I tried opening them up to 0055 to see what would happen and it still runs fine, you can revv it up at idle or get on it while driving and there's no discernible miss or roughness, but, I've killed the engine twice when taking off from a light within three days after going to 0055 .. which would happen maybe once every year otherwise, and I swear it may be making a bit less power now..

If less of a gap makes a hotter spark and more of a gap makes a bigger spark, which of those is better?

A wider gap definitely leads to reliability issues from what I've read.. The electricity can't jump across as easily. So there it is stressing the coil more and it's less likely to start up under certain conditions. Right?

Like say I'm out there trying to start the car after there's been three days of rain. My car occasionally doesn't like to start in conditions like those ... A wider gap would definitely make that situation worse, yeah?

What would happen if I dropped down to 0030 or so? As I understand it I'd have a far more reliable spark, the coil would be happier, and the sparks would be hotter..

 

Gap recommendations of Honda are best.

Wider gaps will result in premature coil failure. Specifiation is 0.043 inches.

good luck