers, and the misfiring is gone!

[AeroModder]

Finally something a little more "aero." Since my first air dam was taken out by a truck tire, I redesigned it:

[IVTenvy]

My 94 expire was hit in a parking lot. The front pass door was dented ten inches in so esurance called it totalled. I got 1750 for damages and kept the car. A-b-a testing of broken window and smashed door shows 20% loss in economy so don't try it. Got a new door at Steelhead in Santa Barbara and I can't wait to do some over the top aero mods. KIA bodied, Mazda powered cars are the way to go for experimental aero.