Glass Plugs

[6T TBRD]

Does this story sound familiar?


There was this guy who worked for a Ford dealership in the early 1960s and one day while doing a P.D.I. on a New car looked down in the engine compartment and saw lights flashing from the spark plugs.
It turns out that the plugs were made of clear glass! He ran to the parts counter and bought a regular set of plugs and changed them out.
Well, less than a day later the Ford factory rep showed up to get those plugs. When the car was inspected and they were not there...he found the mechanic that did the P.D.I.
The Ford rep told him that those spark plugs cost $100 each and hand them over. At first he tried to act like he did not know anything about it, but then finally gave in…

Anyone know who this worker was and the year this may or may not have happened?

[The Arkansas Traveler]

fine tuning the engine

I know that a testing device was made so that one may see the color of the burn inside of the combustion chamber, by use of something like a glass plug if I recall. I wonder if these mystery glass pugs would do the same. The theory behind it was that the flame color indicated a good fuel/air mixture. You had to be able to look down a tube to see the light. It sounded better than it worked for me anyway. It would be a way to fine tune in a factory perhaps, but why would you not want your service people to have access to them if they worked well? Cool mystery

[Dan Leavens]

Neil that is an interesting mystery story. Perhaps our Webmaster Dave Dare can shed some light on this as he was employed by Ford for 30+ years.
Mr. Dare any credence to this glass plug method

[6T TBRD]

I'll contact the fellow who shared the story and see if I can get a name and date. Stay tuned.

[DKheld]

Colortune is the testing device used




This fellow might have the history as to the type of plug used. He has a clear plug called a Beaconlight but it is probably 30 years earlier.
Was going to link the picture but it is larger than allowed so here is a link to the auction on flea bay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-collectable-1-pc-7-8-ex-long-Beaconlight-spark-plug-reblued-/331470398529?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d2d2ce441

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[DKheld]

I asked the fellow with the glass spark plug on flea bay if he knew of any glass plugs available for auto's in the 60's. Here's what he had to say......


"The only one I know of was a lawn mower plug. It had a neon bulb imbedded in insulator and when the motor was running the mag caused the insulator to flash. However the insulator was not glass. I do not know of any others. Glass was to fragile and did not do very well. Don"

Eric

[6T TBRD]

Well here it is:

His name is Robert Hamer.

He was an automotive electric instructor at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, he lived in Stockton, California all his life.
He had a 1960 Thunderbird and would take it to a car show if there was one in town.

Unfortunately he passed away November 11, 2014.
Here is where you can find his obituary.

Robert H. "Bob" Hamer's Obituary on Lodinews.com

[simplyconnected]

...Mr. Dare any credence to this glass plug method...

Glass is not a good thing to use in a spark plug because it is too brittle for the temperature extremes. Porcelain is a much better choice.

Do we really need to see inside the combustion chamber? Glass will only show a dim light, not a clear view because the center portion of a spark plug is only 1/2" diameter and most of that is used by the center electrode.

We can tell if a plug is firing by using an infrared thermometer pointed at the exhaust manifold. We can also 'sniff' the exhaust for oxygen levels which will indicate exact air-to-fuel ratio. - Dave

[The Arkansas Traveler]

Colortune testing device

It was the colortune device that we used "back in the early 80's"
The little mirror was plastic and a poor reflector at best. We were tuning SU carbs. I preferd an air flow meter and just listening and smelling closley. Sorrey that you just missed Robert Hamer.