The Silver Buick's well Silver Buick!

[TheSilverBuick]

I'll be using plenty of antiseize with these heads, that's for sure.

[Scott Liggett]

I used it on everything that screwed into them.

[stage1scott]

Be a cheapskate. Just wire brush the old plugs, regap them, and stick them back in.

I have a spark plug sandblaster cleaner-bring em by shop, we'll have em fixed up in no time!!

[milner351]

Scott - I've always wondered how you made sure all the abrasive was out of the plugs after you cleaned them with one of those little blasters - thought it might be a good way to introduce abrasive to your cylinders - ever had issues with that?

[dieselgeek]

Scott - I've always wondered how you made sure all the abrasive was out of the plugs after you cleaned them with one of those little blasters - thought it might be a good way to introduce abrasive to your cylinders - ever had issues with that?

I've used them often, a quick blast of air seems to clean them up nicely.

But IMO the sandblasters aren't worth crap, you can have a totally shiny looking plug and it be no good. Measuring resistance on the plugs is a good way to monitor their health.

[A/Fuel]

Intresting, we ohm plugs all the time, sometimes a brand new plug will be open, I have a box full of them. I say there is some kind of coating on them and can take a pice of emery cloth and 90% of the time get them under.10 ohms. No one I work with trusts them now though, so in a box they sit. I really don't care, I don't pay for them. Is there somekind of coating on them from the factory?

[dieselgeek]

Is there somekind of coating on them from the factory?

No idea!

My thinking is that there gets to be some kind of coating with fuel fouling - clear, like lacquer or shellac - that can kill them. I never tried bringing them back to life. The other thing to watch out for is cracked porcelain. Lately that's become a big problem.

[squirrel]

Plugs are weird...one that looks just fine can be bad, others that look like crap will fire fine. One of the first things to do with a no-start engine, after you make sure everythign is "right", is to put in a brand new set of plugs...it's surprising how easily that will get some of them going again.

I just scrape the big carbon deposits off plugs, I don't bother trying to blast them or anything. Except the lawnmower plug...I'll blast it with carb cleaner if it soaked with gas.

[A/Fuel]

Ngk's right?
I think the cracked porcelain comes from to hot an idle temp, then hammer it with a cold splash of fuel. It's a pain, sometimes it flys out the header, sometimes it stays on the plug, sometimes it gets squished in the exhaust valve. Bu I find cooling off idle temps usually helps that. I'll take some picks this week of what I call a volcanoed plug, LOL.

[dieselgeek]

Yep, NGKs mostly.

I agree with Squirrel's observation completely. we ALWAYS start out with a fresh set of plugs and spares for after the tuning is done.

[milner351]

(sorry for the hijack Randal!)

I have one hard and fast rule with spark plugs - don't use Champions!

not a big fan of Bosch platinums either.

[A/Fuel]

I like reading plugs, I learned a lot when I had the EGT probes mixed up once. I know a lot of guys that just toss them after a run or don't pay attention at all. Nitro plugs can be like a candle sometimes and if you know what you're seeing you can get pretty close.
Couple that with a upper rod bearing and you have a lot of info there, it just takes a little longer to get to it.

[TheSilverBuick]

When I worked at Autozone I tried to sell as few Bosch Platinums as possible because I had a couple dozen people come back saying the porcelin/electrode broke off in the combustion chamber Every other counter tool pushed them over the counter as fast as possible.


I just hit the plugs with brake or carb cleaner and then maybe rough up the electrode and ground strap with sand paper or small file, which ever is closer and easier to find, then hit it again with a cleaner.

[TheSilverBuick]

Rut roh. Things just got more expensive.....




I've only pulled the first four pistons, this is number 3. Two and four look fine, number one on re-inspection has a crack in the ringland. Must be all those years of detonation catching up =\ Actually I have a decent idea when things started to go south, driving home from the Anti-Tour in May it started smoking a bit and blow by picked up some. Mind you I actually ordered the aluminum heads back in March (and yes it took that friggin long to get them) so the engine was coming out anyways. Guess now I'm going to buy a set of pistons. These are cast, when I was building the engine a few years ago there was a three month or longer back order on the forged ones, so hopefully I can get a set of forged ones quickly this time. I didn't really want to spend the extra money on them, oh well, but if they have them in stock this time I can have a set to me by Wednesday. I have to go to Elko to pick up the engine blocks and heads anyways, I can get the pistons swapped then.

[squirrel]

check carefully for vertical wear lines in the bores, from the broken ends of the rings....hopefully won't need a rebore