Acorn nut leads

[nickm]

Wise Ones,
is there any reason I can't buy a set of leads of the shelf, some brass washers, cut the dizzy end off the leads and turn them into acorn ends. Or am I being silly.........

Cheers

[JDNSW]

No - apart from the fact that nearly all (probably all!) the leads sold today have a non-metallic, resistive, conductor for RFI suppression. It is impossible (or nearly so) to use these with acorn nuts.

I believe you can get metallic conductor HT wire by the metre from specialist suppliers.

If you plan to use any radio in the vehicle, especially AM, some form of suppression is desirable - you used to be able to get discrete resistors that went either in the lead or on top of the plugs. At a minimum you need one in the coil lead. These were the norm until resistive leads were developed, probably in the 1970s or 80s.

While not enforced as far as I know, RFI suppression is a requirement on all petrol engined vehicles, probably since the introduction of TV to Australia in 1956.

[gromit]

Most Swap Meets will have someone selling the parts you need.

I purchased some of the old-fashioned HT lead years back and make my own leads, anyone specialising in automotive wiring will keep it. The split brass washers you can either make or buy at a Swap Meet.
Have a look on the Autosparks website in the UK, there are also a lot of other specialised suppliers.


Colin

[nickm]

Thanks, this would explain why I am not allowed to run the engine when the kids are watching TV.

[JDNSW]

Thinking about it, it probably is possible to modify the leads you can get today to fit these connectors, but you would need to understand what you were doing, and be a bit ingenious. You would not have just a washer on the end, but something like remove the end, solder a washer to it, fit the nut refit the end.

John