Spark plugs and go!

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Sounds like some personal problems you guys could have handled in some text messages to each other because everything that you've gotten here 'advice wise' you've seemingly blown off in the end ...perhaps because the 'end goal' was to make fun of the guy with the Hemi and 13 sec passes. Lmao
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Well would you look at that right after I tell my story of my Champions failing and the insulators coming loose.... post above me guy had his electrodes push in on his champions. Backs up that they fail and that they are pieces of **** and if anybody has success with them.. it's purely luck. Theyxre only good for holding head gaskets in place for chamber shaping/deshrouding... or for making a fitting to pressurize the cyl for a spring change.
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I wasn't badmouthing any spark plugs but instead only sharing the facts of what happened to me. The plug I was using is clearly an old design (I remember them from the 70's!) and technology has improved on plugs since then. There are apparently better plugs out there and I'm about to install some - certainly different than these! If I run into any other issues with plugs, I'll post it up so others don't fall into the same hole I did.
 
MOPAROFFICIAL said:
Sounds like some personal problems you guys could have handled in some text messages to each other because everything that you've gotten here 'advice wise' you've seemingly blown off in the end ...perhaps because the 'end goal' was to make fun of the guy with the Hemi and 13 sec passes. Lmao
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It's been going on for 3yrs.
 
thesiren74 said:
It's been going on for 3yrs.
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What I do sometimes 'some people are persistent' like when they're trying to sell me some **** , you know what I mean... I tell them I already have them or I already have one, run one, etc.. lol sometimes just to fk with em I'll tell'em it made it worse or it's slower or I don't like how it works or it broke...n on n on...haha all I have after that is telling them...'hey fk off'..lol
 
Ran Champions until I started having problems with them in the late 80's. Final straw was getting three dead ones brand new out of the box and cost me my race weekend. Switched to Autolites for several years after that until about '93. Went to get my standard Autolites once, and they were out, so I begrudgingly bought some NGK's and have been using them ever since. I actually liked the NGK's better as I think they're a super easy plug to read when jetting, have had zero failures ever, and use them in all my vehicles including 2T and 4T motorcycles. Whether they give more power I have no clue. I just know they always work and reading them is easy even with ethanol laced gas.
 
Furious65 said:
Ran Champions until I started having problems with them in the late 80's. Final straw was getting three dead ones brand new out of the box and cost me my race weekend. Switched to Autolites for several years after that until about '93. Went to get my standard Autolites once, and they were out, so I begrudgingly bought some NGK's and have been using them ever since. I actually liked the NGK's better as I think they're a super easy plug to read when jetting, have had zero failures ever, and use them in Allina my D my vehicles including 2T and 4T motorcycles. Whether they give more power I have no clue. I just know they always work and reading them is easy even with ethanol laced gas.
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In my 2 stroke dirt bike days we used all sorts of plugs didn't matter what brand they all fouled! We had drawers full of old plugs one would foul we'd find a decent looking one torch it hit it with wire brush and send it.
 
thesiren74 said:
But will I gain a 3 tenths to second using them? Lol that's the claim by a certain guy I know.
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You won’t gain .3 with ANY plug. That’s straight horseshit.

I mostly use Champions because I’ve been using them since I was a kid riding dirt bikes. I have all those years of reading them so Champions are easier for me to read.

And yes, different brands of plugs read differently.
 
Demonx2 said:
Timely discussion for me! I posted (72 Demon Follies) an issue I had at the track with my avatar car this past Sunday. 408, 10.5 CR, Eddy RPM heads, MSD 6AL. Car runs 7.0's/11-teens.

Mph seemed slower than I thought it should be after 1st run in the DA air of 73. Pulled the Champion RC12YC plugs and found #3 &#5 like this:


View attachment 1715996943

View attachment 1715996944
No center electrode! All others were ok.

I knew I might be a tad lean but not lean enough to do that! And there was no nibbling or pecking on the ground strap so it's not like it was detonation or anything. And #3 has the center electrode smooth and even with the porcelain. #5 electrode is sunken into the porcelain about 1/8". Pics aren't great but reading the ground strap on all the plugs showed the timing to be just about spot on.

Changed out the bad plugs and made additional passes. Set a new Personal Best of 7.01 in the 1/8th so the motor apparently was fine.

Fast forward a couple days. Through some connections, I was able to get the pics back to Champion and learned the design is an older design and the sealing mechanisms have changed quite a bit since that plug was designed. The "center electrode pushback" like I experienced is a possible failure mode of the design caused by high cyl pressures. I doubt mine is excessively high but apparently was high enough to do this. And I'm sure many folks have run them forever without issue. I'm just relaying what occurred. The recommendation was to use a modern design like RC12WYPB4 (#9201) in place of the RC12YC.

So I'm putting new plugs in it this week. And given the big plug gap the MSD box was apparently pushing through, I'll check my plug wires carefully to make sure no breakdown occurred. Live and learn!!
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I’ve seen that before. Those plugs had to be pretty old. I was working on a blown gas Comp Eliminator deal and we were using fine wire Champion plugs.

After two runs we’d pull the plugs and the porcelain would be blown off most of the plugs (this was a dual plug Buick headed SBC that had a second set of plugs added) and neither of us knew WTH was going on.

I called Champion (when you could actually get someone on the phone there) and was told those fine wire plugs had more interference fit between the center wire and the porcelain and what happened is on the two step the rev limiter was killing random cylinders and they cool off. Coming off the two step the plugs would gain so much temp so fast the center wire grew faster than the porcelain and it would fracture the porcelain and blow it off.

