----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Ronak
To: Tim Ronak
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 1999 8:30 AM
Subject: Fw: Spark Plug stuff
Bob Palmer,
DO FORDS RUN SOME CYLINDERS LEAN?????
Rob what intake do you have? It sounds like it may be running some cylinders
leaner than others.
The only time I ever lost electrodes racing over 15 years was when I had a
severe lean condition (the nitrous fuel enrichment lines got plugged) and it
torched a couple of exhaust valves and ate all of the inner from the
plugs...porcelin, electrode and all. If you haven't already i would fatten
up the jets 2 sizes. or you can do the old drag racer deal...put new plugs
in a warm engine back it out of the garage and go for a 1/4 mile full
throttle blast and pull three plugs out 1, 8, and one other and read the
plugs for color, compare them to each other and jet accordingly.
To answer your other questions:
I have tried a number of things when it comes to sparkplugs and have
actually tried to dyno the differences on an engine Dyno in Calgary. The
results were on a 12:1 Bow Tie small block Chevy 350 with Brodix heads that
made 620 Horse naturally aspirated (I hope you Ford guys don't crusify me I
ate enough crow from my buddies about buying a FORD powered Tiger). We tried
several of the myths, larger gap, big spark, Splitfire plugs, V-power plugs,
MSD, we even tried an Electromotive fully adjustable ingnition with
adjustable spark curves and individual coils for each cylinder with a crank
trigger. Rather than "ralph" with a bunch of data, we found that the MSD
helped with low speed throttle response but made only marginal if any gain
in horsepower over 4000 RPM. The variances that were observed were below the
margin of error for the dyno and as such could not confirm or deny claims
for more power with the split fire plugs. We did see better low RPM
drivability with the MSD and a stock recurved HEI to 8500 RPM. The result
was 620 horse, 585 ft lbs. of torque with a recurved factory HEI with a coil
eliminator kit a MSD Blaster II coil and an MSD 6T with a rev control with
NGK V-Power plugs. We raced very successfully with this set up for 5 years
with zero failures. Many things could explain our results but I am confidant
that sometimes the hype is just that ...
Race Motto #2 "Yeah, yeah, Sure Sure!!"
The system was Cheap, reliable and bulletproof!!!
This may not be applicable to a Ford small block but based on my previous
dyno experience I am going to run a MSD Blaster II coil, an MSD 6T with a
rev control and I am hoping to run the stock distibutor with an igniter
points replacement kit or an MSD billet distributor (It will plug into the
MSD 6T). I will index my plugs (Indexing plugs works) with a big gap and use
NGK V-power plugs as I found that it tended to ensure all plugs burned about
the same and it seemed to help on the dyno (4-6 Horse over stock AC but -
Split-Fire did not do any better!?!?). If anyone knows if the MSD will blow
up my factory Tiger Tach please let me know as i don't want to grenade a
rare piece if I can help it. Or if you have suggestions as to how i can
install the MSD (Where to hide it) i would appreciate comments.
PS: There is an easy way to index plugs. Get a nut that the plugs thread
into. Then find the plugs that install in the correct position with the gap
down for each cylinder. remove each plug from the engine and thread into the
nut until tight. note the location of the electrode and engrave the nut with
the cylinder number at the index point. This allows you to index the plugs
at the auto parts counter with out having to buy 10 plugs. note that some of
the cylinders will index the same so you may only need 4-5 different
indexing points.
Regards,
Tim Ronak
Cochrane, Alberta
Canada
timinvan@fox.nstn.ca
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