1914 Ford with sparkplugs mounted at 45 deg to head.????? Whats this about??

[mikewest]

OK experts ... enlighten me whats the purpose of this toggle?? Maybe the engine is a oil burner?? supposedly better combustion??  no idea here.

[nickelroadster]

Could be something like that.  Bringing them away from the combustion chamber may be an anti fouling trick

[Rusty_OToole]

Those look like hardware store plumbing fittings. Someone's idea to reduce oil fouling on a worn engine sounds plausible to me too.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Ingenious, maybe?     Probably better than the jumper/extender wires I used.

 

  Ben

[JV Puleo]

I've seen something similar in an English motor manual c.1914 except that it was a Y shaped fitting and there were two plugs in each cylinder with a jumper to connect them.

[Oldtech]

3 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

Those look like hardware store plumbing fittings. Someone's idea to reduce oil fouling on a worn engine sounds plausible to me too.

Yes, hardware store fittings. Model T spark plugs are pipe thread so an easy modification

[Graham Man]

Absolutely hardware store 45 degree elbows... no idea why?  It would lower compression even more.  Oil fouling was a big deal on this engine, maybe the distance helped keep the oil off the plugs?

[rocketraider]

I remember "anti-fouler" fittings for spark plugs in the 70s; my dad had three on a 1968 Chevy 307 that started blowing oil like no tomorrow after having a replacement head installed at 49,880 miles.

 

Those were straight fittings though. Trying to figure how these 45° elbows got the spark to the cylinder to ignite the mixture, given the limitations of the T ignition system?

[NewOldWood]

On 5/3/2022 at 5:27 PM, rocketraider said:

I remember "anti-fouler" fittings for spark plugs in the 70s; my dad had three on a 1968 Chevy 307 that started blowing oil like no tomorrow after having a replacement head installed at 49,880 miles.

 

Those were straight fittings though. Trying to figure how these 45° elbows got the spark to the cylinder to ignite the mixture, given the limitations of the T ignition system?

I'v seen those anti foulers too, i'd bet that's what these are being used for. The fitting here is called a street elbow, male on one end and female on the other. You can get them in 45 and 90 degree, never seen a straight fitting though.