I was in the local NAPA getting parts for my vacuum leak and saw a set of
Chamapion plugs on the desk. I just happened to mention to the guys there and
they said not to touch the Splitfires and that the platinum plugs were not
worth it, just buy good decent plugs, gap them right and check them regularly.
And you are right about the platinum. If they were solid platinum tips think of
the cost.
BTW my car now idles great at long last and I can set the timing without it all
changing as I touch anything. Only things left mechanically are to fix the
digital manual choke, double check the mix (for emissions) and find out what is
causing the noise. I think I have ruled out the thrust washers, air pump,
valves and some other things. Trouble is that it is not constant, is irregular
(not a fixed duration or fixed time between noise) but regular in that it
always happens around idle speeds only. Engine pulls pretty strongly. Most
noises are regular in respect to the revs and a muliple of this such as valves
etc.
Hopefully I will have someone with a better ear and experience than me diagnose
this tomorrow. My only worry is what the cost might be. I'm dreaming of being
able to concentrate on the bodywork.
Alan
'76 Spitfire
Original Message:
-----------------
From: Terry L. Thompson tlt@digex.net
Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 12:13:39 -0400
Subject: Re: Splitfires & another issue
Splitfires don't work in theory because, even though they have a split tip
to ground, the electrical diode is still single point of powere emination.
An arcing spark is likely to jump to one or the other, but not necessarily
both simultaneously (and if it does, the spark voltage will be greatly
reduced). In the instance that you are burning-up plugs (incorrectly
gapped), I suppose the split point will take twice as long to burn away the
ground, but that's not exactly a saving grace.
I have NO idea what Splitfire makes a double core cable, since both wires
would terminate on the same diode. It seems to me that a larger diameter
(7mm-8mm) wire would perform the same duty (and better) because, DC current
travels through the mass of the object (unlike AC which travels over the
surface of a conductive material). And the Splitfire dual cores look like
two 4mm cores, which should be less conductive mass than a 7mm
wire(cylindrical volume =3.14 x (radius x radius) x length) . (384.6 cubic
mm of volume/per linear cm of cable for a 7mm wire compared to 251.2 cubic
mm of volume per linear cm of cable for a dual 4mm wire.)
I hear that there are some plugs that actually have multiple diodes as well
as the multiple ground 'finger's to generate multiple sparks, but they are
not made for our vehicles. You'd probably wind-up burning nice holes in your
piston heads.
Also, from what I understand, the Platinum plugs are good for the first
100-500 miles, that's when the platinum coating has burned-off of the diode,
and you're left with a standard plug.
The other issue is going back to telling the difference between a Jaguar
owner and a Triumph owner...Has anyone else noticed that there are a hell of
a lot of engineering types that own Triumphs (specifically Spitfires)?
The only commonality I have seen to Jaguar owners is that they have more
dollars then sense (though I've heard tales of people that actually do more
than change the oil themselves in their jaguars!).
-Terry L. Thompson
'76 Spit 1500
Maryland
> I just saw a notice in the parts store that either the U.S. or state of
> California (I forget which) won some kind of lawsuit against the
> manufacturers of the
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