What is the 'ignition upgrade' I keep reading about that supposedly gets you better mph and performance? I have a '90 XL SC 4x4 with 130k miles, and can't seem to get any better than 13mpg highway. I read in specs for this truck that it should get 16-19mpg?

Maybe the ignition upgrade (whatever that is) would help. Can anyone help with identifying and locating such an upgrade?

Thanks

 

What engine do you have in your truck?

 

The ignition upgrade IIRC is known as the sixlitre tuneup and can be found on one of the Bronco boards.
Basically its a Ignition tune up using low resistance wires, an after market coil, and copper plugs.
The goal is to produce a better spark and to advance the timing.
For example my 95 300 specs call for 10 deg BTDC and a spark plug gap of .044.
I used Taylor low resistance wires, Accel brass contact cap and rotor, and Autolite copper plugs. I decided to keep my stock coil for reliability reasons.
After a few tests I advanced my timing to 12 deg BTDC and increased my spark gap to .050. This did give me better throttle response and about 1.5 Mpg better than before. I did try up to 14 deg and .055 by it was too much, but I was using the stock coil. My original cap, rotor, plugs, and wires were long overdue for a change so I'm not sure if the non stock settings were entirely responsible for the better performance.
Many V8 users seem to like 14 BTDC and up to .010 over the stock gap.
YMMV
rikard

 

Sorry about that, I have a 5.0L with 5spd(Mazda).

 

Here's the post on the upgrade