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How long do your plugs last?

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Old 02-12-2016, 07:21 PM
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there is alot of soot on that plug, I'd say its quite rich in your lower rpm areas
Old 02-12-2016, 07:23 PM
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Originally Posted by JoeMama's GTO
Straighten out your tune and you should be in good shape. When a plugs gets carbon deposits they actually melt to the porcelin when you are romping on the car and form a glaze. The glaze is conductive and results in misfires when the spark takes the path of least resistance across the glaze to the size of the plug. As other have noted, on E85 plugs last a long time, on gas I change my plugs every 6000 miles even with a lean cruise/idle.
Good insight thanks
Old 02-12-2016, 09:04 PM
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Originally Posted by Forcefed86
What inline resistors do you use? Saw a few on ebay that were in europe. Nothing local.
Ngk has a fairly broad array of these, they work excellent and good quality

Use Oring soap for assembly, go together easy and not coming off then



Old 02-12-2016, 09:05 PM
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I much prefer the stud terminal vs the normal snap aswell fwiw
Old 02-12-2016, 09:21 PM
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Old 02-12-2016, 09:48 PM
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Looking at that plug, I have to wonder if the erosion and what appears to be metal transfer to the ground electrode is from too much heat in the electrode because of the V-groove. It'll be interesting to see if this problem goes away all together with the standard electrode plugs. Sub'd out of curiosity.
Old 02-13-2016, 04:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Bad Apache
Looking at that plug, I have to wonder if the erosion and what appears to be metal transfer to the ground electrode is from too much heat in the electrode because of the V-groove. It'll be interesting to see if this problem goes away all together with the standard electrode plugs. Sub'd out of curiosity.
its either that or piston material transferring lol!
Old 02-13-2016, 11:55 AM
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You can't read a plug with a bunch of miles on it. You need to find your hottest looking plug. Then pop a new plug in that hole make a WOT pass, shut the car down and pull the plug.

Also wipe the antiseize off the threads real good. And install the plug dry. You need to see the heat mark in the body/threads of the plug to get a good read. Looks like too much heat and possibly detonation IMO. If thats the heat mark on the ground strap all the way by the base of the plug it's way too hot.

What kind of timing are you running? Regardless what it is, I'd drop timing 2-3*, make a WOT pass, and pull/read the plug. Then post pics for us. While your at it get some new cheapie autozone wires and check the voltage going to the coil harness with the car running.
Old 02-13-2016, 11:57 AM
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Originally Posted by rotary1307cc
I much prefer the stud terminal vs the normal snap aswell fwiw
Do you have to crimp these on? Having trouble picturing how they are installed.
Old 02-13-2016, 05:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Forcefed86
Also wipe the antiseize off the threads real good. And install the plug dry. You need to see the heat mark in the body/threads of the plug to get a good read. Looks like too much heat and possibly detonation IMO. If thats the heat mark on the ground strap all the way by the base of the plug it's way too hot.

What kind of timing are you running? Regardless what it is, I'd drop timing 2-3*, make a WOT pass, and pull/read the plug. Then post pics for us. While your at it get some new cheapie autozone wires and check the voltage going to the coil harness with the car running.
11* right now (10* on cyl #7). I'll clean the plug off see what's there. I dont really have any extended periods of hard runs with alot of boost on these, streets are too short lol. surprised 7's would be too hot considering alot (dont mean its right) are doing fine with 6-heat range plugs.

I just replaced the plugs and wires (ac delco) and the br7efs's. Idle's the same, part throttle and going into boost seem crisper but it could be in my head.

Question - is it ok to make a wot and shut down a turbo motor? The turbo would be spinning for quite some time after the engine is shut off.
Old 02-13-2016, 05:26 PM
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I wouldn't' compare you're specific engine/tune to anyone else's. 10* indicated on your ECU may actually be 12*-15* if you haven't sync'd the timing perfectly. A quick correct plug read will tell you if that plug is too hot. They may be fine, only one way to tell.

It's not ideal to shut it down hot. Pump fuel muddies up the plug reading as soon as you idle/cruise on it. So you have to decided if it's worth it to save your motor and tune it properly, or have a few hot shutdowns.

I'd make a pass, kick it up into neutral and pull over as soon as it's convenient. Shut the eng down, and swap plugs. It won't wipe out your turbo or anything.

The electrode on the plug shouldn't be beat up like that. Almost looks like it got so hot it started to deform.

Ideal pump gas turbo plug should look about like this after a pull IMO.


Last edited by Forcefed86; 02-13-2016 at 05:39 PM.
Old 02-15-2016, 11:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Forcefed86
Do you have to crimp these on? Having trouble picturing how they are installed.
I use those type of plug boots on motorcycles a lot. They have a stud in the middle of them that looks like a screw. You simply screw them into the plug wire, so very easy installation. However, I'm not sure the purpose of using these on an LS engine?

