Mileage tips from a Mustang Forum

Step 11 is one they got wrong.. it should read "wrap head with tin foil"... the aluminum foil deflector beanie will work very well for anyone thinking that smoke and morrors will net a 17 mpg gain...

Ketones are a proven carcinogen... just the stuff we need to add to our systems and distribute freely where-ever we may roam.... Reducing spark plug gap cannot reduce resistance (and one guy is an electrician)... it will reduce ionization or required voltage - I see no point in reducing the amount of working fluid exposed to the spark.... Quite interesting is the fact that some name brands are quoted in the "article" - hmmm, of course there can't be any special interest....

I would surely love to see just what makes a spark plug a "high amp" spark plug..

If it looks like crap and smells like crap (somebody taste it.... I ain't gonna), it's probably crap...

"RGR is an electrician so he know's whereof he speaks"

Wonder if he realizes the TFI coil isnt your grandpa's old coil. Wonder if he understands how long mfrs have been developing ignition systems toward CAFE standards?

Evidently RGR doesnt use his 'technical'training to analyse what he's saying.

It's VOLTAGE that initializes the spark, modern coils produce a higher voltage which can easily overcome the increased gap. Designed resistance in wires/plugs dont affect the initial spark as there's no current flow until ionization.

Once the gap is bridged, THEN the current comes into play... which is why resistance is designed in. The longer the coil field collapse can be sustained, the greater the duration of the spark.

All that said, decreasing the gap seems counter-intuitive. Everything else equal, you decrease the gap as you increase compression to ensure ionization

And I'd STILL like to see a rodder-sceptic put his car with tuned up stock HEI system on a dyno, then swap in 'MSD and such' making no other changes and report on the findings.

"Jim Warman" wrote:

Ooops! Found an archive which explains things nicely, if you understand the electrical mechanics of ignition.. (**some of the physics are stated wrongly, but hey)

1. MSD's provide multiple spark sequences per firing
2. No coil of the time beats the Ford "E" (TFI) or GM HEI coil.

- Current Jeep upgraders use the TFI coil

- - - - - -

** Faulty Physics: [Be sure to use magnetic supression wire and not resistor wire. the peak spark current with the MSD box is, according to my measurements, over 1 amp. You'll lose a volt an ohm across resistive wires. If your wires are 5000 ohms, you'll dump 5000 volts just on the wire. JGD]

Like I said... Resistance doesnt affect till the spark initiates, but the energy has to go somewhere, and all resistance does is prolong the spark, albeit with lower peak current.

- BYM

MSD archive

Backyard Mechanic wrote:

I like the way he calls a spark plug gap a "resistance".... calling it a resistance indicates some form of continuity - even if the "resistance" is infinite. Since a plug gap is indeed a gap, and the only way to bridge this gap is to ionize whatever is inside the gap, I find it hard to appreciate an electricians idea of "resistance".

Interesting is their favour towards "trick of the week" spark plugs... I love these... when they start producing misfires, they are generally still clean to the touch and, hopefully, haven't been overtorqued... and if you flip them just right, you can get them to hit the side of the trash can several times on their way to the bottom....

As soon as I read "Put acetone in your gas" I discounted EVERYTHING that guys says as probable crap.