Jacob’s ignition testing. Thanks to Newbomb Turk….

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rumblefish360

rumblefish360

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I sent him an old piggy back, peripheral ignition system by Jacob‘s.
He has a trio of videos up now on todays testi think you guys are really going to like this short series and I hope he finds another thing to test on it.

Perhaps there is a Chrome or Gold box floating in his shop????
I could send them over if you don’t have them…..

@Newbomb Turk



 
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Those systems actually worked a lot better than I would have believed. I had a co-worker who put one on a Toyota SR5 22RE 4X4 way back when and it made a huge difference.
 
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I used the above on a ‘94 (IIRC) Hyundai Excel 5spd manual.
It grabbed me more mileage but would turn the distributor cap into looking like a charred piece of wood. It would also destroy the rotor. This would happen every 13 months.

1st time was a surprise. Second time was lesson learned, exactly 13 months each time. Changed every year since then until I forgot and yep…. Noticed it was the 13 month marker.

This is one bad *** system. I know others have cursed it not working for them but, IMO, the MSD units, all but my first one, sucked *** and never worked for more than a few months at there best and there average worst is less than 6 weeks with the absolute worst being 6 starts.

Hummmm, a 1994 Jacob’s ignition system that still works or the heavy failure rate MSD??? Hummmmmm

The green wire goes to what they called “The Trigger Wire.”
 
mopowers said:
What's the benefit of a hotter spark? Does it result in more horsepower?
Click to expand...
Yes. It’s also a larger and more powerful spark. You can also open up the plug gap to make the spark longer. So you end up with a longer length hotter spark to more full ignite the fuel.

This results in more power (under full throttle or not) and mileage when cruising.
 
I installed a Jacobs ignition kit on my then new 95 V8 Dakota & it definitely made a difference. I was impressed with it. I wish I still had it!
 
Interesting, I think that's a plasma ignition system. We tested a similar design when I worked at DIYAutoTune - I won't say who built it because it was an early development mule and maybe they sorted the bugs out. What this ignition did was it charged a capacitor to 500 volts similar to a CDI system - but instead of dumping the capacitor's charge into a coil, it used a power diode (which would be in that small aluminum box) to send it down the spark plug wire. The voltage would only go down the wire once the ignition already struck an arc, but then it would give a massive surge of current.

That particular ignition had a rather nasty weakness, though: It could just about double as an electromagnetic pulse weapon! It generated so much interference when we switched it on that it didn't just mess with the car's electronics, but we had to modify the chassis dyno's wiring with better grounding and shielding before we could get a reading. I'm not sure if the Jacobs system had a similar weakness or if they'd come further along in sorting it out.
 
Not that I’m aware of. Zero radio interference with mine.
 
In the video, I assume the Allen's tach is in distributor RPM.
So double that for crankshaft speed.
(edit: crossed out because its incorrect. See Newbomb Turk's reponse below)

'Larger spark'.
A spark that can initiate with a larger spark plug gap has potential to create a larger flame kernal.
or with a smaller gap, that voltage can be used to initiate a spark when conditions are more difficult.

The next part is to have enough energy to keep that spark going while the kernal develops. That can be useful with less than ideal fuel/air and combustion conditions, or if one is trying t ogrow a larger than normal size kernal.

Is there an advantage? Depends but potentially yes especially when conditions aren't ideal.
 
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This is basic info for some and maybe new for others...
Voltage to fire (jump the spark plug gap) depends on the conditions at the gap.
If conditions are such that 12,000 Volts will cause the spark, then that's what happens. It doesn't go higher.

1713012214054.png

Once the spark has begun, then the voltage drops to the level needed to for the current to continue jumping across the gap.
A system with more energy can put more current (moving electrons) across the gap before shutting down.
 
Mattax said:
In the video, I assume the Allen's tach is in distributor RPM.
So double that for crankshaft speed.

'Larger spark'.
A spark that can initiate with a larger spark plug gap has potential to create a larger flame kernal.
or with a smaller gap, that voltage can be used to initiate a spark when conditions are more difficult.