I always use the resister plugs to reduce electrical noise that freaks out my dyno and other interference.
Old 02-15-2016, 12:49 PM
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Originally Posted by gpr
I use those type of plug boots on motorcycles a lot. They have a stud in the middle of them that looks like a screw. You simply screw them into the plug wire, so very easy installation. However, I'm not sure the purpose of using these on an LS engine?

I always use the resister plugs to reduce electrical noise that freaks out my dyno and other interference.
Thanks, I'll try a set.

Same reason you use them on the dyno. Non-resisted plugs freak out the aftermarket ECU's. Coldest tapered resisted LS plug is a 7 heat range. I'd like to see how an 8 or a 9 look on my setup.
Old 02-15-2016, 01:24 PM
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Yes like he said cut your ends off screw these on. Work awesome, never any stress on the wire or union, have a nice place to grab and remove the terminal without any strain


I can change a set of 8 plugs in under 5 minute on the side of the highway with those, I mean make hit, pull over and read and change
Old 02-15-2016, 04:35 PM
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ill just share what a stock 5.3, batch fire microsquirt powered 9.90 @141mph 3600lb car plug looks like

projected tip, NGK tr6 plug, pumpgas with meth, like 10.40 afr down the track

little sooty sure, but blowing smoke out the exhaust no, broken pistons, no

How long do your plugs last?-eldvq6r.jpg
Old 02-15-2016, 04:43 PM
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Originally Posted by rotary1307cc
Yes like he said cut your ends off screw these on. Work awesome, never any stress on the wire or union, have a nice place to grab and remove the terminal without any strain


I can change a set of 8 plugs in under 5 minute on the side of the highway with those, I mean make hit, pull over and read and change
These wire ends kinda "ratchet" on to the sparkplug - just like motorcycles - and those never come off. Rotary I assume much like the motorcyles, you unscrew the terminal off the end of the sparkplug so these boots will connect right? You can hear the boost clicking or ratcheting on which I like vs trying to hear or feel the oe-type boots.
Old 02-15-2016, 05:41 PM
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Originally Posted by denmah
ill just share what a stock 5.3, batch fire microsquirt powered 9.90 @141mph 3600lb car plug looks like

projected tip, NGK tr6 plug, pumpgas with meth, like 10.40 afr down the track

little sooty sure, but blowing smoke out the exhaust no, broken pistons, no

Was that installed new before the run and immediately removed after the pass?

Last edited by Forcefed86; 02-15-2016 at 05:49 PM.
Old 02-21-2016, 02:15 PM
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Originally Posted by ddnspider
So you're not aware of an ignition amplifier either?Hmmmm....

As for your 17:1 durability issue....are you familiar with the term reversion? If so, you would be aware that there are no durability issues running at 17:1 if thats what the engine wants. The wideband value is just a number on a large overlap motor at idle, it has nothing to do with what the engine wants. 14.63:1 may be fine for an engine with no overlap but will run like crap on a large overlap cam, it has nothing to do with durability.
Reversion implies air is leaving via intake valve to the intake manifold. It would cause the cylinder to become richer.

I agree the wideband is a dummy. What I am suggesting is that actual air fuel ratios of 17:1 may not be healthy for long term durability. I am not suggesting that having a wideband dummy sensor tell you 17:1 is bad.


Also if LSx / DIS ignition amplifiers is an untapped market, I know what is on my list for engineering ideas/projects in the near future, tailored to the LS application (PnP units)

Last edited by kingtal0n; 02-26-2016 at 07:04 PM.
Old 06-21-2016, 12:25 PM
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Wanted to give a ~1000 mile plug update. Went from the BR7EF to the ES version (non-V groove) and did not change anything else. Happy to report no plug erosion and still pulling clean up top. For whatever reason my getup doesn't like the V's. This is the longest I've been able to run a set of plugs.

Sorry for the crappy photo, but there's no plug electrode wear:

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Old 06-27-2016, 06:19 PM
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Something is for sure up. My NGK 8 heat range plugs are gapped at .030 and had no issues with 24#'s of boost. I have a friend who is running 30#'s of boost on his plugs also gapped at .030 and no spark blow out there either.

I also had ran a set of side gapped Autolite plugs for a while. I changed to NGK just because my tuner didn't have a lot of experience with Autolite's but from what I researched the side gapped Autolite's are actually very good under boost. They never gave me any problems (neither have my NGK's either though). If you are at the point of throwing money at it, you may want to give a side gapped plug a try.

My point here is mostly that I don t think the gap is the reason for the blow out. There's something in the tune, the resistance or signal from the coil that's not right.


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