So we switched to a CX57 and sent it.

I have also seen the center wire get blown back into the porcelain but that was on a blown alcohol engine.
 
^^^^interesting right there. My engine surely is no blown high horsepower anything! Just a run of the mill 408 stroker hence why it was surprising to me to see such a failure mode. Regardless, I get it: there are newer and better designs available out there. The seal/clamping design was changed in the later designs to eliminate that failure mode.

As for age, these RC12YC plugs were bought new in April of 2021. Obviously not gonna use that design anymore!
 
thesiren74 said:
Ngk v power vs. Champion rc12yc.
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I did a 15 year sentence in the auto parts business. I never had to warranty an NGK. Many champions were dead out of the box.
My theory is champions were fine with low power ignitions,leaded gas and low expectations.

Modern ignitions,fuel and desire for plugs to last more than a few miles seem to be a lot to ask of champions
 
HankRearden said:
I did a 15 year sentence in the auto parts business. I never had to warranty an NGK. Many champions were dead out of the box.
My theory is champions were fine with low power ignitions,leaded gas and low expectations.

Modern ignitions,fuel and desire for plugs to last more than a few miles seem to be a lot to ask of champions
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Fbo ignition and coil champions been in the engine since spring about 2,000 miles and 4 track days.
 
thesiren74 said:
Fbo ignition and coil champions been in the engine since spring about 2,000 miles and 4 track days.
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Yeah that's the thing right. It seems everyone has a different experience. I don't know anything about the demands of drag racing on spark plugs. On dirt track stuff we used autolite race plugs.
 
thesiren74 said:
In my 2 stroke dirt bike days we used all sorts of plugs didn't matter what brand they all fouled! We had drawers full of old plugs one would foul we'd find a decent looking one torch it hit it with wire brush and send it.
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Running pig rich, huh? :poke:For the dirt I only ride 2T. Only ever fouled one plug ever, an NGK BR8ES, because I forgot to turn off the choke (was being rushed) and still rode it for almost 8 miles before it finally fouled. I replace the plug in my KDX and GG once a year just because I feel I should and not because I have to. 2T's are pretty sensitive to jetting so you can't be horribly off like on a 4T.
 
Furious65 said:
Running pig rich, huh? :poke:For the dirt I only ride 2T. Only ever fouled one plug ever, an NGK BR8ES, because I forgot to turn off the choke (was being rushed) and still rode it for almost 8 miles before it finally fouled. I replace the plug in my KDX and GG once a year just because I feel I should and not because I have to. 2T's are pretty sensitive to jetting so you can't be horribly off like on a 4T.
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What year GG. If GG a made a 500 I’d have 2 of those buggers.
 
HankRearden said:
I did a 15 year sentence in the auto parts business. I never had to warranty an NGK. Many champions were dead out of the box.
My theory is champions were fine with low power ignitions,leaded gas and low expectations.

Modern ignitions,fuel and desire for plugs to last more than a few miles seem to be a lot to ask of champions
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pumped alot of nitrous throuh champions never and issue
switched to ngk they are so much better blah blah
saw no change
plugs are like oil filters you use a brand it works all the time no issues you then like that brand
3/10s from plugs? = woudnt let him touch anything i owne
340s love n9yc plugs
 
Furious65 said:
Running pig rich, huh? :poke:For the dirt I only ride 2T. Only ever fouled one plug ever, an NGK BR8ES, because I forgot to turn off the choke (was being rushed) and still rode it for almost 8 miles before it finally fouled. I replace the plug in my KDX and GG once a year just because I feel I should and not because I have to. 2T's are pretty sensitive to jetting so you can't be horribly off like on a 4T.
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I was 8 and they were 79,81 rm60,80
 
Rat Bastid said:
What year GG. If GG a made a 500 I’d have 2 of those buggers.
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2011 EC250 Racing, last of the small framed GG's. Absolutely love this bike! It's because riding/racing this bike, my KDX, and being heavily involved in the dirt bike world, that I can't ever seem to get anything done on my Barracuda.

mynewgg1.jpg

Sorry to go OT!
 
a-bodyguy said:
pumped alot of nitrous throuh champions never and issue
switched to ngk they are so much better blah blah
saw no change
plugs are like oil filters you use a brand it works all the time no issues you then like that brand
3/10s from plugs? = woudnt let him touch anything i owne
340s love n9yc plugs
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I've been thinking of running n9yc's. Currently using n22yc plugs. This is in a 360 with X-heads and a lumpy cam. Think these will do me better?
 
QuickDart360 said:
I've been thinking of running n9yc's. Currently using n22yc plugs. This is in a 360 with X-heads and a lumpy cam. Think these will do me better?
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Do you mean you are running an N12YC? How much compression do you have?

At any rate, I would suggest switching over to the “C” series plugs. Everything is the same except it uses a 5/8 socket instead of that clunky 13/16 socket.

Just much nicer.
 
Rat Bastid said:
Do you mean you are running an N12YC? How much compression do you have?

At any rate, I would suggest switching over to the “C” series plugs. Everything is the same except it uses a 5/8 socket instead of that clunky 13/16 socket.

Just much nicer.
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Yes meant n12yc! Typo sorry. My question is would n9yc be ok to use? Also the 5/8 socket size.
 
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