The Milage Master from Jacobs Electronics.

This report is late! (January, 1998.) I'm very much aware of it. You'll have to excuse me. At the same time, I do have other things to do. If nothing else, I work on rebuilding my front IFS axle. My little son is also demanding quite a lot of my time. Not to mention my work. (But, why should I mention my work? ;-) Anyway, here it is; The Jacobs report.

I had no problems with my original ignition system. It worked just fine. The engine always started very quickly. Even in cold weather. I actually had the habit of never using the accelerator when starting the engine, thinking that "as long as it starts without the use of the accelerator, then the ignition is in good shape". No, the primary reason was to get more horsepower, torque, and eventually also improve the gas mileage. I had already changed to a K&N Air Filter, mounted a Downey Power Breather, a Borla exhaust and the NWOR headers. So, the Jacobs package seemed to be a logical step.

In July, 1997, I ordered and received the Ultra Team package from Jacobs Electronics. Well, I not only ordered and received it. I also payed for it. This is not to be forgotten, since the package is not given away for free. On the contrary. (Please, check current prices directly with Jacobs Electronics.)

The package consists of

1. The Energy Pack, which is the main computer unit.
2. The Ultra Coil.
3. The Secondary Trigger, required by certain vehicles.
4. A set of Energy Core spark plug wires.
5. A package of Wire Markers and Wire Separators.
6. Installation hardware and instructions.

Installation is technically very easy. The installation instructions are easy to follow, and most of the wires are already connected. I chose to cut some wires and to re-connect them in the correct lengths. But that's a matter of taste.

The most difficult was to find the space under the hood of my Mega Runner. It's quite crowded in there already from the factory. And I had already managed to squeeze inn the air compressor for the ARB Air Locker. So, where to find space for the three Jacobs boxes?

I started by installing the Jacobs Ultra Coil. My installation required the use of the original coil as well, so I could not use the space where the original coil was mounted. I ended up moving the original coil a few inches closer to the engine, down into the engine bay. Then I could squeeze inn the new coil to the left of, and in front of, the original coil. Behind the air filter box. Since I could not find a flat surface to mount it upon, I used only three screews. (This is approved by Jacobs.) I did not want to mount it against the metal body of the truck, since that would soon scratch trough the paint, with future rust problems as a result. So I mounted three half inch thick rubber bushings under the coil. Note, that the coil is not grounded through the metal case, but through a ground cable. Very wise, Jacob. :-)

Second, I installed the secondary trigger. This box is not used in all applications. When "the manufacturer has burried the pos. and neg. terminals in such a way that it makes it either extremely difficult, or in some cases, impossible, to install a Jacobs ignition product by conventional methods", as Jacobs installation manuals expressed it, then the secondary trigger must be used. It is connected to the high voltage output on the original coil. The secondary trigger will read the output from the original coil and trigg the Ultra Coil from the original coil. I installed the secondary trigger on the torpedo, in a place where the high voltage cable from the secondary trigger to the Ultra Coil will be of the exactly correct length. This way, I avoided to cut (and rebuild) the high voltage cable, and also to have it stored in a loop somewhere under the hood.

The Energy Pack (main computer) was the most difficult unit to install. That's because it's got the biggest box. I managed to squeeze it down to the right of the engine. The idle-up Vacuum Switching Valve (VSV) for the Air Conditioning system had to be moved. It's normally mounted together with the three VSV's for Air Suction, Gasoline Pressure and Exhaust Gas Recirculation. I moved the idle-up VSV to the right of the other three. I also had to cut off a corner of the mounting plate for the three VSV's. Finally, i had to remove the black plastic cover for the electrical cables, re-route the cables slightly to the right and protect them with a plastic cable spiral instead. After all this, I had gained the necessary space for the Energy Pack. Just as with the Ultra Coil, I mounted it with three screws and used rubber bushings between the case and the sheet metal. The Energy Pack also contains an anti-theft system. A hidden switch has to be activated by the driver within a few seconds after starting the engine, or it will stall and die.

Last, I mounted the new ignition wires. It was impossible to mount the wires in a neat way by using only the supplied wire separators. There were just not enough separators for my truck in the package. Plus, that the standard set provided, seems to be prepared for a V8 engine. I never have four wires going side by side. So I could not use all of the provided separators. The remaining separators were not enough.

I tried to mount the wire markers as well, but they did not fit on the wires(!!!). They came off after about twenty seconds, whatever I did to 'twist' them on the wires. Hey, Jacobs. No good!!

I hooked up the remaining cables, including the new high voltage coil-distributor cable, mounted the fuse and tried it. The engine started just as nicely as before, so I shut it off again and re-gapped my spark plugs from 0.8 mm to 1.4 mm. Now it was time for the real test drive, with chronometer and all.

To my disapointment, I could measure no difference. Neither in acceleration, nor in milage. There was no loss, but unfortunately no gain neither. After two weeks, I did the same tests. Still the same negative result.

Now I called Jacobs, to ask for some explanations. They told me to change spark plugs and to re-gap the plugs to 1.6 mm. (I was still using the Nippon Denso plugs sold by Toyota in Europe.) They told me to mount Champion RC12YC plugs instead. I was also recommended to mount the Jacobs Index Washers under the spark plugs, to even the direction of the spark plug gaps within the cylinders. So, this time I ordered:

1. Index washers.
2. An additional set of wire separators.
3. A spark plug gapping tool.
4. A shorter coil-distributor wire. (The one received with Milage Master was too long.)

More money spent. And by now, the 'one month free return, no questions asked' was passed.

The gapping tool is crap! Whatever you do, don't buy it. 'Nuff said. I re-gapped my new Champion plugs to 1.6 mm by hand. Well, using a pair of pliers, of course. :-) Now I started to measure a small difference in acceleration. I mounted the index washers as well. Quite a mess to get it right. But, I could measure another small improvement in acceleration. I tried re-gapping to 1.8 mm, but after my test drives a quickly went back to 1.6 mm. Oh, I'm sorry. Quickly is maybe not the right word to indicate how it is to re-gap the plugs on my V6. Four of them are hard to reach. But, anyway. I did it. That's where the installation story ends.

On my truck, the gain was small. Even difficult to define. Without the chronometer, I would never have noticed any difference. Milage seems to be a little bit improved as well, but again, the gain is so small that it may very well be me driving differently, or in different conditions. I guess that on certain vehichles, the difference may be more important, but I did not really get a lot of 'bang for my bucks'.

Plus:

• The looks. It's beautiful. :-)
• Some performance gain.
• As promised, the spark plug boots are very easy to remove from the plugs.

Minus:

• Too expensive compared to the gains.
• Wire separators not selected for your specific application.
• Wire markers don't work.
• The gapping tool was crap. Real crap.

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