Thread: Spark Plugs

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Originally Posted by rspears

As an (old?) aircraft mech, if you're ever having trouble getting a threaded fastener to "take" that first thread, do you ever close your eyes so that you can "feel" the threads better? I still remember some activities where we had to work "blind", reaching back into a void to set a washer, start a nut, tighten and then torque the nut that could only be seen with a light and mirror.... I often closed my eyes to kick the other senses up a notch.

At one time, long, long ago, I could crawl out almost to the end of the wing on a DC-10. It was necessary to get to the next to last fuel quantity probe and I was the only one small enough to do it.

Was it a DC10-10 or a DC 10-30?

Some of them had fuel in the tail-------

Hijack.jpg

Sorry, Master Sergeant Didn't mean to Hijack your thread....

Originally Posted by jerry clayton

Was it a DC10-10 or a DC 10-30?

Some of them had fuel in the tail-------

Probably a -10 as I only worked on the first 50 or so and I don't remember fuel in the tail, only hydraulic fluid from all the leaks and a couple of good hiding places.

Originally Posted by rspears

As an (old?) I still remember some activities where we had to work "blind".

That's why we call it the braille method...

Originally Posted by rspears

As an (old?) aircraft mech, if you're ever having trouble getting a threaded fastener to "take" that first thread, do you ever close your eyes so that you can "feel" the threads better? I still remember some activities where we had to work "blind", reaching back into a void to set a washer, start a nut, tighten and then torque the nut that could only be seen with a light and mirror.... I often closed my eyes to kick the other senses up a notch.

LOL, yes eyes on my finger tips, it amazes the guys in the family and I'm the one they call when something is broken and seemingly impossible to fix. How about the old trick of pressing down hard on a castellated nut, so that it'll stick to your finger long enough to reach around a blind corner and get it started on a bolt or screw.

LOL, don't sweat the hijack, it's good stuff! I once got stuck in the outboard wing tank of a C-130 and had to stay calm until my buddies could drop another panel and get me unstuck; mind over matter right there!

Originally Posted by Msgt Luttrell

LOL, How about the old trick of pressing down hard on a castellated nut, so that it'll stick to your finger long enough to reach around a blind corner and get it started on a bolt or screw.

...or a wad of Blu-tak pushed under a fingernail to stick the plain nut (or screw,) to the end of your finger...

Sorry about hijacking the thread back to the original topic. Figured I’d throw this out for what it’s worth.

I had similar drivability problems in a couple of cars I’ve had (have). The 351 in the Mustang II (with Edelbrock Heads and no heat crossover) and the Hemi in the 57 Plymouth would do kind of OK on initial startup during the summer but were virtually undrivable during the winter until they had warmed up for a good 10 or 15 minutes. I went thru the whole changing plugs, gaps checking distributors, wires etc.

In both cases the “cure” turned out to be adding an MSD box. The multiple spark at idle and low RPM made a huge difference
especially during cold weather.



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Just an update here, dropping the spark plug gap took care of the problem so far. Recently I decided to play with the vacuum advance some to see if that would also help smooth out the cold starts. I have my initial timing set at 14 degrees and total 34 degrees at 3500 rpms, but have been running it with the vacuum advance disconnected; it ran great that way and pulled strong.

So anyway this morning I connected the vacuum advance up to manifold vacuum to see if it would help on cold starts and after readjusting the idle screw (it raised the idle by around 400 rpms) I was pleasantly surprised that it did smooth out the cold start quite a bit. I took it for a spin and found that it idled better and didn't seem to have any negative effects on how it pulled through out the rpms. I go through this with every engine swap I do, but I'll eventually find the sweet spot for it.

Originally Posted by Msgt Luttrell

it ran great that way and pulled strong. I go through this with every engine swap I do, but I'll eventually find the sweet spot for it.

Thanks for the update. Glad it came together for you.

I realize that I am coming to this party late but wanted to throw my experiences with spark plugs into the mix just in case someone looks at this thread for information on a spark plug related problem. I have a 94 Mercedes 500SL that will not run on any kind of platinum plug. The only thing I can put into it that it will run on is the cheapest Champion plug available. Granted I need to change them about every 30.000 but if I screw any other plug into it, it will start running bad in less than a week. My wife had a 97 Infiinity Q45 that would reject anything but the factory recommended NGK's at $29.00 each. Anything else and the engine would start misfiring somewhere short of 12.000 miles while the NGK's would easily go 70,000 plus. Years ago I had a friend with an MG TC. That car misfired to the point of being undriveable on Champion plugs, but would run fine on ANYTHING else. I grew up in my dads auto repair shop and worked on them until my late 30's when I decided to try constructon. I have had my fingers wrapped around a wrench for over 60 years off and on and I have no logical explanation for any of this. But the point is that the internal combustion engine can be a finicky beast at best. So if it does not like the plugs you have in it try another brand, it might work. One other thing that just danced across my brain, for those of you old enough to remember Ak Miller. He had a shop foreman, who's name I do not remember, that ran a corvette at Bonneville. He once made a record run in that car with 8 different brand name plugs in it, go figure.

Something I need to add to this is that we are looking at an electric thingie -----------Alum heads--guys seem to over lube with sealer or anti sieze and there fore end up losing the ground at the plug------and also, maybe the coil circuity isn't grounded to the engine when maybe mounted on the firewall------------


And I agree with the MSD for multi sparks at idle/lower rpm-used to tow pro stocker back from top end-after MSD could drive back, around pits to tech/scales/etc