Review of NGK Power Cables

[shiroitenshi]

Hmm.. I haven't been posting much... since I'm still stuck in my B20B project, which is still on hold due to difficulty in locating stuffs at a better price.

Lately however, my car was coughing at low rpms, sub 3000K, so I figured the plug fouled or something. Taking out the plugs, visual inspection showed that the plugs wasn't the problem, so I borrowed type-r cables and finally pinpointed it being cable problem. I guess the splitfire plugs gave up the ghost... which was a real letdown.. considering I rather like how they look.

I thought about trying some of nology's or something of that ilk, and my friend recommended me some wires. He just told me it's good grade plug wires, so I said.. okay.. I'll get them. At that point, I didn't know what brand, but his opinions are usually always right, so I gave it a shot.

Two days later, the cables arrived. NGK Power Cables. Honestly, I've not even heard of them before, but at 16,800yen a pop, it must be decent at least.

As for performance... well.. what do you expect on a stock B16A ? Nothing!! (at least not that I can feel, that is) ROFL! I'll update on the performance factor if the cables last till my b20b conversion. Sparking is similar to the splitfire.. no difference in spark intensity (could be the coil being old....)

Visually.. when I took them out of the box.. I went like... 'eeewww' for the light blue colour. The design wasn't really appealing for me as well. I rather liked the bulky look of the splitfire, with it's black end caps.

But according to a review.. 'supposedly' 90% of japan tuners use this cable. (never trust marketing speak).

The sticker was kinda a letdown for me too.. white letters on a red border.. that sticker was headed to the nearest rubbish bin.

Anyway, if you're planning to get this cable, it works on the stock holders since it's 7mm as opposed to my previous splitfire cables at 8.5mm. Cable routing isn't as nice at splitfire, since I has excess lengths on certain wires. on the plus side, it's has tiny plastic clips denoting cylinder numbers, which is like a tiny useful feature, if you're trying to put back the cables on the distributor with the spark plug cover on. As if I do that often... (>_

Overall.. 6 out of 10... performance maybe on par with other performance cables, but the look and construction is uninspiring. NGK should really make the ends out of a different colour. (>_

 

[zaki]

plug cables won't give you extra hp. you won't see any gain in hp. if you ever feel the difference when changing one to another, it ony recover hp that might have been lost from previous cable (bad cable maybe)....

 

[shiroitenshi]

You got that right, zaki.. no hp difference.. I knew that from the beginning because I did mention earlier in another thread the following:-

The performance cable market exists for a certain reason.. it's not totally hype like the majority of 'fuel savers' out there.

Thing is, we're comparing the cables on a stock engine.
Let's see what happenes when we put it in a high performance engine, where the injectors are not teeny sized (below 300cc) and the engine is no longer it's original displacement. (from 1.6/1.8 to 2litres or bigger)

Then, of course, we'd need bigger ignition coils, colder plugs, etc. since there's more fuel to burn, and there's a need for a more consistent spark, or the engine will bog with the drastic changes in fuelling across the rev range.

In which case, the stock cables would no longer be enough, and start to be a bottleneck in the ignition system.

Then, and only then, performance cables start to come into play.

Anyway...just expressing my disappointment at the construction of the thing... didn't really look that great. (>_<). Looks like coloured stock cables.

 

[hattech-v]

haha... agree with u.. it seem like stock cable n coloured to blue... haha

 

[sasuke]

Have u tried Nology Hotwires then?

 

[hattech-v]

nology nowires better... like simon use... haha

 

[crxr]

No if you buy the F3000 series NGK racing II Black cable, rated 0.9ohm for all 4 cables. Go figure what that means.

 

[hattech-v]

the design nice or not? hehe...

 

[J101]

overhyped by the media. the ultra red cables are the same with the power cable just that its 100 ringgit more expensive. if you want more spark get the msd external coil, blaster and blah blah for the b-series..and yeah including msd cables..should be 2XXX.

 

[hattech-v]

is it worth to spend that 2k+ n waht can i expect for the return?

 

[sasuke]

plug cables won't give you extra hp. you won't see any gain in hp. if you ever feel the difference when changing one to another, it ony recover hp that might have been lost from previous cable (bad cable maybe)....

Emm... :Not_Impressed:

 

[JINEIL2EN]

overhyped by the media. the ultra red cables are the same with the power cable just that its 100 ringgit more expensive. if you want more spark get the msd external coil, blaster and blah blah for the b-series..and yeah including msd cables..should be 2XXX.

ultra red is rated 1.5ohm, & ngk blue is 0.9ohm(Power Cable).....u said its the same..??

 

[lozo]

i've found two different types of ngk spark plug cable

one with blue ends with blue cable and the other is the black ends with blue cable.
any different ar ?

 

[shiroitenshi]

haha... agree with u.. it seem like stock cable n coloured to blue... haha

Yeah.. what a letdown.. I'm back to splitfires once this one dies. (supposedly ithe NGK power cables lasts much longer than normal cables but then again.. never trust marketing speak)... for example...
130%? Wah! if I put it 12V at one end, I get 12V + on the other end? ROFL!! actual fact was that it reduces resistance by 30%, but tell that to the marketteers! ROFL!

I just like the beefy look of my prev. splitfires. the routing and length was nice and doesn't look so messy.. this one has extra lengths.. probably expecting the person who buys it to use a external ignition system.

 

[shiroitenshi]

Have u tried Nology Hotwires then?

No.. Last I read on another spark plug thread, there were rumours of problems... but nothing concrete.

Another guy using it on a 2L b20.. no problems so far... but his is using external ignition system.

 

[shiroitenshi]

i've found two different types of ngk spark plug cable

one with blue ends with blue cable and the other is the black ends with blue cable.
any different ar ?

I think the ones with the black ends are the normal NGK cables.

 

[hattech-v]

i prefer the black end one. look nicer than the blue end one.. haha

 

[shiroitenshi]

yeah.. black end caps are better.. thing is.. I thought that it was similar to other performance cables which has black ends.

 

[orc3368]

waaa u now putting in b20 kaaa???!!!!hahahhaha...as for plug cables i preffers nology...they look nice although abit messy(due to 1 plug 1 earthing) and i saw the demo...really big fire...hahahhaha

 

[shiroitenshi]

yup... currently cleaning the block.. too bad 'hot tanking' the block isn't available here. Those water jackets are hard to reach and clean.

nology looks nice as well, but since NGK was recommeded to me, and I didn't even know then about it's looks apart from it being blue, I bought it.. too late.. guess I've to stick with it until it dies a natural death.