Does anyone worry about clocking their spark plugs?

[BigBlockMopar]

No more setting the gap on those Brisk plugs
So the spark-energy jumps additional 2 gaps creating 3 sparks in one go.

I like to see (independent) economy or dyno-tests proven this design works or not.
At $10,- a plug, they better improve things in an engine.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Yep, as any threaded section of the plug protruding into the cylinder can't carry off the heat like it should.
It can even cause pre ignition and pinging from being hot enough to detonate the fuel.

Not only that, but it also introduces a lot of sharp edges into the chamber as well. The entire circumference of the end of the plug threads has a 90* edge all the way around that will be in the chamber. Edges ain't good for combustion. That alone is good enough reason to space the plug out if it protrudes too far, but I still say actually indexing them makes little to no difference.......includin what Summit Chevy boy up there says.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Anything more than a single electrode is a waste of money and snake oil. Once the fire is lit, it's lit. All the hype marketing in the world cannot dispute that.

 

[MOPAROFFICIAL]

I used to, didn't on my last build. Aim'em at the exhaust valves , light it before it goes out ;)

 

[KitCarlson]

Once the fire is lit, it's lit.

Not so sure about that, muti-strike helps a bunch, at lower RPMs.
Stratified charge is also a means to insure more complete combustion. Getting complete combustion over the complete dynamic operating range of an engine, is hard. But what we are accustomed to, is what we think. We tune the best we can, but there is often more power to be found. To find, one must measure, few have all the tools, to measure all the aspects of combustion process.

 

[TrailBeast]

Not only that, but it also introduces a lot of sharp edges into the chamber as well.

Kind of what I meant about the detonation.
Sharp edges cause hot spots that can cause detonation before the plug fires.

Not so sure about that, muti-strike helps a bunch, at lower RPMs.
Stratified charge is also a means to insure more complete combustion. Getting complete combustion over the complete dynamic operating range of an engine, is hard. But what we are accustomed to, is what we think. We tune the best we can, but there is often more power to be found. To find, one must measure, few have all the tools, to measure all the aspects of combustion process.

I have to agree with this, as the difference between sparks and how the engine starts and runs has made itself pretty obvious to me.
If you can start the burn hotter and start it with more of the available fuel by using a physically longer spark it seems to make a notable difference.
Hard to explain, but say you lit 100,000 molecules at the same time instead of 10,000 and the flame having to travel to the others.
Kind of like lighting a fuse at one end and it traveling to the other as opposed to wading the entire fuse into a ball and lighting the whole thing at once.
You get a more powerful reaction from lighting more of it all at once.

I know it seems like a miniscule difference, but it is noticeable in the starting and running.

 

[KitCarlson]

When I played with a plasma ignition years ago, it was intense enough to explode a small packet of fuel, with intensity to blow the rest away, resulting in unburned hydrocarbons. It also eroded plugs in about 1k miles. I went overboard with spark current. Too much for many things, an exception is CID.

The modern trend now is multi-strike by reducing spark duration by restart of coil charge, then triggering additional spark. The immediate trigger, is more intense, than continues long duration inductive release. The dwell time for recharge is short, since unused inductive energy remains, and is starting point of next charge. Some auto makers use 9 strikes when cranking. Push to Start, requires instant success, without stalling.

 

[VOETOM]

Dad used to run side gapped ones and was very careful as to how far the plug went into his Pontiac's combustion chamber. But, he was doing it for airflow reasons. On his flow bench, he could see the difference in plug depth and orientation and how it affected flow at low lift and mid lift points (which is what he concentrated on). How it really related to strip times, I can't recall but he knew he had all eight cylinder heads intake airflow as close as he could get with them all plugs facing the same way and in at the same depth.