Why did most of the very early upper end motors have dual spark plugs?
Dual plugs on early 'performance' motors
- Thread starter fordconvert
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ludwig":f41hxo5w said:
I had thought the sparks were sequential, for a "longer" spark.
ludwig":1cg4ho3y said:
There some of the earlier electronic ignition systems that woud fire the plug twice, to improve the burning. Don't recall the brand. It's getting so it feels like my head is like an overflowing file cabinet, and stuff flies out of the open drawers.
By early I was thinking like pre 1930's. I know about aircraft and even my 05 dodge had dual plugs. I would assume now days it is a sort of staged concept. I just wonder if the early ones were hi tech or if they were just doubling their chances of getting a spark.
myplague5
Well-known member
Well considering that my Nissan had the main plug to the exhaust side screwwed up and ran like crap til it was fixed, I think they were just increasing their chances of getting a spark. It ran like crap when anywhere near WOT, get a new wire and it runs just fine now.
How many of the early setups were mags vs. coils? The model T's I worked on had both, and individual coil packs mounted right up next to the plugs.
The late model dual plug systems are great for emissions on cars and trucks, aircraft IIRC have to have a redundant ignition system (falling out of the sky doesn't feel good) and the early ICE's used them to crutch weak spark systems for improved performance. The European high enders like Maserati used twin plugs on their inline 6, which was nothing but a barely detuned GP design. But really, if the engine has a good chamber and piston design you don't need it.
Here is a link to a LONG thread over at www.speedtalk.com about dual plugs. Some very interesting stuff. You have to be a member and logged in to view. Very worthwhile.
http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14577
http://speedtalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14577
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