Colortune Blues (There aint no cure for the)

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Got a used kit the last time I was in the UK. I'd guess a lot of these are surplus due to the owners buying new un-maintainable cars.

As far as I can tell its complete apart from the bottle of cleaning fluid, but the connector to the ignition lead has a threaded end which doesn't, on its own, make a good connection.

IIRC motorcycle spark plugs often have a threaded end which takes a removable nipple (dunno why, perhaps there are more than size nipple?) so I went around some motorcycle places to try and get one, and as usual got the M word (meio = I don't have, OR I can't be bothered. Go away foreigner) everywhere I tried. I suspect the Colortune might have been confusing them.

The last place I tried harder and waved one of their spark plugs around a bit, and, using smartphone translation the guy seemed to be saying that the spark plug nipples were bigger (presumably meaning the threaded hole is bigger.)

IF this is true, it raises a couple of questions

1) Why TF would colortune supply the thing with a non-standard thread? Seems unlikely.

2) Could I get one of these allegedly big female nipples (Ooer Mrs) and fill it with solder, then drill it out and get the adaptor thread to self-tap into it?

3) Failing that, could I use a bit of, say copper brake tubing filled with solder as a link between the adaptor and a standard car male-thread nipple, shown in the picture above?.

2 and 3 are both a bit of a hassle but if needs must...

I've got an old motorcycle plug with a threaded terminal somewhere. I'll take that, rather than the colortune with me if I have to do the rounds again, though that'll probably have to wait until after CNY.
 
You're way overthinking this. Wrap the thread with a little ball of aluminum foil then stuff your ignition wire on top of this mess. Spark would jump the few millimeters anyway if you left it open-air, eg not under compression in the cylinder.

You could also take something like a lead wheel weight and shave it down. Drill the end and it would tap itself on the colortune's threads.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
You're way overthinking this. Wrap the thread with a little ball of aluminum foil then stuff your ignition wire on top of this mess. Spark would jump the few millimeters anyway if you left it open-air, eg not under compression in the cylinder.

You could also take something like a lead wheel weight and shave it down. Drill the end and it would tap itself on the colortune's threads.




Exactly! You only have to make electrical contact.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
You're way overthinking this. Wrap the thread with a little ball of aluminum foil then stuff your ignition wire on top of this mess. Spark would jump the few millimeters anyway if you left it open-air, eg not under compression in the cylinder.

You could also take something like a lead wheel weight and shave it down. Drill the end and it would tap itself on the colortune's threads.


Tried just shoving it on and it didn't work properly. If I try foil as you suggest I'll end up having to pick foil out of my ignition caps, which'll be a PITA.

Hand-crafting from tyre weights doesn't souund easier or better than my proposed fixes, though I thank you for the input.
 
I've go a couple of Colortunes (doesn't the spelling upset you too?) and one is like your's. The bit that screws onto the plug is a fine thread, the other end is a plug terminal, and it's threaded inside to take a bit of threaded rod for a Euro type terminal.
 
Originally Posted By: Silk
I've go a couple of Colortunes (doesn't the spelling upset you too?) and one is like your's. The bit that screws onto the plug is a fine thread, the other end is a plug terminal, and it's threaded inside to take a bit of threaded rod for a Euro type terminal.


Yeh, shameless, grovelling attempt to fit in to the US market.

Or perhaps they just can't spell?

Yours sounds different. Mine has a fine "female" threaded hole to screw onto the windowed plug, and a coarser threaded "male" end which I assumed screwed into a motocycle-style nipple, which I don't have.
 
"Nipples" with female threads are often supplied with new plugs, even car plugs. Look at some old car plugs and you'll find two-piece ones with a nipple that unscrews. I believe the threads are 6-32 USA standard. Spark plugs are weird in that the threads into the engine are metric but everything else is dimensioned in inches.

But really just do what eljefino said, cram it into the boot on your car's wire, it's going to spark.
 
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