Spark Plugs

[whitmanink]

yea they seem too good to be true ,,
that said ,,
they all pretty much do the same thing, .. just a matter of how long will they last?
for now tho , i dont mind being the lab rat

 

[MrBhp]

Champion plugs are for lawn mowers and outboard motors.

As long as the mower isn't too heavy to push, and the boat has a paddle.

 

[Juice]

I dont own a 3v, but after 50 years of working on/tuning engines. (2&4 strokes)
This is my experience with sparkplugs:
Autolites - will never buy another set.
Motorcraft - no issues.
Champions - no issues ever.
Accel - bad luck with anything.
NGK is my preferred plug, U groves.
Had a set of E3s, meh, lots of marketing hype. The worked, nothing special.

 

[Laga]

Oh I feel the same way. I always had in the back of my mind I would buy some MSD coils.

Don’t do it.
I replaced my original 2005 COPs with MSD after I experienced a misfire at the strip. I have an E-Force blower. This was after finding that the cause of the misfire was a bad ground to the MAF.
First test drive with MSD, and car would not go over 40mph, multiple misfires. Put original COP back on, no problems.
I had bought the COP from AM, but was outside of the return window. So I had to deal with MSD directly. Got return authorization, sent them in, and waited. They sent coils back saying they bench tested fine. I installed them back on, same thing. Car falls on face at 40 mph.
Since the original coils were 20 years old, and one was cracked, I buy new set of Motorcraft. Car runs like a champ with 11# of boost, E85, and Brisk plugs gapped at .032.

 

[JC SSP]

Who remembers “split fire” spark plugs? Lol

 

[Juice]

Who remembers “split fire” spark plugs? Lol

I do. lol. They were crap.

 

[JC SSP]

I have played with spark plugs (designs, gaps, manufacturers, non-resistor, etc.) for so many years and always reverted back to the usually brands (Motorcraft, Autolite, NGK, etc.). I do like one-heat range cooler for all my applications.

I can remember indexing plugs so the electrode pointed to the intake valve. I also removed washers and used projector tip plugs to get more compression (Pontiacs loves this).

A buddy of mine had a new Kawasaki 650SX jet ski back in the 90’s. It came with NGK we installed the Bosch Platinum tip +4 and were surprised how quickly the engine reved and even the sound the motor (high pitch roar) was completely different. We thought it was a fluke and put the NGK back in and it was again, slow to rev and had a low humming sound which was the factory sound. He would race stock and modified SX and X2 and out run them all day long simply with a plug change. Absolutely incredible and we still talk about it 35 years later. Lol

 

[07 Boss]

Just a side note: I remember back in the day and I can't verify but there were only about 3 main factories manufacturing coil packs. All coil packs basically get built in the same place by the same people for different brands. Kinda like other products like golf balls. Titlest balls are made in the same factory as the Costco Kirkland balls.

 

[darcman]

Just a side note: I remember back in the day and I can't verify but there were only about 3 main factories manufacturing coil packs. All coil packs basically get built in the same place by the same people for different brands. Kinda like other products like golf balls. Titlest balls are made in the same factory as the Costco Kirkland balls.

Ya that totally wouldnt surprise me. I put a Walmart battery in my 05 GT and I got over 7, just about 8 years out of it. There is or used to be only about 3 companies in the world that made car batteries. One is Exide, Johnson Controls, and I cant remember the other one. I was reading online and wanted to know if those Walmart batteries were any good. This guy said he worked for this battery company. Anyways this guy said we make alot of different batteries and we just slap a different label on them. He was saying the Walmart batteries were good, that they made them, Diehards, he listed quite a few of the brands they made.

 

[darcman]

Who remembers “split fire” spark plugs? Lol

I asked my electrical engineer cousin about the Splitfire...he just laughed. He said electricity is going to take the path of the least resistance...you WILL NOT get 2 sparks. The BS idea sounds really good.

 

[brasil]

NGK plugs are in 95 out of 100 cases the best spark plug. Bosch was good...in the past. Today ? Crap... lot of trouble..misfire. In my Alfa Romeos , I only use NGK. , because the Bosch plugs are known to " lower" the compression... - the burn a hole into the pistons of the Alfa Nord engines..

 

[darcman]

I dont own a 3v, but after 50 years of working on/tuning engines. (2&4 strokes)
This is my experience with sparkplugs:
Autolites - will never buy another set.
Motorcraft - no issues.
Champions - no issues ever.
Accel - bad luck with anything.
NGK is my preferred plug, U groves.
Had a set of E3s, meh, lots of marketing hype. The worked, nothing special.

The Champion 7989 in my car are running good, I got no complaints. When I put the E3 E370s in my car I was able to buy them locally at Canadian Tire. I had Canadian Tire points so I was able to get the E370 for about half price. There was only a couple or few 1 piece plug choices. Once I got the 2 piece Motocraft out without breaking them I just figure there is no way I am putting a 2 piece plug back in.

I agree the E370 isnt anything special. I just bought it because it was 1 piece design, got them locally, and got them for about 1/2 price. At the time locally and even now, the E370 are about 1/3 the price of the Champion 7989. Ya I didnt buy into the E3 diamond bullshyte. The E370 did work and I didnt have any duds. I ran them for just over 100,000 km. I have absolutely no complaints with them whatsoever.

Its weird I got excellent service out of the E370, yet I have seen pictures that people posted online where half the plug is melted away. Same thing with the 7989s, some people say they are excellent and yet the next guy posts about how crappy it is and posts some pics of half a plug.

