How many resistive parts?

[gr_diver]

Dear friends hello once again!

I have been doing a little research lately concerning the specifications of ignition parts that we commonly use in our cars. I have realized that due to the large variety of parts available, many times the less experienced people, do not really know what parts we use in our cars.

To be more specific, I am concentrating on the High Voltage ignition parts, and the incorporation of parts with built-in resistors, that fight interference issues. Seeing what parts I have been given by Opel dealers, there seems to be quite a confusion. My car had been operating with resistive rotors, resistive spark cables AND the resistive Bosch WR-8 BC spark plugs at the same time, without me knowing it, since most of the times such information is not available when shopping "bulk" parts from dealers. Although this has not caused any problems, it sounds quite like an overkill. I have already replaced the spark plugs and cables with non-resistive ones, and I am left with resistive rotors, since I can't find "plain" ones for my euro-spec Delco ignition. I will probably remove the resistor from it too (since the FSM recommends plain rotor), to see what running a non-resistive ignition would yield for the car's electronics (cd-player).

While the car's behavior has not changed at all, I would like to ask if there are any facts/experience confirming that using too many resistive parts can/may cause pre-mature failure of the ignition, or even if there can be a performance loss due to making the spark less efficient.

Maybe such concentration of resistive parts can sometimes be the actual cause of spark issues (misfiring, fouling etc.), and the "cure" of changing parts is actually reverting to what was supposed to be there in the first place.

This could be making people spend more money than they should, to make the cars run like they are supposed to, and at the same time "hurt" the car's reliability thoughts of it's owner, because parts' failures could actually be conflicts. Thus realizing such possibilities, people could be kept away from avoidable trouble.

Thank you for your time. Please give me your thoughts on the matter.

Regards

Antonis

[GTJIM]

The biggest problem with spark ignitions is the radio frequencies they emit - this causes interference on the car radio ... and every radio, cellphone, TV and 'wireless' computer in range that is in operation at or near the emitted frequencies.

The resistances in ignition components tend to damp out these radio frequency emissions.

I start with a length of "resistance" HT lead from the coil to the distributor cap and simply add components till the annoying static on the radio goes away. Resistance in the ignition secondary circuit (i.e.: from coil to spark plugs) actually forces much higher voltages across the plug gap. An ignition system works exactly by the electrical amps/volts/ohms equations - unless capacitive discharge is used to dump higher voltage into the coil primary windings.

Like all 'tuning' it is a balancing act and the range of differing resistance in the components available is something that can be fiddled with to produce the best individually customised system. Something more to play with!

[guyopel]

Capri 2.0 and other 2.0 Ford products have a dist. rotor that does not have the res. in it if you want to try them .
I have seen an Opel with cheap plug wires that with the stock rotor was skiping above 3k rpms and on the Scope was showing a max voltage of 3 to 3.5k when it should have been in a higher range of 8 to 10k . and when you removed a wire it would not go to max output . H.T.H.
The use of a scope would be the best way to test any changes to be able to see the voltage changes .

[gr_diver]

I appreciate your responses!

GTJim's post was self explanatory, showing that increased resistance could not pose a problem in the spark's intensity. So I stay relieved knowing that using many resistive parts cannot be cause of any problems to people (as I didn't have any as well...)

Thank you very much for your opinions!