Independent Verification

We get asked about independent tests quite a bit here. This is to be expected with the amount of products aimed towards the 'automotive enthusiast' that are completely bogus products. They sometimes make perfect sense in theory but when it comes to feeling or noticing any benefit you never can tell, usually because there is nothing to feel.

The following links are what we have as of today, March 11th, 2008. Remember, we didn't provide them the information they published, they did their own testing. I know that's a given seeing as it's independent testing but if I don't say it a lot of people just assume it true.

DSport Magazine has published their results in the March 2008 issue. We have a pdf copy of those pages here.

Modified Magazine published their short test in the April 2008 issue available here in pdf format.

Sparkplugs.com did a test using a Neon SRT-4 here.

Change2E85.com makes E85 conversion kits for vehicles and noticed a very decent increase in fuel economy in their tests.

www.pulstar.com

2005 Honda S2000

The S2000 is one of those cars that comes from the factory very well tuned. It makes peak power at its redline and has an amazingly flat torque curve for a non-turbo 4-cylinder engine. This is a DOHC rev machine. It sounds simply amazing at high rpm and makes good, usable power up there and as it urns out this car does very will with the Pulstar plugs. So much so I'm actually a little reluctant to post the gains from this car seeing as it did so well.

With stock plugs in it we ran our first series of tests. We got 224 HP at 8000 rpm and 153 Ft-Lb at 6400 rpm, respectable numbers. It accelerated from 35 mph to 70 mph in 5.65 seconds over a distance of .08 miles and consumed 1303.69 cc in the fuel economy test.

Pulstar BE-1 plugs installed and the engine hot and ready to go it put down 240 HP at 8000 rpm and 170 Ft-Lb at 6400 rpm. 35 to 70 took 5.53 seconds in .08 miles and finally, consumed 1139.79 cc.

These are very impressive results, a 16 horsepower increase (7.14%), a 17 Ft-Lb increase (11.11%), we decreased passing acceleration time by .12 seconds and decreased fuel usage by 163.91 cc giving a 12.57% increase in economy. Now, I must note that this car already had a cold air intake on it but that is the only mod done to this car.

These numbers are great, try to find an intake that gives you 16 hp without pairing it with an exhaust and running you easily into the $,$$$.$$ arena. For a little over $100 the Pulstar plugs seem like a very good bang for the buck investment. Especially considering the fuel economy increases.

www.pulstar.com

2004 BMW Z4

On Febuary 1st, 2008 a 2004 BMW Z4 got strapped to the rollers in our lab for testing.

The stock plugs on this car have been the talk of the auto industry for some time now. The stock plugs in this BMW are the Bosch R3 or Platinum +4 plugs. The idea behind them is that 4 points of possible ignition will give you a much more reliable spark and the surface-gap discharge design should give you the most combustion chamber exposure.

With new stock plugs we run our first set of testing again. We got a 40mph to 80mph acceleration of 9.24 seconds over a distance of 0.16 miles. Peak horsepower was 211 at 6000rpm and torque peaked at 193 Ft-Lb at 4000rpm. Fuel consumption over the fuel economy test was 1174.99cc.

With new Pulstar BE-1 plugs we attained a 40-80 mph acceleration of 9.07 seconds over 0.15 miles. We made 218 horsepower at 6000rpm and 202 Ft-Lb at 4000rpm. Finally, our fuel consumption trace took 1100.34cc.

We did fairly well with this car; gained 7 horsepower (3.3%) and 9 pounds of torque (4.7%). We reduced passing acceleration by 0.17 seconds (1.7%) and fuel consumption by 74.95cc (6.4%).

In the market of performance modifications we fair well among the other options out there for Z4 owners. We cost $23.31 per hp gain. A CAI for this vehicle runs around $350 and typically gives the Z4 about 11hp making it a $31.82 per hp upgrade, again, remember that this is a wide open throttle figure and part throttle gains aren't to be had with a cold air intake. An exhaust system will run you about $750 and that's around $50.00 per hp assuming it gives you 15 hp(a reasonable number).

www.pulstar.com