I was reading that article mentioned earlier about the V-12 engine and I guess I had just taken for granted until now that our V-12s all have that pair of I.A.s mounted on top of the radiator, but never gave any thought as to what they actually DO. In my younger days I had driven cars with pretty big V-8s in them, but AFAIK they did not utilize/require them.
The article seems to give the impression that the I.A.s are required for our V-12 b/c of the complex timing requirements of firing off 12 fuel injectors, in a v-configuration engine, at the rate of 2x per cycle. It states that this process only allows for .1666 seconds or some such for each āfireā. I donāt understand how they play a part in that process, though, as the TWO coils and ādual levelā distributor (or whatever they call it) seem like they should be able to handle the job, i.e. send the electrical impulse to fire off the injectors as required. So how do the I.A. āassistā that process?
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Kirbert
(Author of the Book, former owner of an '83 XJ-S H.E.)
2
āAmplifierā is a bit of a misnomer, dunno whoās at fault for coming up with that name. Really, basically an ignition amp just does what points used to do. But they have gotten progressively smarter about it, varying dwell time to meet demand, limiting peak current allowing manufacturers to do away with ballast resistors and those oil-filled bottle-shaped coils, and several other nifty features.
Do you need a primer on what points did, how 12V was used to generate a 50,000V spark?
No, I remember āproblematicā points with my '72 Opel GT (and why owners today switch them to a Petronix breaker-less ignition system instead). So basically the I.A.s ācutā the power at the crucial micro-moments, causing the electromagnetic field to collapse on the coils of the ignition coils and generate the big volt spark?