Dumb question time.
- Thread starter TopherSho
- Start date
avidmotion
New member
SP 542S are cheap right now, I think I paid 6 or 7 bucks, I never get more then 20,000 out of my plugs, 12,000 from brake pads and 50,000 from struts or shocks....I am hard on things I guess...
Even Ford says change them frequently.. so 20k it is then. That's at least 1x a year. Guess I will suck it up.
Good news is 542 compared the the ngks I had show I should get a full 20k since I'm not tuned to the hilt due to how the 542 is built different... (yet still a ngk part?)
Imma going to pull the easy plugs and gap the 534's down to .028 anyways and use them up.. then maybe when i feel like a contortionist i will do the last 2 left and right plugs that annoy the crap out of me.. after they wear out i will go back in with 542s... again.
Good news is 542 compared the the ngks I had show I should get a full 20k since I'm not tuned to the hilt due to how the 542 is built different... (yet still a ngk part?)
Imma going to pull the easy plugs and gap the 534's down to .028 anyways and use them up.. then maybe when i feel like a contortionist i will do the last 2 left and right plugs that annoy the crap out of me.. after they wear out i will go back in with 542s... again.
ZSHO said:
Yes indeed they are but there are "reported" manufacturing differences as read in the f150 forum .. as luck would have it i found one of my spare NGK's (6510) so when i get the 542's and gap them (yup .. took all of 4 hours to decide to just replace them) i will take a gander and post pics
Well I put the 542's in, holy hell do they make a difference .. i have no doubts even without a data log the 2' degrees of lost spark are back and im pushing 26/27 degrees at times.
I gapped a tiny bit under .028.. interesting observation, it is way easier to open them than close them. so on the fronts i closed them down to almost zero, then opened them up to .028.. i will be curious if they 'hold their gap' better by going in deep, changing the metal fatigue in a new direction versus ''gapping them down to .028'' and them opening up.
here are the pics of the plugs.
i found it odd that the 542,s has less in the hole insulator, and have a nipple on the inside of the ground part... the 542 electrode/tip is also more 'exposed' than the ngks...
I gapped a tiny bit under .028.. interesting observation, it is way easier to open them than close them. so on the fronts i closed them down to almost zero, then opened them up to .028.. i will be curious if they 'hold their gap' better by going in deep, changing the metal fatigue in a new direction versus ''gapping them down to .028'' and them opening up.
here are the pics of the plugs.
i found it odd that the 542,s has less in the hole insulator, and have a nipple on the inside of the ground part... the 542 electrode/tip is also more 'exposed' than the ngks...
Since there is no such thing as a dumb question in this thread, is 0.028" applicable to most tunes/tuners?
My SHO is tuned by Unleashed but I do not have a clue what gap I am supposed to use. Had the car for more than a year now and want to get prepared to change these.
On the other hand, I read you guys complaining about replacing the rear plugs, IMO, this is a piece of cake for a transverse V6.
I had to remove the intake plenum on my Mazda 6 to replace them and once had a Toyota Sienna that I sold with 275k km (170k miles) with the factory plugs on it! since again, a lot had to be removed to change them... I handed 6 brand new plugs to the guy who bought it... "and here you go, 6 brand new spark plugs at no extra cost..." LOL
My SHO is tuned by Unleashed but I do not have a clue what gap I am supposed to use. Had the car for more than a year now and want to get prepared to change these.
On the other hand, I read you guys complaining about replacing the rear plugs, IMO, this is a piece of cake for a transverse V6.
I had to remove the intake plenum on my Mazda 6 to replace them and once had a Toyota Sienna that I sold with 275k km (170k miles) with the factory plugs on it! since again, a lot had to be removed to change them... I handed 6 brand new plugs to the guy who bought it... "and here you go, 6 brand new spark plugs at no extra cost..." LOL
jman said:
its a double edged sword, smaller gap = hotter spark, for modded cars with increased boost and increased fueling it helps with ignition control and better burn and less knock occurrence. with increased spark control and less knock you will see the tuner increase your base spark or your wot spark limits and increase them.. more spark = more torque... torque is EVERYTHING on this REV limited platform.
but it also means you will burn the tips off your plugs faster as you are decreasing the spark gap and increasing the ARC path temps, so MUCH MUCH shorter lifespan.
in my case my NGK's burned up in less than 15000 miles. or about 5 months time... changed to unmodified 542s and ran them for just under a year .. but lost 2 degrees of spark across the entire rev range.
are they worth it? time will tell if you use them . if you have no issues changing the plugs 2x a year for a DD+racer you will be fine. if like me you have giant hands and are old and annoy easily... there a pita ...
be it my car and my personal experience and opinion. that 2 degrees adds around 20-30ftlbs (on my car with meth) in the medium and low rev range .. its a HUGE difference on my 60' and my 0-100mph.
Closing the loop, switching from Valvoline to a 5-20 BLENDED Castrol more than a week ago. It has made significant difference in third gear spark handing ... could be a new-block still breaking in thing i dunno ... im going to roll with it and just let it be and check in another 5k miles.
edit wrote it wrong .. damn drugs
edit wrote it wrong .. damn drugs