To me the most critical elements of a spiral climb are as follows:
1) your creating a true spiral path that has both a rate of climb and a rate of turn
2) you've established a spiral path that allows you to maintain a view on the con(s)
3) you've established a smooth trajectory that minimizes E bleed while forcing the con attempt to pull lead along both a vertical and flight path component...
4) that you maintain complete control of your airplane in transition
5) your tming is such that you begin transition prior to your opponents stall auch that your fully in controlled flight and arrive at your guns solution during a period when the con has minimal control surface authority...
http://www.az-dsl.com/snaphook/spiral%20climb.ahfI took this from the 1st 190 hop. NoW I havent flown a 190 in a long time, this is a universal move not a 190 move. Obviously you need to tailor it to circumstance but you do not need a lot of room or a huge advantage in E to execute it. Like all things ACM its a judgement call and subject to pilot error...