What spark plug

see my responses below in red.

But hear this once and for all. If you continue to not allow me the lattitude to express my opinions, advice and/or feelings on this PUBLIC FORUM?.. I will start tattle-telling every chance I get about the constant barrage of personal attacks and egotistical posturing that you so often bring with you at the signin. You were politely warned on several ocassions, although I will admit I should have been more tactful and less sarcastic when asking you to stop.. but you've finally stepped on that last little nerve and I'm done screwing around with you now. In fact.. I'll start the new procedure off by telling on both of us right about.. now.

 

Not that I want to get involved in any dick measuring contests. But I went with platinum plugs purely because the math bears out that I will get a stronger spark than coppers. Scientifically speaking no matter what the fuel delivery system is, platinum and iridium plugs deliver a more powerful spark. Now do you NEED that more powerful spark? No, but why would I put on 300 dollars of ignition upgrades to drive a 50 cent spark plug?

 

lol.. that's the main difference that I can see right there. I'm not really trying to win any contests here.

I'm simply trying to share what I've learned, figure out why some others think the way they do(it's not like I couldn't have overlooked something).. and more quickly earn my stripes around here so I can build a better Comet in less time. It's quite obvious that I won't be leaning on some members advice around here.. but they may not even be the ones who I'd want to lean on anyways.. so no biggie.

Since you seem to respond fairly well to input while also doing the necessary research to better decide what's bunk or not, I'll kindly share this with you. Please keep in mind that I'm not debating or trying to disprove what you know.. but simply sharing what I've learned so far.

The advent of Platinum plugs and other specialty plugs is an evolution in the search to find a plug which would fire more reliably than the normal steel tip plugs at a wider gap with the lower voltage output of a stock coil. And as baddad rightly mentions above(although seemingly misinterpreted within the wrong context).. some iginition system designs also warranted such metals(wasted sparks increased wear/double fire characteristics mentioned above) to improve durability.

It was discovered that by coating the electrode from which the spark emanates with platinum.. the spark would ignite at a lower voltage for the same gap. This means that the gap can be wider than a steel tip plug for the same voltage. The wider gaps promote faster flame front initiation and mean more power/improved fuel economy without loosing the relative spark reliability. The other upside is that they have much higher melting points than typically used alloys in regular plugs and reduce gap erosion issues which affect long term durability and mileage gains first seen when they are new. This aspect alone can make them just as cost effective.. and even moreso the longer they are run.. because efficiency doesn't diminish nearly as quickly as a traditional plug will as the gap increases.

However.. the compromise of the platinum plugs is that because they do fire at a lower voltage.. which inherently means a potentially less intense spark that does not ignite the fuel as well. Although the ignition kernel may be larger, the intensity is lower which makes it propagate the flame front more slowly. So potentially.. you get less HP from the fuel consumed. The good thing is that as mentioned above.. the wider gaps/smaller electrodes usually allow this effect to be offset somewhat and the gains are still positive. Even moreso in very low temperature climates.

It's pretty well known by racers that steel tipped plugs produce the most intense spark due to coppers lower conductivity. The lower the conductivity?.. the better the spark voltage for a given gap. But.. only up to a certain point for an underpowered stock ignition system which is being discussed here.

Before Platinum came along.. I recall those ads in Popular Mechanics about new and innovative copper core spark plugs. These worked extremely well for a short time but unfortunately the copper couldn't withstand the spark energy over the long term and burned up fairly quickly(especially on hotter aftermarket ignition systems and/or motors with less than perfect tunes). Coating steel with platinum sinificantly counters this erosion effect and as mentioned above more than pays for itself over the long run with better gap/spark consistency. Where Platinums start to get CONSIDERABLY cheaper.. is when you factor in that fewer tuneups and additional fuel savings can all add up to substantial cost savings over time compared to faster wearing regular plugs.

