Hi Guy's
My REDBIRD need's new spark plugs & wires, so I'm turning to you for advice on which one's will give me the most bang for my buck(yeah, I know it will be more than one buck!)

REDBIRD turned 179,000 last Thursday & He has lost a little of His punch, but He don't burn any oil & He don't smoke any, so I want to get what will help Him restore some of His youth.
So, bring on the suggestions

Dave

 

You won't see horsepower from spark plugs and/or wires. If it's out of tune, the bes tyou might see is it running a little better.

Get AC Deloco's. If it costs more than a gallong of gas per spark plug, probably not the plug for you.

 

I'm not sure what you mean "If it costs more than a gallong of gas per spark plug, probably not the plug for you".

I was thinking this Bosch 4449 sounded good but at a cost of $5.99 per plug. I really don't care what they cost, as long as I'm buying quality instead of name!

BOSCH 4449
"Four times the amount of pure platinum with four electrodes and surface air gap technology. Delivers the most powerful spark."

 

That plug is a perfect example of buying name over quality.

 

By the way, what CAN I do to increase horsepower?CAN

 

So it's AC Delco? They also have a PLATINUM plug for $5.98 each

 

I meant it is useless to buy a spark plug that costs more than $2.xx.

Bosch +4 plugs are nothing more than a marketing gimmick. Do a search on bosch plugs. I don't really feel like typing up all the hoopla about them.

Stick with the .99c AC Delco plugs.

EDIT: You don't need platinum plugs.

 

Sounds like good advice. By the way, & please excuse my ignorance, what does TGO SUPPORTER mean?

 

How about the Spark Plug Wire's? Is one any better than the other? Wouldn't 8mm be better than 7mm?

 

When I was about to get new plugs I got the advice that simple copper plugs are the best ... the platinum ones may last a bit longer .. .that's all.

I went with cheap *** Champion plugs .. mainly because I've always heard of Champions as being very reliable .. not fancy.. just good and reliable


Got stock ignition ? Go with cheap *** wires ... throw the money somewhere else
I use Borg-Warner myself .. 7mm ... hey.. they do say

N A S C A R

 

Ac-Delco cheapies... R45TS I believe is the stock plug. Should be like $1.69 a piece or something.

As for plug wires, if you want something better than stock, you can order wires for an '89 Corvette. Supposedly the vettes got 8mm wires. I personally have 8.5mm MSD wires, but I have an MSD 6AL and Accel coil. I'm using Platinum Bosch's right now Only because supposedly LT1 cars came stock with platinum plugs, and the cheapest platinum ones they had were the Bosch ones. I didn't pay anywhere near $6 per plug though. It was their cheapest platinums. Under $3/plug I believe.

I'd just as soon buy the cheap AC-Delcos though. I haven't heard much good about Bosch stuff the last few years.

 

Thank's folk's. I just got back from autozone with ACDelco R45TS plug's. I just looked @ the TAYLOR TAY-74211 wire set. I'll sleep on that one.

 

Depending on if your engine burns oil or not, I'd say the 45's might be a little hot. R44TS or even R43TS might be better. Check your plugs after a while to see what the tips look like.

I used to run R43TS in my race car but when I put a huge dome piston in the engine, it was hitting the extended tip. I now run NGK race plugs. They're still as cheap as a normal replacement plug. Even with the race plugs I need to index the plugs to keep the ground strap away from the piston dome.

Tapered seat plugs are
R5671A-7,8,9,10
7 is hottest, 10 is coldest

 

How about Rapidfires? Aren't those the Delco Platinums?

Another place to get decent plugs cheap is Wally's World. They carry Autolites. I put Autolite AP26 platinums in my Iroc and they were fairly cheap.

 

Could you explain the whole hot or cold thing on spark plugs and what engine they're best suited for ?? , and what about gaping them differently for more power ??

 

Stock ignition - stock gap

"Bigger" coil etc etc - bigger cap can be used

 

Ok , but what about the hotter or colder plugs ??

 

A hotter plug has more length to the ceramic nose on the firing end. This means the tip doesnt dissipater heat as well, and gets hotter. The increased heat is good for burning engine deposits off the plug when such steps are necessary . Too hot, and preignition can occur. Too cold and carbon starts to build up, fouling the plug.

 

Hot and cold only deals with the temperature of the spark plug tip. It has nothing to do with engine temperature. The above description says it all. Although it's impossible to check, the best tip temperature is from 450°C to 850°C.

If the tip temperature is lower than 450°C, the insulator area surrounding the center electrode will not be hot enough to deter fouling and carbon deposit build-ups, thus causing misfires. If the tip temperature exceeds 850°C, the spark plug will overheat which can cause the ceramic around the center electrode to blister as well as the electrodes will begin to melt. This may lead to pre-ignition/detonation and expensive engine damage.

In identical spark plugs, the differences from one heat range to the next is the ability to remove approximately 70°C to 100°C from the combustion chamber. A projected style spark plug firing temperature is increased by 10°C to 20°C.

Advancing timing by 10° causes plug temperature to increase by approximately 70°C to 100°C.

Increases in firing-end temperatures and are proportional to engine speed and load. When traveling at a constant high rate of speed, or hauling very heavy loads, a colder heat range spark plug should be installed.

As compression increases, a colder heat range plug is required, as well as higher octane fuel and paying careful attention to ignition timing and air/fuel ratios are also necessary.

Rich air/fuel mixtures cause tip temperature to drop, causing fouling and poor driveability.

Lean air/fuel mixtures cause plug tip and cylinder temperatures to increase resulting in pre-ignition, detonation, and possibly serious spark plug and internal engine damage.

As for what works best in your car the basic guideline is that you want the coldest plug possible that doesn't foul up with deposits. Since so many variable determine what temperature range to use, it's trial and error to get the best heat range. Try a cold plug. If it fouls up, go up one heat range and try again.

 

that is known as marketing
and you just fell for it



and sometimes buying for the marketing isworse then buying just for the name

 

whats the deal with platinum?

only good thing I know aobout them is they tend to last a little longer as far as erosion wear but doesn't really mean much as there are other ways a plug can go bad

 

Platinum plugs last longer because they don't wear out as quickly. In vehicles with very hard to reach plugs, use platinum. If you can easily and quickly change plugs, save your money from buying expensive or exotic plugs and change the normal plugs every couple of years.

 

Right now I have Autolite Platinum plugs , they were like $3 each, and they work good had no problems , but I dont really know what heat range they are, I just looked up the part number at AutoZone and bought them. Is it possible I could be running even better with a different heat range or plug??

 

Of the metals on the market, IIRC copper core is the way to go for conductivity. Unlike what you may hear, our plugs are NOT hard to change out, if you think so I have a slew of cars you can try so you have a comparison.

One note that many overlook, while the bosch platinum (not +anything) are ok, I'd pick the bosch copper core first, however, IF YOU RUN AN AFTERMARKET IGNITION DO NOT USE BOSCH PLATINUM CORE PLUGS!!!!

 

So what plug do you recommend??, I have stock ignition , but I latter plan on getting a higher volt coil.