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MG MGB Technical - Spitfire. No not the Triumph!

Has anyone heard of a Spitfire-Multi Spark? It's a majic box that fits in the HT lead from the coil to the dizzy and is supposed to improve spark etc. I saw it at the Totally MG show in London last week. Does it work for you?
Andy Shepherd

Andy,

Ye Gods, Is that thing STILL doing the rounds?

It was sold here for a number of years by different people. It would be heavily promoted and then vanish only to re appear some years later being touted by someone else.

To answer you question YES I have heard of it and out of curiosity have run dyno tests on one fitted to a Mini Cooper of about 1968 vintage.

On the results I got there was absolutely no difference what so ever.

Keep in mind this was some twenty rears ago now and the item may have been altered / improved since.

It was a yellow and orange coloured box about the size which would fit inside a coffee cup and had fins on it.

It was returned to the Mini's owner with the before / after test results and never heard of again.

Hope This Helps, Cheers, Pete
Peter Thomas

Thanks Pete,
I suspected as much. If they were any good surely the car manufacturers would have them as standard. I did type the name into Google and it did have a few hits, someone out there believes that they do work. Thanks again. Andy
Andy Shepherd

IF it worked it would have been bought by one of the major auto electrics manufacturers, or gas companies. And disappeared.
Ken R
Ken Rich

The plug is actually called Splitfire.

This comes from 1997:-

"SPLITFIRE SETTLES FTC CHARGES:
ECONOMY, EFFICIENCY CLAIMS ARE DECEPTIVE

In the latest in a series of FTC cases targeting deceptive ads for products that promise to improve automobile performance and economy, SplitFire, Inc., has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that economy, efficiency and improved performance claims for its spark plugs were false or unsubstantiated. The agreement to settle the FTC charges will bar SplitFire from making deceptive claims about fuel economy, emissions, horsepower or cost savings. The company also will be barred from misrepresenting the results of tests, studies or research and from misrepresenting testimonials."

If you are still interested this is Splitfire's URL:-

http://www.splitfire.com/splitfire.htm

Safety Fast

Nigel

Nigel Steward

There was a multi-spark gizmo called the Scrutton Supercharger or some such available in the 70s, which apparently dated back to WWII at least. Like all these things if they really made that much difference manufacturers would fit them as standard. But in the case of the Scrutton it *did* make a difference in very adverse conditions like a combination of cold, damp, old plugs etc. It consisted of a stack of washers insulated from each other which reputedly gave multiple high-frequency sparks as well as increasing the total gap in the HT circuit which results in a higher HT voltage at the plug. I did use the principle of temporarily increasing the gap when not being able to start my Mini in very poor conditions on more than one occasion, by easing the king lead out of the coil lead a little way while pushing the button on the solenoid.
Paul Hunt

Thanks for the comments. Nigel, the name is Spitfire not Splitfire as you suggest. I have the sales leaflet. Maybe it's something similar!
Andy Shepherd

FSIW, Electrical discharge always follows the path of least resistance so no matter how many electrods there are once the plasma path forms it will only go to one electrode.

Split fire plugs are a bunch of hoodoo.

Joe
Joe Taylor

Andy,

A year or so ago a magazine called Grassroots Motorsports here on this side of the pond did a direct comparison between several different types of spark plugs, including "splitfire". To verify differences in H.P., mileage, etc. The results proved a simple iron core standard plug to out perform the "splitfire" under the same conditions, including coil, wires, cap, rotor, etc.

I use, and have been using NGK (copper core) plugs for 30 years now, and find them to work best in my MG. Nothing against iron core Champion's, etc., but in this case I agree with Joe about the "splitfire" plugs.

Regards,

L.C. '69 midget
Larry C.

You're right of course Joe, but wouldn't you like to be the guy raking in the bucks from this new "wonder plug"?

I think Andy is talking about something altogether different, some sort of "spark magnifier". There have been a couple of different varieties sold under various names through the years. They're all cr*p, designed to separate the unsuspecting consumer from his money.
Paul K

Yes, apples and oranges, for Andy's edification in case he is not familiar with this magic device the SPLITfire was (is) a spark plug with a split/dual electrode, looks kind of like a two-tined fork looking from above. Another bright idea heavily promoted and of no real value whatsoever.

I think I have an extra JC Whitney turbo booster if anyone is interested. This magic device fits to the end of the tailpipe and spins around ever faster with engine speed. They say it sucks extra power right out of the engine. The faster you go, the harder it sucks, so more power, so it sucks harder, so you go even faster, eventually you go fast enough (Warp 5?) to reach some sort of blissful nirvana and oneness with the universe and don't notice that hole in your wallet...
Jon Sjoberg

Actually there are now two different items being mentioned here:

Spitfire spark box which is fitted into the lead from the coil to the distributor which is the item Andy started the thread with , and ,

SPLIT fire spark plugs wich is a spark plug with one centre electrode and one side electrode with a groove machined into the under side.

On the second item I have only ever used Bosch, Champion or NGK dpending on where and what was available at the time.

Never had any problems ever with those three brands and as far as I am concerned the other claims are made by the people selling that item and no one else.

I will leave you to decide if there is value there or not.

Just as an aside I also tried the Bosch 4 Pole spark plugs and found absolutely no difference with those either but that was not in an MG.

Cheers to all, Pete.
Peter Thomas

This thread was discussed between 05/10/2002 and 08/10/2002

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