Spark plug choice
Discussion
Prepare for a different answer from everyone.
I personally use NGK BPR6ES. About £20 for a full set and therefore cheap enough to be replaced frequently. They were recommended by Shaun at MS2Tuning. I am not even going to pretend I understand the differences, but he does know what he is talking about when it comes to the V8 engines.
I personally use NGK BPR6ES. About £20 for a full set and therefore cheap enough to be replaced frequently. They were recommended by Shaun at MS2Tuning. I am not even going to pretend I understand the differences, but he does know what he is talking about when it comes to the V8 engines.
bobfather said:
Cheers for that. I think I'll go for BPR6ES, the iridium plugs are long lasting but there's something satisfying about doing my annual plug swap so BPR6ES should suit me well
^^^^^^^^^ Good call,
I find mine runs better, and my TVR expert has now been persuaded too by seeing how much better RV8s run on 6s rather than 7s and how much cleaner the 6 plugs come out at service. Hotter plug, less fouling.
I actually do use the iridium plugs, persuaded by a combination of Chimpongas and Lexus - my old Lexus LS400 used to have iridium plugs as standard, engine was a smooth as silk (the famous pound coin trick worked every time) and the plug change interval was 60,000 miles. The iridiums cost about £8 per plug, but I expect some fuel savings with them always being cleaner.
I recently changed to BP6ES (no R as my leads are the standard set and resistive) in my bog standard 400. Again, it may be just the fact they're new, but she runs noticeably smoother in the lower rev range and things are particularly improved in that tricky 1200-2000 rpm band. They've not been in for long and I'll keep an eye on their condition as I do more miles, but so far 
bobfather said:
scushing said:
(no R as my leads are the standard set and resistive)
Interesting, I think I'm learning something. I'm running a new set of Lucas HT leads from TVR Parts without extenders. Any idea if these will be resistive?I was at Rockingham for the first race of the DTEC last year. One particular car (red Sagaris IIRC) caused merry hell in practice with the PA system every time he came past the start/finish line, and before long he was parked at the side of the track.
I overheard the driver asking opinions on what was wrong, so I passed on my observation to Mat Smith, TVR guru, who was racing in the same races, and he immediately said words to the effect of "he needs one component to be resistive, or it will not only cause interference, but can damage....."(don't remember what). He then went straight over to help said driver sort the problem - it's a nice series.
As far as I am aware, the plug extenders are resistive, and standard B7ECS plugs aren't. As for leads, I simply don't know. I have deleted the extenders after 6 failures from a new set, so am relying on my resistive iridium plugs (BPR6EIX) to do the business, as i don't know what my leads are either.
And I too noticed that the iridium plugs made the car seem to pull more eagerly and responsively.
bobfather said:
scushing said:
(no R as my leads are the standard set and resistive)
Interesting, I think I'm learning something. I'm running a new set of Lucas HT leads from TVR Parts without extenders. Any idea if these will be resistive?http://www.holden.co.uk/displayProductsByBrand.asp...
This is why l don't want to risk putting new Lucas parts on my car!!!!!
QBee said:
As far as I am aware, the plug extenders are resistive, and standard B7ECS plugs aren't. As for leads, I simply don't know. I have deleted the extenders after 6 failures from a new set, so am relying on my resistive iridium plugs (BPR6EIX) to do the business, as i don't know what my leads are either.
My extenders aren't resistive, but the leads are (around 6-7kOhms from memory). Not long after I got the car my neighbour mentioned it was interefering with his telly & annoying Mrs Neighbour so I checked leads and extenders (simple test with a multimeter). I had the B7ECS plugs in (non resistive) at the time, and my specialist said if it had the recommended standard leads they would be resistive and lo and behold they were.The interference turned out to be caused by a distributor cap which was furrier than a whole set of badgers. Changed that, and Mrs Neighbour was once again enjoying Countdown as it was meant to be.
I just used an ordinary digital multimeter to measure each lead's resistance (and separately, the extenders). Now you've got me wondering...
The specialist said look for between 6k and 10kOhms in the lead, which is what I've got. They told me they'd never had anyone else report an interference problem with this setup (standard leads, non-resistive plugs & extenders).
Evidently some types of leads have high resistance, some lower. I'm presuming low resistance leads need resistive plugs or extenders but higher resistance leads don't necessarily. I've also read that too much resistance can reduce sparking, but how much is too much I haven't found out...
The specialist said look for between 6k and 10kOhms in the lead, which is what I've got. They told me they'd never had anyone else report an interference problem with this setup (standard leads, non-resistive plugs & extenders).
Evidently some types of leads have high resistance, some lower. I'm presuming low resistance leads need resistive plugs or extenders but higher resistance leads don't necessarily. I've also read that too much resistance can reduce sparking, but how much is too much I haven't found out...
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