Ideally.. you want a LONG LASTING spark plug with low conductivity combined with a coil large enough to fire it over a relatively wide gap for the intended rpm range/compression level. Stock ignition systems are barely effective enough in the first place.. and typically(there are a few exceptions).. anything you can do to improve upon the design will be rewarded with money saved over the long run. There's simply too much factual data and an entire aftermarket industry created from those shortcomings to say otherwise.

And to take it one step further.. yeah.. I'm good at that(or bad.. depending on perspective).. Iridium has an even higher melting point which can make them even better for supercharged/turbo/nitrous setups. In fact.. some guys were burning the small welded platinum contacts/discs off the ground straps due to the extra heat generated in those applications(I've even done it in some N/A applications). Copper plugs can't keep up for very long in those motors(literally only weeks or months) and the margin for burning the ground straps completely off is very minimal if it leans out a bit.

Anywho.. the OP seems to be well on his way to properly budgeteering his ride.. and aside from soem kind of morbid fascination with watching people not get along(who doesn't love a good fight).. there's probably not much else to be learned or taken from this thread anyways. I've cried big bad wolf already and expect it to be closed soon enough.

 

You're certainly allowed to express your feelings, EXCEPT when it comes to your constant derisions of what other people post. I'm not going to even waste my time reading all the drivel you posted here, it's not worth my time. You stop, and I'll stop pointing out the times when you obviously have no idea of what you're talking about. Like "personal attacks" Really ?

 

Like this ? This isn't personal ? Or derision ?

 

Then there's this post, pretty confusing if you ask me. First you recommend platinums, then you say they don't work ? Which is it ? You sit there and continually point out where everyone else is wrong, but when your mistakes are illuminated, you go ballistic and instead of acknowledging the mistake, you avoid the subject altogether. I'm done. I'll shut up and sit down. You win, K ?

 

ahh hell.. I almost went to the trouble of going back through your posts to find/quote the.. many discrediting type "I'm on to your BS".. or "you might have some of the others fooled" derogatory posts.. but you're right. It's not really worth it and the cylce will just continue on.

Luckily most people are smart enough to add salt to everything they read on the internet.. and they can sort through it to figure it out on there own.

How's about this then? I'll try not to post input based on your specific rec's/posts?.. and you try and do the same towards mine on your end?

Seems like the OP's may potentially be less informed in the long run(IMO.. we both have credible posts with some validity).. but arguing in every thread we chime in on certianly doesn't add much to a discussion anyways.

So, what you think?.. regardless of whether we agree on the things we post about.. me no steppy on your toes?.. you no steppy on mine?

 

I like reading your arguments. It's almost as good as watching my kids fight, but instead of fighting over stupid crap it's over interesting stuff.

FWIW electricaly speaking you do typically want the lowest resistance you can get, but when you are dealing with creating sparking arcs, the farther you want to jump that spark, you actually need higher resistance parts that can handle the higher power needed. So if your all stock, and sticking to stock gaps, go with the stock plugs. But if your pushing boundaries and not using stock ignitions and you want to increase the gapping, copper isn't good enough anymore as it can't handle the higher power needed to arc that extra distance over the long term. OR rather I should say that differently, you would need more copper than they include in the plugs or a much much larger amount of heat sink material. But just picking up platinums is easier.

 

I'm good with that.

 

What Laurel & Hardy episode is this???

 

Episode 249. If you missed the other 248, then you're SOL.

 

Dayum, that's my problem right there...

I have all the episodes up to 225...

Both of you make good points but since I'm usually happy with almost as good, I usually choose the cheaper route... Which almost always means I'll use something from my stash(yes even spark plugs)... I have the std copper Autolites that were in my Comet in my '96 F-150... Why not??? They looked new, and I've been chasing a intermittent bucking(that's still there BTW, now seems to be EGR related)...

 

Seems I recall using the copper plugs in my 95 E150 before I sold it on it's tenth B'day, the first set got changed at about 70K, the next set (the coppers) lasted about the same length of time. The last set would have also been copper's, I got the best mileage ever just before selling it on a trip to S.Carolina after pouring a bottle of Lucas Trans fix (went from 13 to 16 mpg)