what plugs/oil for my 11.6.1 357
 

I am using NGK TR55 now. I may goto a autolite 104. Not too sure what to do exactly..?? Ive searched a ton.

Also still using normal oil (900 miles on build) will be switching over to mobile 1synthetic once i fix two minor oil leaks. using 10-30 and will stay 10-30 syn...

But i see guys using royal purple, rolatta, German Castrol, etc

are my plug & oil choices ideal for my setup??





motor breakdown

357, 40 over, forged pistons/rods, stk crank
226/234 565/565 111 stick
11.6.1
cleaned up heads/intake, mill .014 off, .027 gasket
bolt ons, lid. shorty header
canton 7qt pan
melling 10554 HV pump

i ask cuz i pulled a few....they have a decent amount of carbon on them...but i do have two small oil leaks and i believe they are causing the miss. Its barely there. no codes or anything.


but i know that with my CR and mods i want a heat range or 2 colder than stock....but when i pull them out theres still a decent amount of carbon.

They should be somewhat clean if i have the proper heat range correct??

at 11.6:1 you shouldn't really need a colder plug than stock with a good tune......a tr5 or 104 should work fine in that motor....i ran 11.3:1 with an autolite 104 for a long time with no issues......carbon on the plug is in the tune......sounds rich.....as for oil personally id say just stick with the regular non synthetic valvoline or other good oil...all i use in mine...........as for heat range once the car is tuned you can tell by looking at the heat marks on the threads of the plug....should be witness marks about 2 threads down into the head....

IDK if you helped me out in the past few wks but this is my first build and im not the best with a wrench.

I put down 349/351 on the dyno and later found a missing starter ground, another ALT wire that was touching the serp belt and had a burned off a bit of the jacket, and these two small oil leaks, and other stupid BS that was overlooked.

So with all these problems anything we would do tune wise did very little to the numbers it put down.

Once i got the starter ground put in its proper place the car magically picked up like 20-30hp...not dyno verified yet but the butt dyno says i gained power everywhere, esp top end.

it was falling off @ 5600rpms before, I am thinking that was because at the peak rpm when the car needs alll the electrical power it can get it was falling short. hence why it stopped making power at 5600 rather than 6300


So i know the tune is decent but not spot on....once i fix my leaks, put in new auto lite 104's gapped @ .038 and get back to the dyno i **should** put down 370-380rwhp with a bit more tuning.....praying

Im running 11to1 on my build... Is .038 of a gap required for the higher ratio motor? What would an ideal gap be for a N/A motor ??

impossible to answer.....depends on many variables, compression ratio, cylinder pressure, fuel your lighting off, and ignition strength.....

Understood...thanks. When i know all this i will start my own thread. Thanks

going with autolite 104's gapped .042

A wider gap is desirable on an N/A app if you have a strong ignition.

stk ignition....msd coil.

in theory you want the biggest gap you can get away with while still effectively lighting off the burn......fuel plays a BIG factor

so i should start with .042 and try to open it up a bit?? .050?? .055??

right now i have NGK TR55 at .045, but have fixed countless problems with the car in the past 500miles its not even funny.


I need to get new plugs in, fix exhaust leak, fix waterpump/opti coolant/oil leak.....than i can start fuking with the plug gap.


or should i start them at .050 and go from there??

id start with .040......it will def fire there on pump gas........after you fix your slew of issues start opening it up .005 at a time and see what it does......i would't go over .055

yea interested to see how well it runs once my leaks get fixed......oil/coolant/exhaust

il start @ .040 and move up....will post once i get there

15w40 oil and tr55 ngk plugs..thats it

I'm running NGK irridiums with an .050" gap. Oh and some Crane PS92 coil I got back in 1998. :D

a friend of mine whose a ford mechanic said he has had few guys have very very bad luck with autolite 104's...

think i am going TR6....

you run 15w40 or your saying i should...??

If you're not spraying nitrous I'd use the TR5. If you're spraying the common answer is the NGK BR7EF. I swapped all my cars over to German Castrol. Seems to be working really well. I've never used Royal Purple, but I have used Mobil 1 and it seemed to work really well too.

Funny that you mentioned Mobil 1. I was running Mobil 5w-30 synthetic and noticed at times my dummy oil pressure guage running on the low side at idle. Since I switched over to Penzoil Ultra 5w-30 it only dips a little past the halfway point now. And this was after it reached operating temps too.

I've heard of Mobil 5w-30 running on the thinner side so I don't know if this proves it or not but I'm going to stick with Penzoil Ultra 5w-30 for now.