background:

i put my cam in the first week of january, and changed out my NGK TR55's (gapped at .050) for a new set and changed the oil 200 miles later. Dynoed the car approximately 3000 miles later and pulled 367 hp and 362 ftlbs. About 1800 (about 100 miles ago) miles later i changed my oil from M1 10w30 to 4 10w30's and 2 15w50's because of some oil consumption issues. basically car has about 5k since cam (a little less) and new plugs

since about 2-3 weeks ago my car has felt kinda down on power. i have a feeling that my clutch is slipping but im not sure if that is it. my clutch has 45k on it and its getting warn. could it possibly be the slightly thicker oil?

now for the plug issues:

pulled them out today to do a compression check just for the hell of it (which i didnt get to do because the kid whos tester it was lost the adapter that threads into the plug hole).

#7 plug had a little oil on the threads (none on the electrode or ground strap though)

#3 plug had some oil on the threads, same as #7 but not as much

#5 takes the cake though. It had some sort of buildup on the electrode and ground strap. alot of it. it was hard but i could chip it off with a small screwdriver or wire brush. there also seemed to be some oil or buildup (probably build up) on the inside face of the threaded part where the grounding strap is based. i had no idea what this is

all the other plugs looked ok though, they were kinda ashy though. car had an a/f of 12.8-13.0 on the dyno

i didnt have any new plugs so i just cleaned them all up and reinstalled them. they have been in the car for about 5k. but after seeing this i plan on replacing them asap

any ideas on why i could be feeling a loss of power (thicker oil, plugs, etc) also any ideas on the oil on the threads (why and should i be worried about it) any ideas on the build up on #5 (this is what i am most curious about)

any suggestions on plugs, maybe TR6's since they were kinda ashy or maybe tighten the gap some

thanks
ryan

 

ttt

 

Tally-how does your car idle with that cam? Does the 112 make it lope alot?
Thanks
Tim

 

Pete,

you think the plugs are too cold? they are tr55's. I actually thought the might be too warm and that is why i was running a little lean. I think im gonna run some fuel system treatment and some top engine lube through it and see if that cleans it up a little

Tim

car lopes like a bizzatch, sounds mean

ryan

 

No Ido no believe that you are getting a loss of pwr because of a thicker oil, even the heaver oils thin out when the motor is hot.
I think you pwr loss is from the plugs,
it sounds like your plugs are too cold and are not getting up to the self cleaning temp, which is why they are as you described. I would go one heat range higher than you have now.
Pete <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="gr_images/icons/wink.gif" />

 

Sounds like your plugs are oil fouled. If they have black crusty buildup, its from oil. Spark plugs that are too hot are white in color. Did you replace your valve seals when you installed the cam?? I've heard of a few issues where they started leaking after a cam install. You said you have an oil consumption issue also, so you need to figure out where its going. If only a few cylinders were fouled, then my guess would be that its not the PCV system. More likely rings or valve seals. Dont run TR6s, as they will only foul easier. You may be down on power due to the oil consumption. Oil lowers a fuels effective octane rating, so that may be producing some detonation, therefore some KR. Hope this helps.