Aftermarket Product ReviewProvide questions and answers about aftermarket parts for the Third Generation F-Body.
Welcome to ThirdGen.org!
Welcome to ThirdGen.org.
You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, at no cost, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, join the ThirdGen.org community today!
Are these things all what they are cracked up to be? They say they improve gas by burning all fuel in cylinders and increase about 7 horses. They run about $50 bucks for all 8. Just wanted to know if anyone knew anything about them before buying.
This ad is not displayed to registered members. Register your free account today and become a member on ThirdGen!
Sponsored Links
Registered users do not see this ad. Click here to register for free!
They showed them on Hourepower tv making like 3-4 more horespower over stock, I all so read about them on a spark plug review..and they had pretty good feed back..I not a beliver in magic..but there is a lot of good feed back on these..and if it did make just 1 mpg it would be worth it..
Thats what i was thinking. They had alot of good reviews but i was just hoping it wasnt a bunch of crap like that tornado fuel saver thing. Yeah the first time i saw them was on horsepower and i want to buy things for my Z28 that saves gas even if a lil and increases some hp.
I have them in my truck. I have no complaints. They didnt seem to make a big difference from the stock platinum plugs and I cant say yet if they improved fuel economy. At the most I have seen maybe .2 mpg increase, In the short time Ive had them.
Yeah on that hp episode they didnt increase gas a whole lot but they did increase hp by a decent amount. They spark when the piston is at TDC, causing all the fuel to burn. I think those with new plugs would be benificial. U can get them at advanced like mawinc said, but u can also get them from summit racing and jegs and even ebay.
Sounds like a load to me... just like splitfires. They've had gimmick spark plugs like this since the 40's, they have not stumbled onto any new ideas. No real closeups of the electrode either so this nonsense on their website about providing more paths for spark to jump from is nonsense. I wouldnt waste your money.
The theory behind the E3 plugs seems to make sense. Whether it works in real life or not ... we all know that HPTV is a 30-min. infomercial, but they also have some good info on there. I'd say they are probably worth the price difference. Although I went with a set of good 'ol Delco's on my last plugs.
I understand that there have been other "spark plugs" before...BUT..To just look at something and say, that it's no good before even checking...Well that's like closing your mind to new ideas, and newer ways of doing thing's.. The pushrod motor such has came a Long, Long way to just have the same old tech on spark plug's, and in this day and age "almost" anything is possible...So like i said, If it made 1-7 hp and just 1-3 miles per gallon better this would be a step forward..Why wouldn't you want to look in to this? Do you work for the gas company? Just kidding
I put'em in my 88 Iroc and noticed a considerable difference over the AC Delco's that I replaced. I am happy with them. Now I don't they would make a difference in power over my iridiums that are in my 05 Avalanche. Some people on here are a little resistant to change and new technology. Try em you'll like 'em.
Def worth looking into, but as for multiple electrodes, thats crap. If you know anything about electricity, you know it takes the path of least resistance. That means it will always jump to the closest one, even if you have a 50 electrode spark plug.
By electrode I mean grounding stap, but you know what I mean.
Maybe the shape, position or construction is where the benefits are.
Like I said b4 def worth looking into even if it is just a few minutes.
Well, after i get my duel exhaust done ill go back to my original plan and buy the e3's, new wires, and a carb spacer. After i get them ill post back and tell how they were.
Personally I wouldn't even look at their website. A good set of NGK plugs will do you just fine. There are several people here locally that are running into the 11s, 10s, and 9s in STREET CARS with NGK plugs. That mean they are somehow better? No. It means they will work, and they cost less than $20.00 for all 8. A good friend of mine has an LT1 Formula that went 10.80s at around 130mph using a set of NGK TR6 plugs in his car. His mods were a single 76mm Turbonetics turbo, forged pistons and rods (stock crank) and stock heads (had LT4 valve springs and roller rockers), cam and intake and throttle body. Spark plugs wouldn't have done a damn thing for him just like they won't do anything for a sub 200hp 305.
