well as it says,

i was talking to a rep from NGK for a while at work and he had some paperwork and such talking about how if you have any performance modifications or do alot of heavy towing or anything out of the ordinary, he recommends dropping to a colder plug and droping .10 on the gap as well aka stock is .45 to drop to .35 and 1 step colder plug. He was mentioning about how the extra air being sucked into motor would cause some idle issues and funky reactions and other stuff apparently, also he mentioned by doing the above its like using higher octaine gas for timing issues and running better under heavy stress loads on the motor.


so my question is whats your thoughs? i just got bolt ons on my redline (k/n, header,downpipe exhaust) and thinking of trying this for ***** and giggles and see if any difference) what you guys think? would it do anything or he just trying to push his plugs etc..

thanks

 

Bump, I am curious

 

i actually do have some hesitation an studdering in beginning of first and second due to the gap of the plugs i believe...it only started after i changed my header an dp to a bigger one so i'm guessing he's right because the more flow changed the way the car reacts...i'm gonna do the gap tonite an see what happens

 

well, people run colder plugs gapped smaller on pully setups all the time, it really couldnt hurt and i you ever stage the car youl need the colder plugs anyway.

 

yah thats my though also i am gonna order some step colder plugs at work and gap to .35 and see what happens. follow his recommendations and see if the butt dyno says. i assume it would play with timing a bit and help other issues. when we get heat soaked it should help a bit.

 

i already have step 1 gapped at .40...its just a slight studder/stumble at the beginning of 1st an 2nd gear...i'm hoping this will have eliminated it...plus i think the ecu and pcm is re-learning the new amount of air thats going through the exhaust

 

I got the one step colder plugs! I found this crazy but when i took the stock plugs out they were gaped at .37 and the new ngk's were at .35 co i just threw them in they feel alot better on wot and when you hard on the car idle jumps around a bit when coming to a complete stop somtimes!

 

yea the freaky idle is typical with all the cobalts...it bounces around sometimes

 

You should run colder plugs for every 50 - 75 extra hp you add to the car. For trucks or SUVs doing alot of towing, especially up hill, I could see where you may want a colder plug. As far as changing the gap, that depends on a lot of things. The smaller the gap the less chance of spark blow-out, however the smaller the gap the smaller the spark which can effect MPG and horsepower as well. You always want to run the LARGEST gap possible without getting spark blow-out which usually means alot of trial and error to see what gap your car runs best at. With boosted cars there is always a greater chance of spark blow-out which usually means you typically do have to run a smaller gap. This is where the compound of the spark plug electrode also comes into play. Since copper is a much better conductor of electricity, you can usually also run a little bit wider gap without getting spark blow-out.

 

not to sound like an idiot but what is spark blow out an how does it occur....does it destroy the plug?

from what it sounds like....sounds like it would be similar to a misfire due to the spark plug not being gapped at a width far enough to spark the fuel

 

spark plug blowout is when there is too much gap and too much air moving through and the spark gets "blown out" like a candle

 

So i went and got the NGK plugs last night from Advance Auto ($1.87 each) and i could not get the torx head screws on the cover plate to budge!!

Any suggestions?

Should I slot with a dremel and use a big ass flat head screw driver?

Anybody know the thread pitch for these screws in case i have to replace them?

 

Don't know the thread pitch, but the screws shouldn't be in that tight. Are you sure you are using the correct size? I believe it is a T27 for those bolts.

 

I had the T27 torx driver and even used a breaker bar and not a single one would budge, they are not stripped or anything, just really tight.

Help please....

 

wow dude thats f'd up...they should only be snug enough to keep the plate on there...not that tight...i think the slot with a dremmel wouldnt work much better cuz you cant get any torque on a screw driver...spray some WD40 on it an jus keep tryna crank her loose but give the WD40 time to soak in down the threads

 

the reason i was thinking of slotting the screws was to prevent the torx head from stripping out.

 

I don't know what to tell you. I remember mine were pretty snug when I took them out the first time, but they weren't in that tight.

 

Ive got the NGK Iridium plugs and got them on when about a week after I went to a smaller pulley. I did notice a difference in the car.

 

I tried the BKR7E at .035 and at .040 car ran horrible in 1st and 2nd and i got knock under full throttle which i didnt get with the stock plugs, i fail to see whats better about them

 

That is interesting....

 

Mine are gapped at .036 and the car has never run better