What Happened to Spitfire Jet Ignitors ??
Discussion
Spitfire Ingnitors were widely advertised around 1960's as a replacement for the sparkplug.
Not sure what they actually did e.g. if they raised the voltage (and dropped the amp), did a multispark or were they just like 'jet ignitors'?
Talking with my dad he reckoned they contained plasma (he's an ageing hippy though) and worked a treat on his van. He also thinks Bosch brought them out and swiftly 'hid' the technology (again, it's the old hippy thing).
Anyhow I'm curious now and can't find anything on 'net about them ('cept for a story my dad's writted about them).
Anyone know what they were and what happened to them?
Not sure what they actually did e.g. if they raised the voltage (and dropped the amp), did a multispark or were they just like 'jet ignitors'?
Talking with my dad he reckoned they contained plasma (he's an ageing hippy though) and worked a treat on his van. He also thinks Bosch brought them out and swiftly 'hid' the technology (again, it's the old hippy thing).
Anyhow I'm curious now and can't find anything on 'net about them ('cept for a story my dad's writted about them).
Anyone know what they were and what happened to them?
I'm always interested in this sort of thing.
You see demo's of them at classic car shows and stuff and, yes, when switching between normal plugs and the spitfire ones (probably not the same as you are talking about?) there is a difference however in an open hall and inside a combustion chamber are very different. The spark plug is just that..it sparks the fire...the mixture is so hot/compressed it doesn't need much to help it light (which is why you get dieseling/pinking some times) so surely you don't need a big spark? Doesn't a decent spark plug do a perfect job, and so can't be improved?
You see demo's of them at classic car shows and stuff and, yes, when switching between normal plugs and the spitfire ones (probably not the same as you are talking about?) there is a difference however in an open hall and inside a combustion chamber are very different. The spark plug is just that..it sparks the fire...the mixture is so hot/compressed it doesn't need much to help it light (which is why you get dieseling/pinking some times) so surely you don't need a big spark? Doesn't a decent spark plug do a perfect job, and so can't be improved?
There are spitfire plugs. As far as I can tell they make no claims to double the power of your engine or improve your fuel economy...just to be well made. The same company used to make splitfire plugs, they don't any more although something similar is not difficult to find.
You can also buy a spitfire...thing which sits between your dizzy and HT leads and is supposed to do wonders for your fuel economy etc. That's the thing I had seen demonstrated.
I suspect the OP is talking about something different...?
You can also buy a spitfire...thing which sits between your dizzy and HT leads and is supposed to do wonders for your fuel economy etc. That's the thing I had seen demonstrated.
I suspect the OP is talking about something different...?
I fitted Spitfire Jet Igniters to my first car in the late ‘60’s - a Wolsey 1500. Ran well on them, they resembled spark plugs but had no electrode - just a domed surface with, I think, 3 apertures. A spark was conducted along the surface between the apertures and the theory was that any carbon build up would improve the conductivity and thereby produce a bigger spark. As I said it ran well on them and I can imagine a buy out with it then being buried as no maintenance involved.
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