They are just like thicker plug wires. A marketing gimmick. The only gains you get from thicker wires are from thicker casings not getting burned through as fast on headers. Both will of course provide gains over used plugs and wires though.
Save your money and spend it elsewhere. Same goes for the dual exhaust.
I went to advanced auto parts the other day and i was buying spark plugs for my '79 silverado and they told me that they have been having a problem with NGK because i requested them. They said they have been misfiring alot and customers have been coming in and returning them. So i went with boschs. And right now my camaro has more motor noise than exhaust so im getting glasspacks put on. My buddy has an 83 with duel exhaust (glasspacks on the very ends and i love it).
Also, do the NGK save ur buddy gas and increase hp, like the e3's say they do? Im not saying they work for sure, but they do have alot of good reviews and hp tv did prove they have and effect.
just like someone already said, HP TV is a big infomercial. Not saying that its a lie, just saying that money can cause certain desiered effects. A slight bump of timing, etc. Could cause the 5-7hp gain and nobody would know the difference. Did that happen? Probably not, but who knows.
If you have the money and need plugs, then go for it. They work (in work I mean the engine runs with them). Do they increase mpg, who knows, nobody on here can say for sure because of the different driving variables that come into play that increase or decrease mpg. Someone saying they got 3 more mpg with these plugs, might have just driven more highway miles.
I went to advanced auto parts the other day and i was buying spark plugs for my '79 silverado and they told me that they have been having a problem with NGK because i requested them. They said they have been misfiring alot and customers have been coming in and returning them. So i went with boschs. And right now my camaro has more motor noise than exhaust so im getting glasspacks put on. My buddy has an 83 with duel exhaust (glasspacks on the very ends and i love it).
Also, do the NGK save ur buddy gas and increase hp, like the e3's say they do? Im not saying they work for sure, but they do have alot of good reviews and hp tv did prove they have and effect.
How much more were the bosch plugs than the NGK ones? I am willing to bet that place was only having problems with NGK plugs because the bosch ones were more expensive. A company doesn't have problems with their entire line of products like that. And PLEASE don't use glasspacks. Buy a proper catback for your car, something that will actually add a few hp to go with the sound.
Spark plugs do not save you gas. There is no possible way for them to do so. You might gain BACK lost gas mileage from old plugs, but you are not going to add extra. As far as horsepower increase, that's pretty tricky because you can gain power but not in the way you are thinking. You can add power via nitrous and such and need to change your plugs to a colder plug. Whereas you might not be able to spray that size shot of nitrous or even spray at all with the plugs that. So in that regard, yes the plugs "added" power. However, if you dynoed before and after a plug change, the ONLY increase in power is going to be from going from old used up plugs to fresh new plugs or maybe properly gapped plugs.
As far as HPTV, like said above, they are just an infomercial. 5-10hp can be had from just changing parameters on the dyno itself. Just changing the smoothing of the graph can pick up that much power, if not more. So, don't listen to that tv show as anything more than entertainment. I pick up a tech tip or so every now and then but I don't watch it for unbiased product testing.
Well, this is the whole reason i started this thread to see what u guys thought of the E3's because i was sceptical of them. As far as NGK goes im not doggin on them, that is just what they told me was going on. My friend told me to get them cuz his dad put them in his hotrod and really liked them. Idk what im goin to do as far as spark goes, anyway the glasspacks are already on their way. My friend slapped a pair in his '70 Nova and i like them. I cant afford a catback system right now and i dont even have a cat to begin with. But one day i may change to super 44s or something.
copper plugs at a buck each works just fine for me. I spend every winter looking forward to washing the k&n, swapping out plugs and taking off the t-tops. If they're gonna sit for six months with only an occasional start-up why not buy coppers and start anew each spring.
