My father (electrical engineer) was a car nut as well so I frequently bounced ideas off of him. Once I asked him about the Higher Voltage ignition coils and he basically told me that 'the voltage is determined by the resistance of the spark plug to fire. Higher voltage coils is more or less an advertising point. Yes you can increase the ratio of the windings to give you more 'potential' voltage but the spark plug will still fire at the same voltage regardless.' You could open up your plug gap to take advantage of the higher voltage but risk spark jumping to ground elsewhere other than the plug gap.. I have experimented here and exactly that has happened.
I worry about other potential side effects from increasing the ratio of the windings with an ignition system designed around the stock coils windings and resistance. There is always a trade off as well. Higher voltage = lower current and vise versa. What is the optimum ratio is the question.
Qouted from the internet on ignition systems... take it as you may..
"One item that many people do not know (or refuse to believe due to the absurd advertising they have been exposed to) about ignition systems can be said in a relative simple sentence, "The spark energy that leaves the coil and reaches the spark plug, jumping the gap and igniting the fuel mixture, is only going to be enough to do just that, no matter the coil's output rating." What that means, is that it does not matter if you had a bazillion-volt coil on your vehicle, if it only took 10,000v, 20,000v, or 8,000v to jump the gap and ignite the fuel mixture, that is all you're going to get on that cycle. These voltage levels can be seen clearly when your vehicle is connected to an oscilloscope that is monitoring spark energy. There is a little more to it that that, because the type of trigger (coil driver or coil control) also plays a part in secondary energy output."
I have seem many here that seem to be happy with aftermarket coils but seriously doubt they see a real performance advantage based on the above info.
On the Lightning Forums most swear by the OEM coils so thats what I run. Boost does put a higher demand on the ignition system as it increases the resistance to fire. That's why you decrease the plug gaps with boost.