 

[GriffX]

I remember X-rays from cheap China ignition coils where they filled the gaps with gravel stones instead of resin

 

[darcman]

I remember X-rays from cheap China ignition coils where they filled the gaps with gravel stones instead of resin

Ya maybe my Bravex coils are rocking pebbles, who knows. I wont bother getting them xrayed though. All I can say is they work and my car is running good

 

[GriffX]

Ya maybe my Bravex coils are rocking pebbles, who knows. I wont bother getting them xrayed though. All I can say is they work and my car is running good

Sure, no problem with that. As long as they work. Tip, you can measure the coil resistance to the plug (around 5kOhm), if the resistance gets lower over time they are worn and the spark is weaker.

 

[cavero]

View attachment 110681

I have been using them for at least the past 6 yrs, never a problem. great plug for the Mustang. View attachment 110682

Same here till I got the supercharger this year (HT1's in it now), never had any problems running this type for 10 years but I did change them early both sets I got (one set fouled because I would start the car to move it into the garage a lot at the time)

 

[StockishS197]

NGK plugs are in 95 out of 100 cases the best spark plug. Bosch was good...in the past. Today ? Crap... lot of trouble..misfire. In my Alfa Romeos , I only use NGK. , because the Bosch plugs are known to " lower" the compression... - the burn a hole into the pistons of the Alfa Nord engines..

And 3vs are one of the only cases where an Autolite plug is actually a good choice lol.

 

[06GT197]

Oh I feel the same way. I always had in the back of my mind I would buy some MSD coils. I didnt really need coils, but when I saw the Bravex there were to cheap not to try. Only time will tell, but they really do look/work good. Its like plugs, everybody has their preference. There are failure rates with anything. I have seen bad reviews for the E370 plugs, but I got awesome service out of the ones I had, so much so that I probably could have kept running them for a while...and they are one piece.

The Champion 7989 in my car are working excellent, but I have seen bad reviews for those too. Maybe the 7989 will crap out on me yet, but so far so good. Just not a fan of 2 piece plugs, if you are on it and doing a regular maintenace 2 piece plugs may never be an issue. Its just in a perfect world 1 piece plugs are better than 2 piece plugs.

Changed out Motorcraft 2 piece for the Champions. So far so good. 56,000 miles. I bought this Mustang after a bunch of Trans Ams, GTO’s and a vette. Had 19 oil changes all at the original selling Ford dealership. Champion is part of Federal Mogul, Fel Pro high quality gaskets etc. Anyway. Got 7 plugs out. Doing the 8th-guess what. Lisle 65700 to the rescue. All cars from every manufacturer have quirks. Had Bose in the last car. This one Shaker 1,000. Ummm. Give it a C grade. Doors and rear deck will be getting JBL. Shaker speakers can get really crude, shrill at volume. Needed a mid range setting. All that being said. The more I drive it the more I like it. Gets Mobil1 5-30. Motorcraft filter. Has Ford racing intake and some sort of Ford plug in racing program and strut tower brace. Like ya’ll it gets the best of everything. Lastly. It’s very interesting how this car idles velvet smooth. But if you get on it…..HOT DOG

 

[darcman]

Changed out Motorcraft 2 piece for the Champions. So far so good. 56,000 miles. I bought this Mustang after a bunch of Trans Ams, GTO’s and a vette. Had 19 oil changes all at the original selling Ford dealership. Champion is part of Federal Mogul, Fel Pro high quality gaskets etc. Anyway. Got 7 plugs out. Doing the 8th-guess what. Lisle 65700 to the rescue. All cars from every manufacturer have quirks. Had Bose in the last car. This one Shaker 1,000. Ummm. Give it a C grade. Doors and rear deck will be getting JBL. Shaker speakers can get really crude, shrill at volume. Needed a mid range setting. All that being said. The more I drive it the more I like it. Gets Mobil1 5-30. Motorcraft filter. Has Ford racing intake and some sort of Ford plug in racing program and strut tower brace. Like ya’ll it gets the best of everything. Lastly. It’s very interesting how this car idles velvet smooth. But if you get on it…..HOT DOG

Ya I bought the Lisle just in case, but didnt need it. I went slow taking out the Motocraft, if it started feel the slightest bit tight, I went back in then out...just was very patient. I watched the youtube vid of the Ford tech on the plugs. He said the Motocraft plugs dont all break the same. Some broke with the I guess part of the elctrode sticking out of the sleeve where the Lisle tool wont grab it. So you have to get a drill into the spark plug hole to drill out the electrode, then the Lisle tool will work. Now maybe thats the worst case scenario, but what if. 1 piece definitely better and safer.

Thats good to hear from a Champion user where they must be good. I am hoping I will get good service out of my 7989s

I have a pretty nice stereo in my car. The best 5x7 I could find is the JL Audio C5-570X. I am not sure if they make them any more even. I have 4 C5-570x, they are very expensive, but they were the best by far and worth it. I have a JL Audio Stealth sub box. Its a 13 1/2" W6 subwoofer. The Stealth boxes are the best. They fit the nicest and look the nicest, its covered in a carpet that matches the OEM carpet in my trunk. I think they only make the Stealthbox with a W2 or W3 sub now. My amp is an Alpine PDX-V9 five channel amp. It is rated at 100W x 4 and 500W x 1, however they come with a birthsheet. Mine was speced at 138W x 4 and 564W x 1. My HU is an older Pioneer flagship.

 

[RoushedGT]

While were talking about plugs I’ve been debating if I should get new ones or not. They are original from 2005 but only have 12k miles on them. I pulled one out and it looked great. I kind of want to pull the rest, hit them with a brass brush and some anti sieze then reinstall.