Spark Plug question

[Big_John]

Any thoughts? Paging @CBODY67 @Big_John in particular as they have contributed to this thread.

Ask 10 guys and you'll get 10 answers. Everybody has their favorite spark plugs. Honestly, I don't think there's a lot of difference in brands. It's more about matching heat ranges to the engine.

I normally use an Autolite plug. Nothing fancy as I'm not looking at long mileage.. and I'm cheap. In fact, I'll probably just change them way before I wear them out. I started using them when my uncle was an Autolite dealer (he was partners in an automotive distributor warehouse). It's probably more about the cool Autolite hat he gave me when I was young than anything else...

 

[CBODY67]

In our 383s and 400s, the J-14Y and J-13Y, and J-12Y all "color" the same on the ceramics, in normal driving. J-10Ys, or even J-9Ys were for the HP 4bbl motors, which would also be classed as "police" motors, which can be run at extended periods at WOT, where their spark plug heat range can become critical to prevent WOT detonation in lengthy pursuits.

I used up my "stash" of J-13Ys and J-14Ys on our lawn mower.

The reason I like NGKs is their V-groove w/J-gap design of their non-iridium electrodes. Plus their newer Iridiums, which I consider "forever" plugs in a collector car that does not get driven much.

It all boils down to how hard the plugs are to get to and how often they might need to be checked, the deposits knocked off of them, re-gapped, and replaced. I could usually get about 40K out of the old Champion J-14Ys by doing that.

For a normal spark plug, The Motorcrafts I used in the 1980s, before I found the NGK V-Power plugs, held up great with very little gap erosion. I would buy ones one heat range colder to help compensate for 2 degrees more of initial spark timing.

Whatever works,
CBODY67

 

[ayilar]

The reason I like NGKs is their V-groove w/J-gap design of their non-iridium electrodes. Plus their newer Iridiums, which I consider "forever" plugs in a collector car that does not get driven much.

Forever is appealing. Are those the NGK Iridium plugs to which you are referring? (different reach for SB and BB)

 

[CBODY67]

Yep, something like that.

From an engineering standpoint, key thing, they are the best ones out there, plus being the spark plug of choice by GM and such as re-packaged OEM plugs now-a-days. At the OEM level, they have to guarantee exhaust emissions for 100K miles, so that means they'll last at least that long in normal use. Meaning "no misfires" and no need to remove them during that time.

The V-Power plugs were the plugs I used before them. Quite a bit less expensive, but I could only get about 30K between re-gaps.

In normal (single) Platinum plugs, they fuse a very thin patch of Platinum to the ground electrode, which gets the attributes of that metal to normal plugs. On "double" Platinum plugs, the center electrode can have similar, which gets to the 100K mile rating, up from 50K miles for the single platinum plugs.

Now, Bosch Platinum plugs are different. They use a thin-wire center electrode, surrounded by the massive (by comparison) ceramic insulator, with the ceramic extended to the end of the wire. With a normal electrode for the ground electrode. Chrysler used those plugs for the Electronic Ignition II system in 1973, which was an option (on 440 NY in 1973). That option only lasted about ONE model year, IIRC.

On the Slabs, with good spark plug access on B/RB motors, I didn't mind doing the plugs on our '66 Newport Town Sedan 383. On the '70 DH43N, more "by feel" issues. On my '80 Newport 360, by comparison, those plugs just fall into place!

Many good options,
CBODY67