A friend of mine who saw the Fast & Furious 2 movie asked me about the cars with the flames shooting out of the tailpipe (I've never seen the movie, but I think I saw it in the commercial). I know that you can do something like that by installing a spark plug in the tailpipe of an older car and flooding the engine (works on start-up only), but I think I came up with a cheap/simple way to do this any time you want even with newer cars. What I'm wondering is (1) do people already do this, and (2) if no, would it work?
Anyways, my idea was to route the current to the spark plug(s) for one or more cylinders to a control box in the cabin, and also install a spark plug in the tailpipe. Normally the current would pass through the control box and back out to the spark plug(s) for the cylinder, but with the flick of a switch the current can be rerouted to the spark plug in the tailpipe which would simultaneously (1) stop combustion in the one cylinder, causing it to pump fuel and air out the exhaust, and (2) provide the spark at the tailpipe to ignite it.
Is there any reason this wouldn't work/would be dangerous? E.g. Would disabling one cylinder on a 4/6 cylinder engine for a bit cause any problems? Is there any danger of the flame traveling up the tailpipe (there will be a bit of air in there that got pushed out with the fuel)? Would the catalectic converter cause any problems?
If this checks out with you guys I think I may try and convince one of my friend with an old beater to let me try and do this to their car :)