At 01:54 PM 6/24/98 -0500, you wrote:
>PS: As interest seems strong on this topic, I will keep you apprised of the
>performance/reliability of this combo. I can say that already the plug gap
>is fine at 0.045" and I might go wider. The car fires right up under
>admittedly summer conditions and runs smoother. BUT, I may have gotten the
>same gains from a new set of points anyway. Hey, my wife liked the Sport
>Coil look and needed to buy me a gift. What can I say?
Back in the late 70's, American auto engineers seemed intent on utilizing
the high-voltage capabilities of the new HEI systems and subsequently
spec'd some spark plugs at up to 0.080" gap. In my experience, cars with
0.060" or 0.080" plug gaps have a lot of plug wire, cap, and rotor failures
from arcing where the spark isn't supposed to go because of the extra
voltage built up to fire the plug. Interestingly enough, I believe almost
all new cars produced today use 0.045" or less plug gaps, even with the
multiple coil setups that can know you right on your ass if you get
shocked. I assume that they eventually found out the extra wide gap caused
more problems than it was worth. Many of these cars flooded very easily
and refused to start in cold weather after grandma pumped the gas a dozen
times, due to carbon tracking down the electrode of a carboned up spark plug.
An extra-hot spark is worthless if the original voltage is sufficient to
light the mixture properly - that's all there is to it. It's kind of like
expecting a big throat carburetor to push additional air into the engine -
just doesn't work that way. I have original Lucas coil, distributor, and
plug gaps - it works great. Should I widen my plug gaps? I don't think
so. Sould you widen yours to try to cover up an incorrect fuel mixture or
some other problem? Better fix the problem.
There is a lot more performance to be gained by precise and correct
ignition timing than by extra spark intensity. Why don't we discuss
blueprinting our distributors, vacuum vs centrifugal-only advance stock and
aftermarket setups, proper heat ranges for spark plugs, and determining
advance curves for modified engines? Or do we all just throw in a
hodge-podge of aftermarket electronic ignition system parts and run them
straight out of the box?
Sorry, but this thread sounds like of a lot of ignition system vodoo, IMHO.
Of course, everyone has the right to do anything they want to their cars
or discuss anything they want in this forum. I'm just not buying it.
Les
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