Does this actually work?

[perkys stang]

Will cutting back the strap change how I should gap the plug? I have a MSD 6al and a mild H/c/I combo. I was gonna gap at .052

I prefer gapping around .045 just because we have never seen a gain form the larger gaps.. I have seen loses from gaps to big when the car misfires. I prefer the gap a little tighter.... I personally run .042 on mine..

 

[xplo89gt]

Woah are these posts out of order?

 

[Legendary]

Woah are these posts out of order?

I got powers! Don't mess with me or I'll screw your post up!

 

[tcmustang]

trimmed electrodes

This is a lot of good info here,...now for my 2 cents. I have a 94 cobra,5.0 with a vortech sc, making 12 lbs of boost. I dynoed 1st with auto lite plugs, then switched to Bosch plugs with the 2 electrodes. These are already trimmed back, un shroudung the tip. We did mak an honest 12 h.p. difference with no other changes.

 

[extozy]

cool ****, i'd say.

 

[Daggar]

It's a wonder that none of the manufacturers have thought to sell plugs that are unshrouded this way already (aside from the Bosh that tcmustang mentioned above).

 

[perkys stang]

It's a wonder that none of the manufacturers have thought to sell plugs that are unshrouded this way already (aside from the Bosh that tcmustang mentioned above).

They do.. Say you run a Autolite 24 plug you can order a AR24 which is the"racing" plug which has this done...

 

[Daggar]

They do.. Say you run a Autolite 24 plug you can order a AR24 which is the"racing" plug which has this done...

Kewl.. that's info I can use.

 

[Legendary]

Is this a difference that can be felt? Or is it more a dyno thing.

 

[tmoss]

HP is HP. Even if you can't "feel" 6HP it is still more power than you had before, and it's free if you do it yourself.

 

[giddyup306]

I'm sorry guys but I still can't fathom how this would possiblly work. As a rule of thumb, a correctly timed engine fires the plug in the center of the 90* bend of the ground elecrode. On a retarded engine it fires vertically to the side electrode. And advanced timing will fire farther after the bend (twards the threads). Can someone find some tangable proof that they work?

I'm not douting you guys just would like to know.

 

[Ray III]

As long as you are grinding on the plug, don't just cut it back, bevel the end of the ground strap as well. Like hold the spark plug at a 45 degree angle to the grinding wheel then clean up with a file to produce a knife edge at the tip of the strap, which terminates right over the midpoint of the electrode. This, along with ensuring the edge of the electrode is sharp, will somewhat reduce electrical resistance to arcing. Electricity likes to jump between sharp points, which is why lightning rods atop buildings are pointy.

giddyup- it works because it keeps the ground strap out of the way of the spark and gives the spark more exposure, causing a more powerful initiation of the reaction between air and fuel and thus speeds up the reaction rate a tiny bit.

 

[giddyup306]

I don't think you get what I'm saying. I'd try and post a pic but I don't have a scanner.

 

[Ray III]

about the spark hitting the ground strap at the bend? Not gonna happen. Electricity follows the path of least resistance, and that is the shortest path it can find from a sharp edge on the electrode to a sharp edge on the ground strap.

All the same, when I fool with my plugs I also move the bend away from the electrode, and bring the tip down at a very slight angle (not so much that gap will increase with wear though), to discourage the arc from happening anywhere but the tip of the ground strap...

 

[Legendary]

So the edge of the strap has to be pointy?

 

[tmoss]

Sharp is as good or better than pointy and sharp. A pointy sharp point will errode faster than a flat sharp edge that is wider and will not erode as fast. When I say erode I mean the sharp edge - the electrode will not erode substantially, but the edge will erode and round off. As these guys said - electricity likes to ionize and jump off sharp edges.

 

[Legendary]

Hmmm. So. Pretty much round it off but don't make it too sharp is what you're saying? Turn the intellect down a notch.

 

[Ray III]

You don't want to grind the strap right down to a point. You will gain some power for probably a few minutes, then the point is destroyed from all the current passing through that one spot. When you have a long sharp edge, the arcs tend to happen at random spots along that edge (as long as the distance is about the same) which distributes wear.

 

[Ray III]

and it's PSYCHO gorrilla...

 

[Legendary]

So don't just sharpen the very edge but slim the whole thing down a bit? Right now I don't have the tips flat. They're pretty much rounded like in the article I posted.

and it's PSYCHO gorrilla...

That's what I have.