We sell them at work and I have talked to people that have bought them online and over in our store. and most of the customers I have delt with are happy with them. I generally dont believe stuff like this but when you actually log your mpg ( I do Ive ranged from 23mpg avg to 31 on the driving conditions )
All in all they replace lost power in my mind. I personally run Ngk Tr55
As for the glass packs you can beat 20 bucks for a decent sound
Yep. If glasspacks were garbage then they wouldnt be around anymore with todays mufflers. Mine were cheap and they will have a nice low rumble. They also look great in my opinion. Like i said my buddy has a nova with cherry bombs and u hear him coming. How much do those NGK tr55's run u?
If I remember right, the e3 have one electrode, but it is a semi circle, so the spark ignites the fuel, and throws a shaped flame out the middle, and it ignites the fuel in a circle shape out the end of the plug, rather than out the side of a plug like normal. The "Gimmick", is modifying the shape of initial flame travel into the cylinder, not multi spark crap, but you also need a special tool to gap them as they can only be compressed, and if you make your gap to small toss the plug.
I ran a set of NGK plugs in my s10 once. They ran alright until I made a mistake. (swapping out carbs on a warm motor and tried to start with the choke on) The truck fired then stumbled, died, and wouldnt refire. Turns out I had fouled almost all the plugs. Tried the ole tried and true wire brush on a grinder to give life back to them to no avail. Had to toss them.
What makes some plugs able to be brought back to life, yet some like the NGKs I was running cant be revived?
I bought them. Got a free hat lol. They look cool, I was happy. Made me feel like a winner, and I got about a 25 mile per tank increase. In retrospect, probably not worth the money, considering my old spark plugs were a bit older than me I think. So yeah I saw an increase in gas mileage, but that may have a lot more to do with the previous owner NOT doing his job, and then me doing mine. Who knows........ Still got a free hat lol.
Dunno if this fits or not..but generally about sparkplugs..
I put a set of those 4-prong platinum plugs into my friend's cavalier(that's what he wanted..and they were cheaper than AcDelco) and afterwards we noticed a huge increase in power. He floored it alot more though so it probably killed gas mileage anyway.
I've heard bad things about platinum plugs on non-high performance applications..well..about them in general. But, so far, we've just noticed that they don't give that original boost anymore(unless we got used to it).
Also, the car doesn't always take off as well, either.(Sparkplugs)
So far this summer I have changed the air filter since I live on a dirt road.
I calculate the mpg each time I fill up and so far I have gotten 22-25-27-24-21
Ill give it two -three tanks and see how they do Then maybe Ill do a tornado next
----------
O yea thats at driving 90 mph cruise control with the air on if you were thinking it was low for a honda lol
Last edited by Cgroh89; 07-23-2008 at 12:03 PM.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost
I've got one that came on my suburban. Washed the K and N and left the tornado off thinking "this thing must block flow worse anything". I don't track fuel milage in that car (it's just too miserable to fill the tank) but I actually did notice the tornado seemed to make more power at low RPM's. Put it back on since and seems to help me out.
Plugs made out of expensive metals don't add performance, they only last longer.
If you don't have anything wrong with your ignition system, there aren't any major power gains to be made from upgrading.
In reference to the E3 plugs showing an increase in HP over stock plugs, I could see it. If you took a "stock" small-gapped plug with a long, thick ground electrode shrouding the spark, and compared it to the E3, you'd see a small increase in power. But if you took that same stock plug, opened the gap and trimmed the ground electrode back, you'd see the exact same small increase in power.
Thank you for the reply, Apeiron..I was worried about negative effects.
But, now that I know that there are no real positive ones either, then it'll save me some money
A set of these in the engine, one in the trunk, a half dozen fuel line magnets, one of those air cleaner swirly thingies and I oughta get 20-30 HP and an additional 10MPG. Rock on! Oh yea, can't forget the classic immeasurable "better throttle response". I'll be in the 10's for sure..
i bought accel shorties instead and notice beter performace compared to stock plugs 
Just kidding 
Then maybe Ill do a tornado next
