At 08:50 PM 8/29/00 -0500, you wrote:
>How do colder plugs allow the engine to make more power?
>What exactly do they do differently than a hotter plug?
>What are the differences between plugs that makes one hotter
>than another? What are the ramifications of running colder
>plugs? Obviously, if they were the perfect answer, auto manufs
>would install them from the factory. John
When compression is raised or timing is advanced or air fuel mixture is
leaned, along with the added power comes added heat. Since spark plugs
must remove heat and a modified engine makes more heat, the spark plug
must remove more heat. A colder heat range spark plug must be selected
and plug gaps should be adjusted smaller to ensure proper ignitability
in this denser air/fuel mixture.
A common misconception is that spark plugs create heat. They don't.
A heat range refers to how much heat a spark plug is capable of removing
from the combustion chamber.
Selecting a spark plug with the proper heat range will insure that the tip
will maintain a temperature high enough to prevent fouling yet be cool
enough to prevent pre-ignition. While there are many things that can
cause pre-ignition, selecting a spark plug in the proper heat range will
ensure that the spark plug itself is not a hot spot source.
A wealth of information is available by doing a Google search for
heat range spark plugs.
Hope this helps.
Bob
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 11:53:49 EDT