Part Two: The Ignition System
Next, it's time to tackle the ignition system. But, before tearing anything down under the hood, I assembled the LiveWires and cap. The Firepower ignition system from Performance Distributors comes with a Screamin' Demon Coil, a Dyna-Module, LiveWires spark plug wires, and a brass terminal cap and rotor. In a bone-head move on my part, I didn't take a proper product shot of everything, but you will see the parts along the way.
1. The old plug wires were...
1. The old plug wires were a pain to remove because of how brittle they were, and only two boots actually came off in one piece. I used a pair of needle-nose pliers to grab the leftover pieces from the plugs.
2. With the plug wires off,...
2. With the plug wires off, the factory cap could be removed to access the rotor and the ignition module. The rotor just pulls off the top of the mainshaft.
3. The module has three electrical...
3. The module has three electrical connections on it, with two externals that are unplugged first. The last one is easier to remove after you slide the module out.
4. The new Dyna-Module comes...
4. The new Dyna-Module comes with a small pack of silicone grease that must be spread across the whole bottom of the module. The grease is necessary as a heat dissipator, so don't skip this step or you will be screwed. Once I had all the gooey stuff spread, the new Dyna-Module went in the factory location.
5. The new rotor went on as...
5. The new rotor went on as simply as the old one came off. Luckily, the shaft has a flat spot in it, so you can only put the rotor on one way. The new cap with the wires followed right behind and sealed up the distributor.
6. The Screamin' Demon Coil...
6. The Screamin' Demon Coil is next, but first I needed to remove the bracketry from the stock coil. The coil is bolted to the intake manifold on the passenger side of the engine. The factory, in its infinite wisdom, used rivets to hold the two-piece bracket to the coil, which needed a drill to be removed.
7. When I was trying to install...
7. When I was trying to install the brackets on the new coil, I noticed they hit some of the resin on the new coil. I chose to clearance the bracket with a bench grinder, instead of messing with the coil.
Instead of using just some...
Instead of using just some run-of-the-mill plugs, I got these Autolite XP Xtreme Performance spark plugs. These plugs are built with a mixture of platinum and iridium. According to Autolite engineers, Iridium is more thermally conductive than platinum, but it is less oxidation-resistant than platinum, so a combination of both yields the best performance.
8. The new Firepower ignition...
8. The new Firepower ignition system will facilitate a plug gap of 0.065 inch. The larger plug gap leads to a more complete combustion of your fuel mixture, which, in turn, provides more horsepower, better gas mileage, and cleaner spark plugs. After gapping all of the plugs, I installed them, plugged in the LiveWires, and fired the truck. Now things were getting better. The stumble was gone, and the 4.3 was revving like a champ.