Chris do you by any chance have a write up on how to side gap spark plug's, I know this will shorten my plug's life some but what benifit's would I see?

Maybe you can do a "Tech Tips" on this for RHC.

I just got a shipment of about 20 Champion Truck plug's so I've got a few extra's incase I screw up hehe

Thanks,
Justin

 

Sprocket,

Try a search.... I know Chris has posted how he does his a few times. IIRC he uses a nail file to protect the electrode tip and trims them, rather than straightening them out like some do.

Here's a link with some good pics of the finished product desired result in case Chris doens't have some....


http://performanceunlimited.com/illu...parkplugs.html

 

Place the plug in a vise, electrode up. Get a metal nail file, and place it between the center electrode and the ground electrode tip. Then, with a fine bladed hack saw, gently saw off how ever much you want to remove. The nail file prevents you from damaging the plug. When finished, use the file to square the edges of the freshly trimmed electrode.

 

I'm curious as to how well this actually works. At the performance unlimited site it says it helps to produce a larger spark volume. Why would you need a larger volume? It doesn't matter how big the spark is, as long as it is capable of igniting the fuel. Once the fuel starts to burn it all burns, a larger spark won't make it burn faster or with more force. You have a larger area for the spark to jump to so it has less of a chance of misfire, but if it runs fine on regular plugs i don't see how side gapping helps. Can someone correct me if i'm wrong??

-Jon

 

Two ways; It ensures a complete burn, and it permits a little bit more base timing.

It's not like adding nitrous, but I can feel the difference. If I went to the store, and left you with a set of side gapped and regular gapped plugs, and you installed a set, I could tell you which set you installed by driving it.

Since my JET chip, combined with my knock sensor, determine my advance, side gapping the plugs allows me to set a higher base advance, as well as allowing the chip to advance it further than it can with regular gapped plugs. The difference is mostly felt during acceleration and passing speeds.

 

I still don't understand the physics behind it but i will give it a try this weekend.

-Jon

 

I just gave up questioning Chris a long time ago, I just do what he say's and it works. hehe

 

You can start a fire with a match..... or you can start a fire with a flame thrower.

It does matter how big the spark is. If more area is ignited at the same instant, the flame front travels from that point. In the same amount of time, more area is consumed by flame.

 

Hey Justin, if you send me $500, your truck will magically go faster!




Take care,
~Chris

 

I'm not sure. The goal is to create maximum cylinder pressure exactly at 10 degrees ATDC. In an average street engine it takes .003 seconds after the air/fuel is ignited to reach maximum cylinder pressure. If you could get the air/fuel to fully combust in less than .003 seconds and you advance the timing you risk burning up the mixture too early and losing power. I think the side gapped plugs reduce the occasional misfire that all engines experiance and give a more accurately timed spark, but i've always believed that if you gain horsepower by throwing in fancy spark plugs that you are really just making up for a weak ignition system that is no longer capable of doing it's job with regular plugs. I will have to try it in my truck and do some more research...


-Jon

 

Yes, but a spark plug of any design is only as good as the system used to fire it. FWIW, my truck has the stock ignition system, and a Crane PS91 coil.

 

Ford4ever,

First a quick clarification. A side gapped plug with an equal gap to a conventionally gapped plug will actually not increase spark volume if other variables are equal. What it will do is increase the amount of spark kernel that is directly exposed to the mixture. It's simply unshrouding the spark.

As with indexing, one of the major goals is to create a uniform and complete burn within all cylinders. If the burn characteristics within all cylinders are closely matched, timing can be set to optimum. In a case where plugs are not side gapped and/or indexed the slight variations cylinder to cylinder are creating a condition in which the timing can never be optimal.

Similar to a miss or the more extreme case of dropping a cylinder, any imbalance will cost more than the sum of that cylinders loss, due to the drag it creates.

IMO this is the idea behind the +4 type plugs. By shrouding the spark they create a uniform burn. The uniform burn allows timing to be optimum, even though burn conditions and spark propagation aren't.




As for timing, you are correct that too much timing BTDC can cause power loss. I've seen a lot of debate on side gapping and indexing, yet all the top players state that doing so does not call for less timing BTDC. The theory most seem to believe is that a more even and complete burn = bigger bang, higher exhaust velocity, and therefore more scavenging. If the cylinder pulls in more air at a set RPM the increased pressure affects the burn rate and characteristics.

 

That makes sense, it's not really doing anything to increase engine power, it's just making the engine run as efficiently as possible therefore freeing up power that was previously lost by one or more cylinders that weren't firing the same as the others. Sort of like blueprinting racing engines, you make sure each engine is as identical as possible so there are no changes in performance when you swap engines.

BTW i sidegapped my plugs today and i didn't notice any difference in the way it runs or drives, i didn't adjust the timing though.

-Jon

 

I'm bummed you didn't feel any improvement, but there are, I'm sure, a lot of factors.

Even though many brilliant men will swear up and down that a spark plug is a spark plug is a spark plug, and that the brand won't make any difference, I know this to be false firsthand. I tried brand new NGK's last time, and was not impressed, so the next day I bought a set of truck plugs, and was amazed at the difference. I don't know why they're special, but in my truck, they are. They also respond nicely to being side-gapped. The 4.9L wasn't designed to be fast, but I've found it to be quite responsive to a few specific mods. In fact, my 4.9 is much more responsive to mods like an FIPK, or side-gapped truck plugs, then my buddies 5.0L F150. Of course, I am always doing the little things too. The ones that by themselves make no improvement, but combined help efficiency.

You know, all this talk has made me realize it's been 10 months since I touched the cap, rotor, plugs or wires. That's gotta be some kind of record for me. lol.



Take care,
~Chris

 

I know what you mean about plugs, i've seen changes in performance just by putting in plugs made by different manufactureres. OEM replacement motorcraft plugs work best in my Ford. In my other truck i spent $10 a plug for Bosch platinums. When i installed a nitrous kit i had to get rid of the platinums (platinums and nitrous don't mix well) so i installed 99 cent autolite copper plugs and the truck runs 10 times better.

-Jon