Toronado.org

So on my '91 Toronado Trefeo (Trefeo has a slightly different engine set-up right?) I'm looking to replace some of the ignition setup. Taking a look under the hood gives me the impression that the spark plugs look pretty old and the wires looks stock. Keep in mind that I'm very new at this and my goals are to make the engine bay look cool and have good MPG


1) Is there really no difference between the Copper and Platinum spark plugs? It's only a couple dollars more so I really wouldn't mind spending the money if it makes even a little difference. I was looking at this: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/acf-41-902/overview/year/1991/make/oldsmobile/model/toronado



2) Is there a good way to know for sure that the parts will work with my car? Being new to this I'm really worried about getting the wrong pieces. These are the spark plug wires I'm looking at but I'm not sure if my distributor cap is a "HEI spark plug top" yet: http://msdignition.shptron.com/p/wire-set-super-cond-multi-angle-plug-socket-hei



3) After replacing those two things, how realistic is upgrading the distributor cap/rotor and electronic ignition to something like this?

http://msdignition.shptron.com/c/distributors_oldsmobile

Looking at MSD's website the only Distributor caps they list say V8, and since my car is a V6 it's safe to say that won't work? Do you have any recommendations for a V6? I've seen a few people say just keep the stock and upgrade the coil




4) The final part(?) is the Electronic Ignition. Just from forum recommendations I'm looking at this: http://msdignition.shptron.com/p/msd-digital-6al-ignition-with-rev-limiter?referring_products=pdp%7C1be9974390bb39acab393c24b0cbcadc



So as you can see I want to tune her up but I'm still trying to take in a bunch of information. I have yet to investigate what actual performance gains I'll get out of a new distributor cap and electronic ignition. I know for a fact I'm replacing the spark plugs and wires, so my focus is going into those for now but it might make sense to make some of these upgrades in parallel

If you have anything else you'd like to share regarding these types of upgrades I'd be eager to hear, thanks!

Stick with what the car came with. You can never go wrong then. Copper has better heat transfer, put platinum lasts longer. My 78 Eldorado came with copper, my 97 Caddy came with platinum. I use whatever the car came with. Some guys with far more knowledge about engines got paid lots of money and took many hours to design these engines, and I will follow what they suggest.

You always here of guys changing this or that, then other things dont work, or not as intended. My opinion.

Does a '91 Trofeo even HAVE a distributor?

I'd have said it used waste-spark coilpacks.

No cap, no rotor. The MSD stuff is NOT an upgrade to the original module and coilpacks.

That leaves plugs and plug wires. I prefer helical-wound low-resistance plug wires rather than carbon-core high-resistance plug wires. MSD is a good brand for them, but expensive and there are other options that cost half of MSD's price.

You are totally right, this doesn't look like a distributor cap at all (I do all my research during work so I can't look at it often for a reference)



Are these waste-spark coil packs? After some image searching these look somewhat similar to a few of the results. I don't want to sound too shallow but I just want my engine-bay to look cool Since they look a bit older and they're supposed be replaced every now and then, I figured I'd start there

Plugs and plug wires should be replaced periodically. Coilpacks don't need to be replaced until they fail.

Shut the hood, and the engine bay doesn't need to "look cool".

Do the wires and the plugs. As far as the coils, unless you get them very cheap, leave them alone. Rock auto had a closeout on ignition coils for my cars once, something like $4 each. So I bought a few and just replaced them. Unless you can get the coils for very cheap on closeout, I would not bother. Have a look at your hoses, if you want to replace something, do that. New coolant, new hoses. A bad plug or coil will stop the car, a bad hose can destroy the engine.
Take a wet rag with a bit of simple green, and wipe off the engine if you want it to look a bit nicer.

I like to have everything looking good and clean and but remember...............chrome don't get you home son !
Mike

TOA # 70

But when the heater hose blows, your clean engine is all of a sudden not so clean anymore