I got bored yesterday so I decided to pull the spark plugs and see what they looked like. The front cylinder on each bank look rich (not excessively) while the other 4 look perfect. Anyone see a similar pattern? I didn't bother to "clean them" as they didn't really need it but I did gap them down to .035. The car was running fine before but since I have the stock plugs with the Code3 I wanted to see if I picked up anything on the top of the RPM range with a smaller gap. I did some testing on a closed course but other than feeling better about having seen and re gapped them ...... I have a couple of events in January and I'll pull them afterwards to get a reading. I'm considering one step colder plugs since the car seems to spend most of the time racing. Any first hand experience out there?

Les

 

I changed my plugs to 1 colder Denso Iridiums and gapped them at .035. Car seems to be running pretty good. Last week at the track I had a 12.07 1/4 mile et without any cooling upgrades, which is my best thus far. I just need to get her dyno-ed again to see where my a/f ratio is at.

 

I have been running the -1 Iridium plugs for 2 years.... on the track and on the street.... excellent performance from my view point....

 

Hi, I certainly agree with you. My views just collided with your views.
Thanks a lot, for sharing this post to me. Keep sharing.
_________________
obd2, vagdashcan, Ford VCM IDS, J2534, MVCI, key programmer

 

I run stock plugs at stock gap and ran 11.7@117.7

 

nice run...I haven't changed mine to -1 yet, but will probably go that route once I have some more miles on the coupe. The roadster will stay as she is. 12.2 is probably the roadster's best, but we will run them both once everything is done.

 

did ya snap pictures of the plugs when you pulled them? let see/read them

 

No pictures were taken for posterity. Afterwards, I discovered loose manifold bolts. (again)
I'll pull them now that I've had a couple of events and take pictures of the plugs. I need to fix a valve cover leak anyway so I might as well make a day of it.

Les

 

Yeah, that happens all the time so I just make sure to tighten them up before every race day/night. I don't want to put loktite on those bolts.

 

I found after a 20 minute race the bolts would be loose. That's when I used a dab of Loctite Blue on the stock bolts and it worked. When I switched to the stainless steel Needswings bolts I didn't use any Locktite. They are now torqued down with Locktite Blue once again.
I don't blame you for not wanting to use it, I stripped one of the bolts head and had to drill it out. So it can get you in a pickle.

Les

 

I fixed the valve cover leak today and checked the plugs on the passenger side. They look fine. I took pictures but they came out dark. I guess a dark basement, white box and back lighting was a bad idea. Here's what came out.

Les

 

Your car's an animal!

 

home depot has the allen head version of those puny torx bolts in grade 5 for less than 1$ per pair. replaced mine and never looked back

 

I decided to update this old thread of mine, seems more efficient this way don't you think? I've been getting a rear P0136 O2 sensor cell. The first time I got this cell it was a leak at the manifold to downpipe flange. (It's not leaking now) It often pops up when I use 100 octane. Lately I have to clear the cell every day so I decided to change the plugs and use the stock gap this time. (.040) The pictures show a rich condition .... or it's the meth/100 I use at the track. I couldn't say for sure. However, my wide band tells me the car is running a bit lean. Hum. I marked the plugs in the order they came out just in case I found a problem and checked the gaps. All were at 0.35 except one that was .037. I guess I'd gotten in a hurry on the last one when I gapped them down. The cars running strong and hopefully stronger now. Here's a picture of the plugs.

Les

 

Those look like a set I removed back when I ran slow at the 1/2 mile event. The low boost was causing the car to run fat and the plugs were black. Anyway, back then I just purchased new plugs and swapped them out, but I kept the old plugs. Since the new plugs sold with the old car, I decided to clean the old plugs and install them in the new car. Anyway, they seem to be running fine.

By the way, I never had any CEL's though.

 

I'm looking to pull my plugs for the first time, and with the tight space - what should I use for tools to get the wire cover off and plugs out?

 

An open end wrench that just fits in the small part of the cover works pretty well, use the valve cover as a leverage point.
If you then remove the coil packs, it is a lot easier to access the plugs.

( NOTE: The 'A' wire goes to the front plug of each pair )

 

Harbor Freight has a set of extra long needle nose pliers, about 17 in, the slightly bent one works perfectly.

 

I'm gonna order a set of these.





Update: I ordered this instead,

 

No, not those, I have them and they do not work, I know it looks like they should, but the angles aren't right and the openings aren't right. Just the long needle nose pliers, trust me.