Dear Digesters - A word about Plugs. I'm a sucker for anything new, not
potententially harmful and not too expensive. I've put everything in my
cars from Arco Graphite oil and Slick 50 to "The Force," a moisturing gell
that evaportes from inside a plastic "sausage" inside the air cleaner
"giving your car a moist and denser fuel mixture" (kind of a chemical
intercooler). Because I'm an automotive journalist and event promoter,
many times I get sent this stuff for free to demo.
In the end, most of these products are automotive snake oil that should be
sold at county fairs next to the chamois that can soak up Lake Michigan
booth. Oh, there were some suprises - like RainX and Dri-Wash & Guard, but
most are high profit, low cost nothing.
Now, I've used Bosch Platinum Plus plugs for years, I used to use NGKs
because they had worked so well in the Datsun Rally and autocross cars we
set up in the seventies but found that the Bosch lasted longer, refused to
foul on over rich and leaky valve seal Britiron. My present mechanic, Peter
Petrov at Marina Motors in Venice, says that plugs is plugs and it's better
to replace a set of "on sale at Pep Boys" Champions every six to eight
months rather than waste money on a performance increase that can only be
measured with a computer on a new Ferrari. He said to use the money you
save to take your wife out for dinner. Your car will run the same, but
your life might get better. My cars all have Champions, now. A fair and
reasonable mechanic is too hard to find to argue with. See you on the
Funway! - Rick Feibusch
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