One of the cleverest ideas we've seen in a long time is now available for
you, if you're the owner of a stock Rotax 503 ("SmartPlugs: A Better Idea?"
09-07-00; "Smart Plugs In The Market: It's a Small Start For One of the
Most-Important New Products in Engine Technology," 04-23-02, ANN).
SmartPlugs, which effectively turn your spark-ignition engine into a compression-ignition
engine, without any sweating from you, has decided to make its breakthrough technology
available, on line.
The recommended setup (especially for skeptics) is to run one set of your ignition on the
SmartPlugs, and keep the spark ignition firing in the other hole in each cylinder. (Once
you've tried running on just the SmartPlugs, you may consider using them for the whole
thing.)
So far, only the Rotax 503 has been proofed out. Since SmartPlugs are engineered for only
one configuration, it's not smart to use them in others. Just wait, though -- the 582's
next.