Gary Z

Nitrous experts agree on two pieces of advice: 1) You need to read your plugs. 2) To get readable plugs you need to cut your motor at WOT, coast to a stop at the top of the return road, and then pull some plugs before any “drive time” contaminates them.

My quibble with this second point is that it may cause some beginners to miss important warning signs. Here is a hypothetical scenario: Say you have very little nitrous experience. Say you just threw a bottle in your CTS-V. Say you just finished your first or second nitrous pass. You have heard that you need to “read” your plugs but changing plugs is a big pain. You don’t want to stop at the top of the return road to burn your hands - you want your timeslip! We drag race for fun. Changing plugs isn’t always fun. Changing plugs at the top of the return road is more not fun than changing plugs in the pits. In the pits you have more tools. You can wait for the motor to cool down a bit. You can work on your racecar-driver act for the assembled throng. If such a someone is told that driving back to the pits before pulling plugs makes plug reading pointless they might say "FthatS; I don’t need to read no stinking plugs. I just went 12.9 with only a 150-shot. How far off can I be? I’m cool. I’m dialed in" And maybe a few passes later you discover you’re not dialed in. And THEN you look at a plug see things that make you wish you had looked earlier.

So we should recommend “inspecting” plugs after each pass while you are learning. It is true that some information will be lost if you drive back to the pits before you inspect your plugs. An expert won’t be able to “read” them but they may still show evidence that timing or fuel are not where they should be. When “reading” plugs, you are looking to see when your tune is dialed-in. When “inspecting” plugs, you want only to see it is not “way wrong”

PlatnumStatuz

iTrader: (6)

How is it going dialing in the 150 shot?

Graham@NitrousOutlet

Is this the attitude you want to take into making your 20k investment not only perform at its best, but stay together?

Would you run a turbo with a mail order tune and never check anything?

If it was my car I would pull the plugs correctly. Tune off of them. Run fast and prosper.

Gary Z

My attempt to make a small point was dopey and too long. I have seen many near-stock nitrous cars, cars with air conditioning and crowded engine bays, at various tracks. I have never seen any of these cars stop at the top of the return road for any reason. I doubt they all have widebands. I assume they look at their plugs in the pits. Somehow, it all works out.

Gary Z

Hi Brett, I won't make it to the track for a few weeks. I'll be shooting for 10.6 @ 130 (limited by 4.33s and 26-inch tire) If I remember correctly, I think you were the first to suggest I should go on the juice and shoot for 130. Seemed to me then out of reach. Just goes to show - I can be wrong.
-Gary

Carter01

iTrader: (11)

Ok, I see what your saying. To me this would be just one more way to half A$$ the importance of plug reading. Mainly because the person who saw what they thought was "tell tell" signs that need to be addressed didn't have the time to do it right the first time so what makes you think they will ever do it right if they are getting by with what you suggest? My fear that teaching newbs this way would only encourage excuses not to do it right. Just my .02

minytrker

iTrader: (13)

You dont have to pull your plugs every pass once your tune is perfect. Once I get my tune where the plugs are where I want them I dont pull every plug every pass. I look at the data log and if nothing looked odd I may not pull any plugs or I will pull my leanest cylinder on each side.

I think some people are getting carried away with tuning a 100 or 150 shot on a street car.

KFZ)^

iTrader: (1)

Why not just shut the car down at WOT as you go through the traps, then push/tow the car to the pits, where the engine can cool, you have your tools, etc? The plugs don't have to be taken out of the engine IMMEDIATELY. It is just that you don't want to run the motor at all once you shut it down at the end of the run.

Frozen WS6

Some tracks don't allow tow vehicles. My track only lets you tow the big cars, everyone else has to drive them back.

boss79z

iTrader: (1)

You could just pull cylinders 7 and 8 on the return road and throw in 2 plugs to get you in pits.

BOTLFED_AWD

iTrader: (3)

So, i searched and found this thread, but im looking for what should i be looking for on the plugs like color wise or whatever, i have a 2 stage stand alone nitrous outlet plat kit on my 05 silvy ran a best of 11.8 on a 200 shot with all kinds of bangin goin on, ran a 12.1 on 100 shot. So obviously im having an issue, I dont have an af gauge but im getting one for right now i need to know how to read plugs, truck is a 5.3 cam bolt on and hp tuners.