Damn bosch spark plugs are driving me crazy. I HATE these things. ****ing screw on terminals unscrew themselves after just a few heat and cool cycles even after I murder them on there with a pair of pliers. Needless to say I need new plugs...

How does the overall length of an AC plug stack up to a bosch platinum? Im guessing that theyre probably longer... As it is the bosch ones are pretty close to the header primaries with my TES'

Id like to jsut go out and get a set of run of the mill plugs since I cant really drive it with the bosches on there. Dont want a repeat of burning out the ignition again or the time where one came undone and I had to grope around in the dark on the side of the highway trying to find the missing terminal. The only thing thats kept me from wrapping them around a couple of sticks of dynamite and mailing them back to bosch is that theyre such a pain to get out with headers on. Did I mention I hate these spark plugs?

 

I never had any particular problems with the length of any plugs with TES on my car..... I can recall having regular ACs, Accel (Nippondenso), the std Bosch (NOT the +4), and RapidFires, and maybe NGK. They all fit just fine.

So I'd guess you can use any of those and it would be fine on your car too.

BTW.... the Accels have the same stupid fall-off terminal for some dumb reason, why I can't begin to fathom... regular NDs don't have that, Accel must have special-ordered that "bomb" when they specified their plugs with ND. I won't go back to them even though they run good; not worth the reliability problem.

 

Thanks... Ill just go get a set of standard ACs then.

 

I think your problem is that your plug boots are not long enough, or not snug enough.

 

It was the plugs, without a doubt. I like the way they designed the tips but the 'fall off' terminals just kill it. I knew it was the terminals when I tightened them up and the problems momentarily dissapeared for awhile. In the last week, it started doing the same thing: the power was really suffering and I was getting around 8 mpg along with the smell of raw gas in the exaust. I took the cap off and the terminals in the cap had no wear on them at all, probably due to the fact that the loose terminals impeded the flow of current. I put in the AC Delcos and its back to normal again. Good power and clean exaust. Should save me some money on gas as well.

Edit: I did find that the AC's are a bit longer then the bosch's, but not so much so that it caused clearence problems. Little trickier to get them in, though.

 

If you ask me all bosch plugs are crap. I try to stick with AC and if I'm going to get something else I like Splitfires. I had bosch platinums and they did nothing but foul out and the Accel plugs I had were mediocre at best. I've never used NGK in my TA so I couldn't tell you about those.

 

Ive never had the bosch's foul out in my camaro. Had them foul out in an old eclipse, though. Burned about a quart a week and they were completly smothered with oil when I took them out.

 

which bosch plugs were you running?

 

Single electrode ones. Got eight of them for 99 cents if I recall correctly... definatly not worth the savings given all the problems Ive had with them. The +2's and the +4's looked to be a big load of crap. Cant even gap them and given how much the gap on the ones I did purchase varied I can see how they would be a problem.

 

I just run AC delco r45ts with my edelbrock TES headers. Don't expect to get a rachet in there. I just use the spark plug socket and a wrench.

If you want a good shorter plug Autolite has a new "racing" plug now. The electrode is cut back so its supposed to ignite the fuel better. They are short, the tops don't twist off. And they are only $2.38 a piece at advance auto parts. Part numers are AR134 or AR135. The AR135's are the heat range equivalent to a r45ts.

But I have never had problems with clearance on my TES....my old hedman LT's were a completely different story though.

 

Man, howd you get a spark plug stocket in there? I had to take a spark plug socket and notch out one side of it in order to get it on the plug. The only way was to cut the notch so the insulator could pass through and drill out the end of it so the stocket could seat far enough to clear the primary.

 

Don't use a socket.

I have a 13/16" (my heads use the bigger plugs) wrench with a1½" offset, a straight wrench that's about 5" long, another regular one, etc. etc. etc. In addition to a variety of sockets of different lengths. Including one that has a place on the back end for putting an open-end wrench on.

Don't expect that you're going to be able to get some one particular socket on every single plug. Remember, you're working on a SBC with headers. That isn't going to happen. Get creative.

 

Back to those bosch plugs... I had those +4s and they absolutely were garbage. Probably because you couldn't gap them.

 

Actually, that socket worked wonders. Able to change all the plugs in 25 mins. Doesnt have the rubber sleeve in it though, so if it slipped it would have probably broken the plug. I had a few offset and standard wrenches that I had saved for work around the headers but they were MIA when I went to change my plugs. Had to get creative...

 

I am able to get a socket on everyone of mine with no problems.