Slantsix64
Well-Known Member
this is what i got, what does this tell me?
Spark Plug readers!
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Slantsix64
Well-Known Member
Slantsix64
Well-Known Member
Some reason i feel that i need more mechanical timing less initial?
yellow rose
Overnight Sensation
I don't know...that looks pretty good to me. The intial timing mark isn't quite at the corner and the total mark isn't all the way down to the shell.
If it needs anything it's small tweeks.
IMO, when the ground wire is that long and that exposed it's normal to see the area between where the intial line stops and then around the corner it looks like some combustion build up and then it's clean again near the shell.
Cool fuel coming into the chamber is blow right across the ground wire. That changes what you see.
I'd say you are very close.
Slantsix64
Well-Known Member
Oh okay cool! so the black mark towards the threads on the strap in my initial and the black mark at the end o the ground strap is my total timing?
Slantsix64
Well-Known Member
Im having a hard time understanding which mark is showing total in intial any way you can edit the photo and point them out?
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yellow rose
Overnight Sensation
You have it correct in post 5. Your initial timing Mark is the one from the end of the ground wire to the bend looking down from the top.
Your total is from the shell end of the ground wire up to the bend looking from the top.
I assumed you're on pump gas so for the total you want the ground wire clean from the shell up about half way to the bend. If you're running race fuel, you can't read them mark where yours it. On race gas I'd want to see the total timing Mark up to the bottom of the bend, maybe a skosh higher.
For alcohol it needs to be in the middle of the bend of a bit closer to the end of the ground wire.
Different fuels read differently and the only way to learn is to do what you are doing.
Kinda the same thing for intial. You want the intial to be closer to the end of the wire than the bend on race gas.
It's showing heat. Too cold of plug will read differently than the correct plug. Because the plug on its own is shedding heat through the threads, the firing end naturally runs cooler, so it will show that it wants more intial and total.
The opposite of that is true. Of the plug is too hot, and can't shed enough heat on its own, the firing end runs hotter and so it will read like it wants less intial and total.
So there is a lot to it, but once you get comfortable doing it, you can start to look for other things than heat range, timing and fuel.
You'll start seeing if the ignition is getting weak, if the plug isn't the correct material for the application and I've even had times where you could see the center wire was too tight in the porcelain and when the engine came off the two step it would blow the porcelain off because the center wire got too hot too quickly and there wasn't enough clearance there so it made its own!! And the bits of porcelain get smashed into the valve seats and faces and it makes a mess. That is a design thing and the plug could not handle what we were asking it to do.
After that, I learned to look for signs of that with that style plug to catch it before it happens.
You cannot just pull plugs and read them. The engine must be warmed up to operating temperature, then, you need to make a wide open run into high gear. A quarter mile run is optimal, but you caint do all that on the street. Then, release the gas pedal and cut the engine. Come to a stop and read the plugs. That's how it's done. Anybody trying to read what you have here is nothin but WRONG.
Lastly, ethanol gas makes it really difficult to get a good read on plugs anymore. The best way these days is with an A/F meter.
Lastly, ethanol gas makes it really difficult to get a good read on plugs anymore. The best way these days is with an A/F meter.
512Stroker
We are all here because we are not all there.
That plug looks pretty dam good.
What the hell is it out of? My guess would be a Stihl string trimmer. LOL
512Stroker
We are all here because we are not all there.
yellow rose
Overnight Sensation
Yes you can.
Ethanol or methanol changes how you read the plug, but they are readable.
He's not tuning for WOT so you can pull the plug and see idle and cruise tuning and initial and total timing. You can see other things if you know what to look for.
That crap of pulling plugs from a clean cut on new plugs was a old wives tale from decades ago. When you are very close and tuning for WOT then you can use new plugs and lean cut it. Until you are at that point, the OP is doing just fine.
Slantsix64
Well-Known Member
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Slantsix64
Well-Known Member
I'm at 8degrees initial currently I'm going to bump it up to a bit and see how the plugs change thanks guys!
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