Hot rodding the HEI distributor
(Minor clean up) |
m (→Plug gap) |
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| Line 32: | Line 32: | ||
==Plug gap== | ==Plug gap== | ||
| − | Don't be tempted to widen the gap | + | Don't be tempted to excessively widen the gap. The correct gap is 0.035" for the majority of cases and no more than 0.040" under any circumstances when using a basically stock HEI ignition. Wider plug gaps (or faulty ignition wires) cause voltage spikes in order for a spark to occur. This in turn causes the cap to fill with ionized air, and this can cause erosion/degradation to the components along with spark scatter and/or voltage bypassing to the distributor advance mechanism, shaft, etc. It is hard on the secondary ignition components in general and just isn't needed in the vast majority of cases. |
The large diameter of the cap helps to prevent this and it works well enough in a passenger car, even with the wider gaps that were used for some applications. But once the RPM goes up and the cylinder pressure increases, the chance of a misfire increases dramatically with a wider plug gap. | The large diameter of the cap helps to prevent this and it works well enough in a passenger car, even with the wider gaps that were used for some applications. But once the RPM goes up and the cylinder pressure increases, the chance of a misfire increases dramatically with a wider plug gap. | ||
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