RE: idle drop from current load & jacking a Spider

[Greg Steinke <gsteinke@domain.elided>]

From: christian147@domain.elided
>Because the added load lowers the voltage in the system, the voltage
responses by increasing the current in the rotor winding in the alternator
making it harder to t>>
>urn, thus slowing the idle speed, but increasing the alt. current output.
The idle speed is not under active control so it response to any load.
Sparklplugs will have little >on effect current draw.  the current drawn by
the coil primary is set by the ignitor, the box beside the coil.  I'm not
sure about the dwell monitoring schema, so not >
>sure how a change in coil primary impedance would change current.

On my father's mid 80s Honda Civic, there was an idle compensator on the
engine. (pretty sure it had a carb, even though it was mid 80s. Not like the
EFI in my 82 Spider.) Anyhow, when you turned on the headlights, the idle
would actually speed up, presumably to run the alternator enough to light
the headlights. Always seemed kind of funny to me.

On jacking the Spider - I have used the suggested technique of jacking on
the rocker panels, under the door. To spread the load and avoid marring the
paint I use a few foot length of 2x6 between the jack and the car. I use
jack stands under the jack points for the supplied jack. Has worked so far.
I do the same on a 1992 bmw 325i, and in fact learned this technique from a
guy who used to race BMWs and now races Audis. Not the only technique
certainly, but has worked out for me.

Greg
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