What's the "BEST" spark plug?? (*not* platinum)

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Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Jeez, what a beautiful old motor! Thanks for that one!


I wish I could have found one of the engine that was actually in the boat, as it was significantly larger and looked a bit different.

Maybe this summer I'll grab some pics if I make my way over to visit him
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: babyivan
The best spark plugs for any car are the ones that the manufacturer of your car makes and recommends for your car (Original Equipment).... PERIOD!


What does the manufacturer know about designing spark plugs? Manufacturer just buys the cheapest one. If he saves $4 per vehicle, that is like millions of dollars at this bottom line. For my baby I want the most expensive ones.



(said the guy with a gold chain and greasy hair :)
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Originally Posted By: babyivan
The best spark plugs for any car are the ones that the manufacturer of your car makes and recommends for your car (Original Equipment).... PERIOD!


What does the manufacturer know about designing spark plugs? Manufacturer just buys the cheapest one. If he saves $4 per vehicle, that is like millions of dollars at this bottom line. For my baby I want the most expensive ones.



(said the guy with a gold chain and greasy hair :)

The most expensive does NOT mean the best!

Ive tried all types of plugs over the years and had the best luck with OE. If you guys want to complicate the simplest things, go right ahead.
 
Completely agree- I work for Honda Motorcycles OEM is the way to go and most of the time not much more $ and often LESS expensive.

Best example was my 2001 Bullitt Mustang air filter: Spent 30 minutes trying to wedge the Purolater filter in. Went to ford, bought the OEM for $10 less and it fit instantly...

Originally Posted By: babyivan
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Originally Posted By: babyivan
The best spark plugs for any car are the ones that the manufacturer of your car makes and recommends for your car (Original Equipment).... PERIOD!


What does the manufacturer know about designing spark plugs? Manufacturer just buys the cheapest one. If he saves $4 per vehicle, that is like millions of dollars at this bottom line. For my baby I want the most expensive ones.



(said the guy with a gold chain and greasy hair :)

The most expensive does NOT mean the best!

Ive tried all types of plugs over the years and had the best luck with OE. If you guys want to complicate the simplest things, go right ahead.
 
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Originally Posted By: Vikas

What does the manufacturer know about designing spark plugs? Manufacturer just buys the cheapest one. If he saves $4 per vehicle, that is like millions of dollars at this bottom line. For my baby I want the most expensive ones.


Engineers designing an engine to run optimally with a particular plug. Just like efficiency and bypass pressures in an oil filter, when cross referencing a plug some specs like heat range get changed.
 
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Originally Posted By: asand1
Originally Posted By: Vikas

What does the manufacturer know about designing spark plugs? Manufacturer just buys the cheapest one. If he saves $4 per vehicle, that is like millions of dollars at this bottom line. For my baby I want the most expensive ones.


Engineers designing an engine to run optimally with a particular plug. Just like efficiency and bypass pressures in an oil filter, when cross referencing a plug some specs like heat range get changed.


For a large volume vehicle or engine design, there is enough volume that they can design an identical plug that is identical to OEM (within tolerances).

The reason OEM works best is they are calibrated for it. If you modify your car's fuel and ignition map you can use practically any plugs that is in the right heat range, but for the average Joe, you won't get any gain unless you sacrifice something like service life (cut a sharp V in the center like the NGK V power or a V in the side electrode like Denso) or cost increase (iridium or platinum fine wire plug that last just as long as a "copper" plug).

E3 may have some advantage with weak coil when the piston speed is low (i.e. lawn mower or single piston engine) so the flame propagation is slow. There are lots of sharp edges on E3 with all the side electrodes, cuts, etc. So it does last long for the same material as other normal plugs. However I can bet you any fine wire precious metal plug would work just as well for just as long in every single application.
 
Too bad that sarcasm is difficult to detect! I agree with you guys 110% that when it comes to spark plugs, get the OEM i.e. one listed on the underhood decal. Don't get suckered in to gimmicky spark plugs.
 
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Too bad that sarcasm is difficult to detect! I agree with you guys 110% that when it comes to spark plugs, get the OEM i.e. one listed on the underhood decal. Don't get suckered in to gimmicky spark plugs.
haha, definitely difficult to detect. I will admit that I wasnt sure if you were being serious or not. Being that I don't personally know you, I decided to take you at face value. ;-)
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
E3 may have some advantage with weak coil when the piston speed is low (i.e. lawn mower or single piston engine) so the flame propagation is slow. There are lots of sharp edges on E3 with all the side electrodes, cuts, etc. So it does last long for the same material as other normal plugs. However I can bet you any fine wire precious metal plug would work just as well for just as long in every single application.

I concur. I will be sticking with iridium plugs in all applications, until they fail me.

I think that when iridium plugs first came out, people were afraid of them for any number of reasons. But some people could have actually provided true testimony that the plugs performed poorly, misfiring and such.

For example, on my '97 Volvo 850, RockAuto.com lists a "0.028" plug gap for the NGK IX Iridiums, yet a "0.044" plug gap for the Denso Power Iridiums. They both, also, say that you can NOT gap these plugs... which is NOT true. You must simply be very, very careful with these thin tip electrodes. It's no wonder that those who tried the NGK IX's called them "smooth" and "flawless", while Densos typically were not regarded as good as the ol' faithful "copper" (which is clearly coated with steel or nickel). When gapped properly, I believe the NGKs and Densos would perform almost identically.

From the looks of it, tho... I'll be sticking with the NGKs in my application, merely because they seem to work right out of the box. And I like that a lot.
 
where (or rather how) do you find iridium (or platinum) plug for your lawnmower type applications?
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear


The reason OEM works best is they are calibrated for it. If you modify your car's fuel and ignition map you can use practically any plugs that is in the right heat range, but for the average Joe, you won't get any gain unless you sacrifice something like service life (cut a sharp V in the center like the NGK V power or a V in the side electrode like Denso) or cost increase (iridium or platinum fine wire plug that last just as long as a "copper" plug).


I haven't really noticed any reduction in service life between NGK V-power or ND U-Groove plugs vs Autolite or Champion.
If anything, the gap erosion is less on the NGK V-Power vs Champions in the Chrysler. Center electrode is always somewhat rounded on the Champions. The V-Powers should show more wear, they do appear to have less center electrode material, but they do not. They always look fairly good when they get changed.

As far as OEM working best? There is the previously mentioned OEM Champions, vs NGKs. If you move up to the Mopar StageII kit for the PT-GT, Mopar recommends using NGKs instead of the OEM Champions. Cheap NGK G-power plugs work every bit as well as the black shelled OEM Motorcrafts in the Mazda. I haven't tried the silver shelled newer Motorcrafts for very long. I put in a set for a few miles when the thermostat housing failed but I didn't know I had a coolant swamped coil. I swapped them again for a rough running condition but then realized I had a weakened coil when the NGKs did the same thing
 
Originally Posted By: dparm
Thermal conductivities, for reference:
(watts / centimeter * kelvin)


Zinc = 1.16
Aluminum = 2.37
Copper = 4.01
Steel = 0.70 - 0.82
Platinum = 0.716
Iridium = 1.47


More proof that copper is an awesome choice for the core of the plug.


It doesn't prove anything.
Heat range is heat range. If the needs are met, who cares how? Who cares about the rate of dissipation if the end result is the same?
 
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