Philthy wrote:Why wouldn't you run factory NGKs?
Call your different parts houses and ask for NGK product #9579 or #9168.
Also I agree with ruthless, what difference do the plugs make to the wire?
Why is it a nono to run platinum with nitrous? just curious.
There is nothing wrong with the stock NGK wire they do get the power for the distributor to the plugs but as with any ignition wire there is always a resistance value over a fixed distance.
The stock coil in your car 42000volts or approx .85amp. Assumming that the average length of wire is 1.5 feet. the stock wires have a resistance of about 4500ohms /ft. You will have a 13.7% or about 5750 volt loss at the plugs .
MSD make a wire that is 50ohms/ft given the same parameters loss with be 0.15% or about 64 volts
Like HP and Torque. With the ignition amperage is like torque is to the engine, it is more important than voltage as far as making your car faster. You have to consider the wire gauge of the conductor. Stock replacement wires have a 38ga conductor where as true perforamce wires have a 34ga conductor. The larger gauge conductor passes more amperage to the plug. This change in conductor size can mean as much as a 250% increase in amperage at the plug resulting in a stronger spark. This is what marketing guys try to confuse you with wire diameter. They market the size of the jacket and not the size of the conductor carrying the power to the plug.
Platinum is dense material extremely resistant to wear. Iridium is a even denser material and therefore extremely resistant to wear as well. Both materials are terrible thermal conductor and a bad electrical conductor. So why would anyone use it to make a spark plug? Since car manufacturers these days have to guaranty that their engines stay in-tune for up to 100,000 miles, they can only achieve this with ultra dense Iridium or Platinum. Basically they ate for people that never have there cars serviced or owned on Mitsubishi V-6 were you can only service the plugs when the intake manifold in removed. Where they do not conduct heat away for the combustion chamber the tip of the electrode remains hot and is less likely to foul. and due to there very small diameter they require less voltage to arc over the spark gap
Material Thermal Electrical
Conductivity Conductivity
W/(m•K) MS/m
Silver 407 66
Copper 384 57
Gold 310 45
Iridium 147 18
Platinum 70 10
Nickel 59 10
What does this mean as far performance goes? You are getting less power from the coil to plugs that a standard copper electrode plug. Those of you that have known me since the early days of the MX-3 world know I switched to Beru or Brisk Sliver electrode plugs early on. I recent found that all the plugs listed for my new 2.0L Zetec are Platinum or Iridium. Doing a little research I found the equivelent conventional sparkplug for this engine. With this number I was able identify a silver electrode plug that works in this engine. I as well as others that have used the Silver plugs notice a difference between the silver and standard copper/nickel. Going from a OEM platinum plugs to a Brisk Silver plug has made a night and day difference in power, throttle response and gas mileage.
does anyone else smell something or is it just me?
