Rudy

iTrader: (3)

How does the HKS unit compare to the XS Engineering Power Pack Ignition. It looks excatly the same but only $265.

mooreboost

iTrader: (6)

Isn't XS Engineering the same as SS Auto Chrome and all of those other companies?

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

I wish I could tell you, but in the entire time I've known of the XS Engineering product, I've never seen anyone who had one in stock, or even any pictures of it.

For the money, I'm fairly certain its not quite the same as the DLI-II, but until I can get my hands on one to really compare it, I have to reserve any judgement.

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Ya know, thats a really hard question to answer since every car is different, but misfire is pretty noticable, especially at idle and under boost, you can feel it. If you find that no matter what plugs you run, and no matter what gap you run, you still get a misfire, then your a good candidate for an ignition upgrade. There are other signs of poor combustion but their a little more subtle and not always a telltale symptom of spark being blown out, or combustion quench. If you read through the review I posted, I explained some of the symptoms that were obvious on my car, and how it was improved.

Like I said earlier though, some upgrades like ignition are preventative, and you shouldn't do an ignition upgrade EXPECTING any sort of gains, the most obvious improvements however would be part throttle response and idle quality. The other improvements would have alot more to do with your tune, plug choice, gap, boost levels, etc.. Unless you've worked with CDI ignitions in the past, and can see how obvious an improvement it is on an older car, its hard to really explain what makes this worthwhile, especially for the money, but when you have persistent misfire, issues with getting good timing, or difficulty getting your AFR's consistent, then you could be suffering from a poor spark or some sort of combustion quench.

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Yes.. I you can, I am using a Buschur mini-battery in my car. the HKS DLI actually is designed to operate at as low as 6v and still provide adequate output to drive the ignition system correctly.

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Its funny you mention that, in my case I installed grounding wires, and saw no noticable improvement, however it was an improvement that could be measured in my sensors on an oscilloscope as a cleaner signal from the sensor (not as much noise.. Not so much an issue with an analog sensor, but I can imagine it could affect the signal on a digital output such as the MAF sensor)

Let me add that I purposely installed the unit after running a set of older iridium plugs that would misfire badly at idle, and would definitely misfire under high boost, at the least, the idle improved and the colder plugs were "Cleaned" becuase they were able to fire consistently. And I no longer got any misfire under the boost levels I was running at that particular test.

The real advantages with any ignition upgrade is to be able to run a colder plug and larger gap than you might not otherwise get away with. But at the least your giving yourself peace of mind knowing the ignition system won't likely be a source of a problem when your tuning the car.

kmcconn9

iTrader: (33)

Good write up, I have been waiting for a review on this piece.

Chris@nolimitmotors

iTrader: (277)

<--- nice writeup Jack, evoM guru fits you the best. Once (if ever( my 19" volks sell i'm getting this and alcohol injection and going to get reflashed again.

Chris@nolimitmotors

iTrader: (277)

<--- nice writeup Jack, evoM guru fits you the best. Once (if ever) my 19" volks sell i'm getting this and alcohol injection and going to get reflashed again.

David Buschur

iTrader: (53)

Thanks for the kind words Jack.

I am very impressed with the HKS DLI2 also. Has worked extremely well on just about every single car we have installed it on.

David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com

TrinaBabe

iTrader: (3)

Well I am the tester for all things that will eventually give up (Aside from the fuel pump and motor (Hopefully)). I will be pushing this stock motor to around 30psi and probably well over 500hp to the ground so we will see how it holds up. I am planning to run an inlune fuel pump along with the Walbro to ensure no failures there but the ignition I am really on the verge of buying and not buying. I think I would rather save my money for a failure then a pre-emptive purchase. Ill let you know how the stock handles extremely high boost levels and once I have gathered a very large buffer zone for the new motor and everything I will purchase some sort of ignition and post the results. If the stock ignition craps out too badly I will just replace it and still post the results of before and after.

I would like to see how much of a difference it makes... any slight problems in peoples cars are usually greatly amplified in my car considering the setup I have. Anyways.. if M Jack claims a significant difference there is one. He is an extremely smart guy that is always informative and non-biased.

Fourdoor

iTrader: (11)

Just installed mine today.

My idle was already rock steady, so no changes there. With new plugs gapped at .028 I don't have any ignition issues at 22 psi now

Does the DLI II cause any phase shift in the ignition events that could advance or retard the "real" timing as seen by the spark plugs? I noticed a bit more knock activity in my data logs, but it is also extremely hot here compared to the last time I was data logging the car. In any case I will back off the timing a couple deg.... just wondering if it was the new parts or the test conditions increasing my knock count

Keith

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Yes.. It does, the old tunes I was working with I was leading my timing by a few degrees, when I ran my old tune, it was knocking at different points from 5500-7800rpm, I actually had to pull 3 degrees of timing out of my top-end tune and then tweak it a bit until I got back to where I was.

BJai02

iTrader: (5)

Did you get a chance to check your HP output comparing to your old logs? Were you able to get the same or higher HP level as before with 3 degree less timing? I guess that would prove that DLI-2 really fixed the "lead timing" that we need with stock ignition.

MalibuJack

iTrader: (5)

Yes, output was basically improved according to my logs.. However the pulls that i used for comparison were done on two different nights.. Keep in mind that the boost also was no longer tapering as much, I was hitting 19.5psi (typo, I originally wrote 20.5 but that was the wrong run) at redline where I was hitting 18.5 or so before.. (this was before my GM BCS mod... and isn't a test factor)

This was with no other changes than the DLI2 install.. I can't be 100% certain that the DLI-II was 100% responsible for less boost taper, but if ignition is improved, you should in theory result in more expanding exhaust volume which could be the explanation.