The next part is to have enough energy to keep that spark going while the kernal develops. That can be useful with less than ideal fuel/air and combustion conditions, or if one is trying t ogrow a larger than normal size kernal.

Is there an advantage? Depends but potentially yes especially when conditions aren't ideal.
Click to expand...

There are two ranges on that meter. A high and low RPM. Both of those are scaled with engine and crank RPM. It is a bit hard to read.

I really need to make a video showing what the Allen 22-250 can really do.

It will spin a distributor to 12k. Most machines only go to 8k and some less than that. That’s crank RPM.

It can also do a magneto, it can test a module by itself and a coil too.

You can run a magnetic trigger distributor (that won’t run by itself) on the machine without a box.

I really need to do that. I know Tuner wants me to leave it to him in my will.

As for the Jacob’s stuff…I was pleasantly impressed with it.

It looks a bit clunky but it works. And it’s so simple even I can wire it up.

I will start watching swap meets and stuff and I’ll start buying those when I find them.

A big THANKS goes to RF360 for sending it all the way up here and letting me test it. I am glad for the opportunity.
 
Newbomb Turk said:
There are two ranges on that meter. A high and low RPM. Both of those are scaled with engine and crank RPM. It is a bit hard to read.

I really need to make a video showing what the Allen 22-250 can really do.

It will spin a distributor to 12k. Most machines only go to 8k and some less than that. That’s crank RPM.

It can also do a magneto, it can test a module by itself and a coil too.

You can run a magnetic trigger distributor (that won’t run by itself) on the machine without a box.

I really need to do that. I know Tuner wants me to leave it to him in my will.

As for the Jacob’s stuff…I was pleasantly impressed with it.

It looks a bit clunky but it works. And it’s so simple even I can wire it up.

I will start watching swap meets and stuff and I’ll start buying those when I find them.

A big THANKS goes to RF360 for sending it all the way up here and letting me test it. I am glad for the opportunity.
Click to expand...
Thanks. The Sun Distributor Testers have their tachs in distributor rpm. Works off a signal from mechanically driven contact points - as long as they don't stick - so its one distributor rev per pulse. At least the ones I've seen - which are older. Also have two scales, one for low rpm range and the other for 1000 up.

I'll go edit my assumtion.
 
Mattax said:
In the video, I assume the Allen's tach is in distributor RPM.
So double that for crankshaft speed.

'Larger spark'.
A spark that can initiate with a larger spark plug gap has potential to create a larger flame kernal.
or with a smaller gap, that voltage can be used to initiate a spark when conditions are more difficult.

The next part is to have enough energy to keep that spark going while the kernal develops. That can be useful with less than ideal fuel/air and combustion conditions, or if one is trying t ogrow a larger than normal size kernal.

Is there an advantage? Depends but potentially yes especially when conditions aren't ideal.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the explanation. So basically, if a hotter spark isn't needed, there's really no benefit? Is that safe to say?
 
It’s also hard to find an area or condition where there isn’t a Benefit to having a hotter spark but it becomes a issue is it really needed and how much does it improve the combustion.

A combination of hotter, longer, larger and multiple strikes is the winner and nearly always improves mileage, power and lower emissions.

It’s super hard to improve on today’s ignitions.

So… when is your t to hot? Good question! I guess if your burning out parts before there normal life span would be a good indicator. At least for most applications. All out racing can use its advantage while not caring if there going through a distributor cap a year. The typical guy on the road may consider that way to much.

Your call.
 
The system I tested used multiple diodes, one in between each spark plug and the distributor. That would drive up the price, but should improve distributor life.
 
I've had a few of those and liked how they ran. The last one I had I bought off of a guy that's on the /6 site and it ended up in my attic for a few years and when I went to try and use it, it was dead as a brick. It ended up in the trash. I've been kicking myself ever since I let the 2 that I had bought new back in the day, when I sold the vehicles I originally bought them for.
 
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