Cal Club Autocross Forums

At the last event in Fontana, my car couldn't really accelerate. Dr. House of cars (a.k.a. Marshall) said that it sounded like no spark and recommended to re-check the gap of my sparkplugs.

I removed the plugs and I noticed that the gap instead of 0.30-0.32 was more than 0.40. I adjusted the gap and in a test drive the car seemed like it gained 100hp extra power (couldn't even go straight on first gear ).

OTher than a big thanks to Marshall and Tom (for bringing that up) I wanted to ask regarding the deposits and the appearance of my spark-plugs.
These have barely 3K miles and they look pretty nasty. Is there any reason to change them?
The first 1-2 mile test drive showed at when they are gapped right they do work and in general the recommended life is 100K miles (for the Iridium).

your plugs look fine for how much missing you had. i say keep running them, they'll probably clean up.

.030 is probably a bit more open then i'd run them, but i dont' know how much boost you're running. We run the boost buggy plugs at about .022. Granted that's with probably more boost than you're running.

0.30 was a suggestion by someone running 12-15 psi on gas.
I'm running 15-17 on E85 so if you have another recommendation I'm more than open to hear it.

you could probably close it down to about .028 and give yourself a little head room before it starts to miss with out giving up much power, but obviously .030 works for you.

Are you running an upgraded ignition system? If I recall, iridium plugs don't work well with weak energy systems.

Do the deposits taste like soy beans?

Jay W

Jayson Woodruff wrote:Are you running an upgraded ignition system? If I recall, iridium plugs don't work well with weak energy systems.

Do the deposits taste like soy beans?

Jay W

Hi Jayson
I wasn't aware of that - no I'm running the stock 1994 ignition system

Don't take my word for it, I'm basing my knowledge on pickups from the 90's. Ask around.

Jay W

Christos Adam wrote:

Jayson Woodruff wrote:Are you running an upgraded ignition system? If I recall, iridium plugs don't work well with weak energy systems.

Jay W

Hi Jayson
I wasn't aware of that - no I'm running the stock 1994 ignition system

I'm a fan of cheap autolites changed often...

Jayson Woodruff wrote:Don't take my word for it, I'm basing my knowledge on pickups from the 90's. Ask around.

Jay W

Christos Adam wrote:

Jayson Woodruff wrote:Are you running an upgraded ignition system? If I recall, iridium plugs don't work well with weak energy systems.

Jay W

Hi Jayson
I wasn't aware of that - no I'm running the stock 1994 ignition system

I haven't heard that either. you just might need to run a smaller gap with weaker coils.

Jayson Woodruff wrote:Do the deposits taste like soy beans?

Jay W

You taste sparkplugs? sounds yummy! hee hee.

Dodge calls for a .051 gap on the SRT4 plugs. its not quite the Boost Buggy of the Berry Mobile... but it still regularly makes 16lbs of boost in 3rd gear runs. steady 12 in 1st and 2nd.

Marshall, do you think I would benifit from a slightly smaller gap? I could see a little "carbon tracking" on my plugs when changed them. like possibly the gap was a little too far for the plugs when under full boost.

i dunno...but there's one way to find out. ;)

I gapped my SRT4 plugs at .038.

hmm.Ill give it a try. whats the worst that can happen...

found a cheap dyno day this sunday. I think Ill get 3 sets of plugs gap the sets differently. possibly factory for one set, Steves suggestion for another set and maybe go lower or higher based on the results of those two.

I doubt you'll see much difference with all three sets clean and the ignition system in good shape. But you never know til you know!

So apparently you cant get a wrench in the hole to take out a spark plug so I cant taste mine. Bummer.

SRT-4 Doesn't need more power...

Why not?

You need more power until you can spin the tires at 70. I could only spin them at 50 in the SRT-4. }:)

Hoosiers hooked up pretty good.

Steve Ekstrand wrote:You need more power until you can spin the tires at 70. I could only spin them at 50 in the SRT-4. }:)

I remember *sliding* on them at about 20. Forever. What were those tires, something from Manny, Moe and Jack?

Or was it the 12,000,000 lb / in springs you were running for STU? ;)

Flaken 215's in the old days....

Only 1200lbs springs don't exxxagerate!

In the motorhome we did think you were going to hit a row of BIG red cones. For those that haven't been to Hollywood Park, those cones are concrete.