1G 1990 Dynatek ARC-2 installed/impression

[1cleangsx]

Mine were gapped to .020, I’m about to test them out on .023 here shortly to see if that gap improves low range misfires and still pulls clean up top. My current plugs are NGK br9es

 

[1cleangsx]

Just confirmed, spark blow out in 2nd gear at a .023 gap, I’ll re gap’em back down to .018 or so and call it good.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

9's are a pretty cold plug Jeremy. Did the car not like BR8's? I had to gap mine tite to keep spark blowout with or without the ARC2 box when I got above 30 psi. Mine seem to like .018" for some reason and I run BR8ES's.

 

[1cleangsx]

You know Marty I’ve got some brand new br8’s I might just throw in, I’ve had these 9’s since last year, I always wanted to err on the side of too cold of a plug than to hot, but I’m sure the 8’s would be fine too.

 

[Stapl3]

I had to use BR10ES plugs gapped to .018 with an arc2. I would get about 10 clean pulls out of them until there was some break up, then I had to pull all 4 plugs. I'd have a shoebox full of them after a year.

Being stuck with a setup where we can't have a huge plug gap sucks so bad.

 

[Vegas Smith]

I was always terrified of that ARC-2 box going out, but after a few years it never did. I mounted it far away from the engine and used rubber washers on all its mounting points to hopefully absorb vibrations to improve the longevity. Who knows if it worked. When I had my wire harness done, it occurred to me that it was only maybe $200 to upgrade to go to an IGN-1a setup, and I'd never have to worry about that box again.

 

[92AWDHX40]

Mmm great thread I never needed to use one yet. Following the results on this though. This has Intrigued me this set up .

 

[1cleangsx]

Okay guys, I almost didn’t want to post this cuz it’s kinda funny considering my enthusiasm for the ARC-2 in my first post, but I’m about to yank this POS blue box out and sell it for $350 if anyone’s interested.

If you followed this thread at the beginning when I said it broke up after adjusting the plug gap on my br9’s from .020 to .023 and it broke up, it’s been the same since. I’ve since put in brand new br10’s at .018 and currently br8’s at .018 and same result, it breaks up like the 4th of July in 2nd gear, or in other words as soon as its fragile little soul sees ANY boost.

Earlier today before I took the car out I set it to single strike to check base timing and like I figured my base timing is still dead nuts at 5 degrees BTDC. Tomorrow I’ll do a boost leak which I just did 2 weeks ago and everything was great but who knows, I know it’s not the end of the world, I can yank this piece out and still run upper 30’s boost on my factory coil.

It’s just frustrating because I FELT this thing working last Saturday and it was as awesome, the ONLY successful day I’ve had with it, maybe my ground isn’t good enough? If something was wired wrong it never would have ran right at all, sorry for the rant, I know it’s 1st world problems

I hope everyone else is doing well

 

[jdxnc]

I've seen so many people have issues with these, I refused to ever put one on my car. I stuck it out with oem igntion until I went with the Fueltech and glad of it

 

[1cleangsx]

I’m going Haltech

 

[jdxnc]

I’m going Haltech

ECMLink is great but HT/FT are a whole new level, I don't regret it one bit.

If you're going with Haltech, go right to R35 coils.

 

[1cleangsx]

Are they different than the IGN1A? And also I assume I should buy the kiggly 12-1 crank trigger?

 

[jdxnc]

Are they different than the IGN1A? And also I assume I should buy the kiggly 12-1 crank trigger?

They are much more compact and get rid of ignition wires, direct COP. Anti-lag racing makes a nice kit with the mounting plate and all. I run the K-series Denso coils which are proven to be 7 sec capable without a CDI and the Hitachi R35 coils have nearly twice the output as mine.

Yes you'd want a 12-1 for a standalone ecu

 

[1cleangsx]

Thank you.

 

[1cleangsx]

If I remember correctly from his YouTube videos that’s what Jake Montgomery runs

 

[jdxnc]

If I remember correctly from his YouTube videos that’s what Jake Montgomery runs

Jake is on the Yaris coils I believe, the R35 coils are not compatible with Fueltech as they take over 1A on the signal wire to fire.

 

[1cleangsx]

Looking at Anti Lag Racing’s site now on those

 

[bastarddsm]

Try a boost a pump to power the stock coils. I've read somewhere that the factory PTU has a current limiter built in so you may not get anywhere with that. The factory coils are pretty tough though. I've never found a reason to use anything else. I know everyone is hyped on the COP stuff, but first time you need to hook a timing light up, or if you read plugs a lot, f*** that.

The BR9EIX also help, but they didn't last long for me.

Tight gaps at boost is nothing new, even the mighty MSD promag 44 has to run a tight gap. The voltage to jump the gap starts becoming bigger than the breakdown voltage of the plug insulation, and the wire insulation.

I'd guess when you bumped the gap up you hurt the wires and now they are junk.

 

[bastarddsm]

Also unless you've moved on to a much more expensive trans, take the hint the ignition is telling you, turn it down.

 

[1cleangsx]

Good point, I still have a set of NGK blue wires I could try, but I think I’m set on just removing the ARC-2 and running off the stock coil, I’m able to make plenty of power and fun with that, just wanted to share my experiences with the community

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

I'm sorry you're having issues Jeremy. I had breakup issues on my auto car and ONE DAY, ACCIDENTALLY LEFT A SHOP RAG ON TOP OF THE VALVE COVER. Closed the hood, went for a drive, no issues. My NGK wires had taken a crap like Kurt was talking about. I changed wires to some rando wires I had and it went away. Just some more things to add to this thread. My wires were not very old and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. The wires were arcing to the hood.
Are you still on wires or COP? I don't do COP and Kurt had some pretty good reasons for that too!

 

[Spleen8urLSX]

I’d say it’s worth it to throw another set of known good or new wires on it and see what happens. Even if it keeps cooking wires and you opt to not tear into it then you at least know even if you toss it on the shelf for a later time.

 

[1cleangsx]

So I just ohm tested both the primary/secondary coils and there out of spec. The chilton recommends like .76-.96 and I’m getting 1.2 which might not be terrible, but at the secondary I’m getting 9.8, which should’ve been 10.3-13 or so, my old oem coil pack tests the same on the primary but much better at the secondary with 11.9ohms. So obviously I’m gonna swap that coil pack back in but leave the Taylor wires in, or should I throw in the NGK wires too? I kinda don’t want to change too many variables at once can’t remember if I told you guys but the current coil pack in the car is an NGK I bought off rock auto a couple years ago

 

[1cleangsx]

It was the coil!!! After swapping the modified harness from the NGK over to my good ole oem unit she rips smooth once again . I did multiple 2nd-3rd rips and not a single missfire I also swapped out the Taylor wires for my old NGK’s but I bet the Taylor’s are still good, I’m not messing with anything tho at the moment she’s working

 

[llxkevinxll]

They are much more compact and get rid of ignition wires, direct COP. Anti-lag racing makes a nice kit with the mounting plate and all. I run the K-series Denso coils which are proven to be 7 sec capable without a CDI and the Hitachi R35 coils have nearly twice the output as mine.

Yes you'd want a 12-1 for a standalone ecu

12 vs 12-1 on the standalones. What about the -1 is better if the home signal is still provided by a modified CAS?