18 replies to this topic

[jaydee]

The suppression is there because of the interferencies it may cause to any electronic devices that are inside and next to the car.

I cant imagine if you have a bypass and want to drive the car with no suppression...

 

The HT leads on my bini all have different lenght, i think up to 2" between the longer and the shorter

[tiger99]

Exactly. There needs to be some reasonable resistance, but as the lead gets shorter the radiated noise reduces, so within reasonable limits shortening has no significant effect. As all the leads are usually made of the same material, and all carry the same ignition impulse, the lengths of the shortest and longest in the set are clearly acceptable, and you are usually on safe grounds to go 50% shorter.

 

The danger is mostly to passing cars with things like ECUs, ABS etc. One of my friends has a Focus whose engine falters momentarily, usually when cerftain older cars are passing. Likely he has a problem with his ECU, or loss of ground connections to cable screens, which he is investigating. But there have allegedly been complete brake lockouts due to ABS computers crashing. That has serious implications, but although such things are a result of probabe criminal negligence (I use the words carefully) on the part of the car or ABS designer, it is just about possible that the owner of any equipment, including a modified car, who triggered an accident could be found and prosecuted. In any case we should all respect our environment as much as possible, and that includes the electromagnetic environment around us, which other people use regularly for legitimate purposes such as radio and tv. Just sticking to keeping things suppressed properly is being a good neighbour.

[dklawson]

One of my friends has a Focus whose engine falters momentarily, usually when cerftain older cars are passing. 

I think your friend's car is just afraid of older cars like the Mini.

 

 

But there have allegedly been complete brake lockouts due to ABS computers crashing. That has serious implications, but although such things are a result of probabe criminal negligence (I use the words carefully) on the part of the car or ABS designer,

That would indeed be a serious oversight and design error.  

[Gremlin]

I understand, and I'm only going to do it to neaten my engine bay, I wont cut them them down anymore than necessary. If I'm honest, if these systems are affected seriously, it's a major design flaw, as there will be cars that haven't got suppressed systems