Things been getting a bit slow around here lately, maybe it has something to do with the
holidays? So I thought I’d stir the pot up a bit, I’m sure this is going to bring out as much
opinion as who the Republicans are going to dangle in front of us next year.

Take a 1930’s, 40’s 50’s or 60’s Stovebolt with stock well tune ignition system as our
example. That 6v or 12v ignition system orta be perfectly adequate to light the fire under
it if it‘s in top notch condition. And once you set of the explosion all the ignition in the
world isn’t going to make any difference in the performance of that mixture. So, I don’t
think there is any debate as to the specific purpose of the ignition, that being just to light
the fire at the right time by jumping a spark across a gap. Accomplishing that purpose is
our spark plug, be it AC, Champion, Autolite, Bosh NKG and on and on, they are all
simply a vacuum tight electrical feed thru with a spark gap at the end.
The flame front in a Stovebolt is only going to move as fast as the fuel mixture will allow
it to. Some engines with a large bore and large combustion chamber such as a 360cu.in.
aircraft engine stuffed into four cylinders use dual ignition and fire off the mixture from
both sides of the cylinder to achieve complete combustion. Now if you could figure out a
way of adding a plug to the driver side of the Stovebolt to fire off the mixture from both
sides you may see a very small increase in performance, but of course that’s impossible
without redesigning the head.
Now if you take a modified, high revving, high compression, high performance engine,
then there may be a need for upgrading to a hotter electronic ignition if the engine isn’t
already equipped with one.
I often see threads and replies to thread making claims that converting to electronic
ignition and/or switching to a “Super Plug” increased the fuel mileage significantly, some
have claimed 25% improvements.
Sorry but I’d have to see the scientific proof of that before I’d buy it because that just
goes against all logical thinking in my book.
The last thing that will probably get tossed out on the table is reliability. Kept well tuned I
don’t think you can install a more reliable ignition system on a Stovebolt than it came
with. I’ve got two of them that have been reliable for well over half a century. Who could
ask for more.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL


Denny G
Sandwich, IL