I would like to hear any comments and experiences with various spark plug brands in older engines. I remember that in the 60's, there were certain brands that just worked best in certain engines, and changing brands usually resulted in poor performance. Having said that, I recently replaced the plugs in my '63 T Bird 390 4V that I just acquired. The ones that were in there were "Bosch Platinum" and I replaced them with the same type and brand. The ones I removed looked OK, the right color etc, and no obvious malfunction. The engine runs OK but it seems rough, and is hard to start cold, but when warm will start instantly. Well I changed the plugs and also the wires thinking that they were just getting tired. It seemed to help some, and the engine will run out OK at higher speeds, but it still runs rough, and seems to be kind of missing when accelerating from a stop. The dwell is OK, the compression is OK, the engine only has about 20K miles on it. The carb seems to be OK. I am wondering if changing to Champion plugs will make a difference? I am open to any and all suggestions and experiences.
I've had bad luck with Bosch Platinums...my wife accused me of doing something to the transmission in her 99 Mitsubishi Galant, and performance was noticeably down after installing Bosch Platinums. I put the old plugs (ND regular) back in, and performance came back.
I would not waste the money on platinum plugs for this engine. Motorcraft/Autolite would be the plug of choice.
Let us all know if you find a difference in performance!
in my 99' Ford Windstar I say Motorcraft all the way, but if I remember correctly there was a sticker on the air filter for my 66 Ford Falcon that said to use Autolite Parts so I wonder if the Autolites would still be best or if Motorcraft is now making the closest to OEM "Amburepair" wrote in message news:3fd68042$0$14958$ snipped-for-privacy@news.rcn.com... Rule of thumb! AC Delco
On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 01:59:33 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@ev1.net wrote:
I will not condemn the Bosch brand plugs. They indeed make good products including some that work well in Ford and GM vehiocles. That said, my luck with any of the Bosch plugs in my Ford and GM vehicles has been disappointing to say the least. The old rule of thumb using AC/Delco products in GM and either Autolite or motorcraft in Ford products has gotten the best results. Also, you are probably wasting your money to use anything better or more expensive than than a regular platinum plug in that engine. While the platinum tips offer good resistance to erosion and widening gaps, the older engines will still require regularly scheduled plug replacements for best performance. I do not recall where I may have seen this but, there are some assertians that the platinum tip plugs may provide more electrical resistance resulting in a poor spark compared to regular copper tipped plugs. If you have a marginal ignition system during cranking, this may explain the problem. You can probably improve ease of starting and overall engine performance by installing an electronic conversion like the Pertronix unit or the new unit from Crane. Both are simple no nonsense installations that fit entirely out of site within the distributor. This may also offer enough ignition boost to properly fire the platinum plugs if that is the problem and, most certainly result in better overall engine performance over points.
Lastly, make sure you check the voltage to the coil while cranking to be sure it is in specs. Slightly low cranking voltage to the coil can really hurt starting.
You have undoubtedly seen "it" on the internet and like many things found there it is hogwash. Any "extra"electrical resistance of platinum over other conducting metals would be infinitesimal for the amount of platinum being used. Similarly, the "copper tipped" plug claims are also hogwash since there are no copper tipped plugs. There are copper core plugs but they do not and could not perform any different then an iron/steel core plug of proper heat range. The only alleged advantage of copper would be it's somewhat better heat transfer ability but that can easily be designed around if you want to use iron instead for the core. Basically, the difference between plugs is almost all marketing hype aside from the few true differences such as double electrodes, double plat tips vs single tip, and just the overall quality of the materials used and manufacturing tolerances.
You will note the way my comments as-stated infer that these "assertions" may or may not be accurate. I understand the difference my be very small but, when you are dealing with the relatively marginal ignition provide by a points system, the difference may be the make or break point for a good spark to occur. The are probably other reason that I haven't even dreamed about. I am no electrical expert but, after 46 years of screwing around with automobiles, trucks, locomotives, generators, heavy construction equipment and marine equipment, I know my own experience and I know the remedies that have improved the condition - all anecdotal as they say in this case. I am, generally, not a believer in multiple tip plugs. It is a fact that an electrical charge will follow and expend itself over the path of least resistance thus negating the presence of any additional points to which it may travel - this may not be true of multiple discharge systems in which case subsequent impulses may take a different path utilizing the additional points or tips. IMHO, the additional tips may also shield the fuel/air charge from the spark a bit - I do not know. In any case, marketing hype may get my attention once but, will only get my money if there is some evidence outside that hype that indicates the product actually does what it is hyped to do. The Bosch plugs simply have never performed up to their hype or as well as some others in the Ford and GM vehicles in which I have had the patience to install them only to replace them shortly thereafter with recommended plugs for a noticeable improvement in driveability and performance. Maybe, someday, I will conduct the research and write a thesis on just why this appears to be the case. Then again, I have to assume that the automobile manufacturers may have already done the research to determine what works in their vehicles.
All that said, I usually only chime in when it looks as if my comments may be useful. I apologize if this is not always the case. Lastly, none of my comments should be taken as fact unless it agrees with something you already know or, you can verify through other means. Don't jump off a cliff to cure a headache!!!
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