Harbor freight, along with other parts stores, sells a plastic spark
checker. You connect the checker to the spark plug, connect the plug wire
to the checker, and crank the engine. If you have spark the checker will
light up when the cylinder fires. You don't have to hold anything in your
hand. I guess if you bought four of them you could have a light show inside
the engine compartment. I've seen transparent plastic distributor caps that
do the same thing, but only for Chevy and Ford V-8's.
Speaking of sparking, anyone remember the "flame thrower" exhausts? Weld a
spark plug to the tailpipe, run a plug wire to it from #1 cylinder, and
plumb a SMALL gas line from a "T" at the carb to just upstream of the extra
plug, with switches and valves to turn everything on and off from the
drivers' seat. Cruise down the boulevard, turn on the flame thrower, and
watch those tailgaters scatter!! I actually don't recommend you do such a
thing, because serious jail time could be involved, not to mention
uncontrolled fires and explosions, but some of you antisocial types might
have fun putting this rig together. The low-buck version of this is to turn
the ignition off while cruising along in gear, then using the tailpipe spark
plug to ignite the unburned mixture. When steering wheels didn't have
steering locks this was a fun thing right up until you blew apart your
muffler.
Leisure Suit Terry
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