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Repairing a Cessna 172 magneto changed how I look at my car's engine
I spent last Saturday fixing a mag on a 172 and it clicked for me. The same spark timing principles apply to my old Honda Civic, just packaged differently. Anyone else see airplane stuff in everyday vehicles now?
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young.ryan12d ago
Repairing a Cessna 172 magneto" sounds a lot cooler than messing with your Honda's distributor though.
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morgan.jason12d ago
Well I'll be, you hit on something there. I've been turning wrenches on cars and planes for years and the overlap is bigger than most folks realize. @young.ryan, you might be surprised how much the same timing and ignition troubleshooting skills transfer over. If you ever chase a rough-running Honda, check the cap and rotor just like you would on that mag - same principle of the spark jumping across a gap. Once you understand the basics of dwell and timing advance, you can fix about anything with an engine.
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young.thomas12d ago
You ever had a magneto shear its impulse coupling on you mid-flight? That happened to me on a 172 once, and man I was kicking myself because I'd let the points wear down just a hair too far. Ended up having to pull the cowl and swap the whole unit on the ramp in some 90 degree heat, which is exactly the kind of thing that reminds you why you check the point gap every 50 hours. Same deal with a car's distributor, you slack off on the dwell and it'll leave you stranded at the worst possible time.
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