spark plug
- Thread starter Antec1200X
- Start date
NGK b8eg FTW!!!!!!!! I like the platinum plugs the best.Compared to a b8es the eg has a more redefined spark.I however would steer clear from an iridium plug.They tend to mis fire at high idle.b8es or b8eg and you will be fine.
Buddy of mine used a oscilloscope scope to measure the stator output and coil re-charge rate. He called it his Stator Dyno. On the side he would re-wind stators and/or diagnose electrical issues on ATV's for some mad money. He also did a similar test on spark plugs.
One of the tests was to determine the best type (resistor vs. non resistor) for what type of coil (fixed or floating ground).
He found that the floating ground (Honda 250r) type coil where the coil was not ground directly to the frame, but rather wired into the loom worked best with the Resistor type plug. Coils that bolts directly to the frame worked better with the non-resistor type.
Another test was on a bike (banshee) where we ran a couple of separate ground straps. One directly from the coil bolt to an engine case bolt, another from another engine case bolt to another frame location nearer the rectifier. Both straps added additional (measurable) energy generated from the coil.
We then measured the amount of spark energy generated at the spark plug tip using different plug gaps and the closer we made the gap, the hotter and brighter the spark was to a certain point of diminishing return. Optimum spark on the banshee, 250r, lt250 and raptor setups was between .018-.020". The only thing the iridium and platinum plugs do is stay cleaner longer, probably due to their thin wire, not necessarily the metal type. They did not generate any more energy than the standard plug types.
We did the same gap test on the stator pickup as well and found the same gap produced the maximum energy (.018-.020"). Blaster is a lil difficult to measure and adjust, but not impossible.
When I had my shop open I would fix more bikes every year from peps that "restored" their bikes and failed to scrape to bare metal a spot under the coil bracket. Re-gapped the stator and a fresh set of spark plugs. Intermittent spark miss was my tale-tale signs to look at the electrical systems.
Hope this info helps you all.
electrical systems are something that isn't really "tunable" so most peps assume that since it worked fine the last time I ran it, it must be fine today so they look elsewhere when the bike doesnt run just right.
another issue is the coil plug boot. Ive removed the boot and cut off 1/4" and re-installed and rid myself of varying intermittent misses. Most of the time these happen at certain RPM's (or certain harmonic vibration level).
another issue is the coil plug boot. Ive removed the boot and cut off 1/4" and re-installed and rid myself of varying intermittent misses. Most of the time these happen at certain RPM's (or certain harmonic vibration level).
I would steer clear of the iridium plugs as well. My experience on them was different but I learned...
When I boosted my CRX I was the the "best" of everything and of those things was iridium plugs at about $11 a piece. While I was tuning the ECU, I started getting a pronounced misfire.
I pulled the plugs and they were black (I started rich and widdled the AFR up to 12.5:1 flat up to redline) so I measured the resistance across the core and one of the cores had died. I installed a standard copper plug in that cylinder and went back to playing with the tune. About 20 minutes run-time later I got another dead miss. I pulled wires to figure out which cylinder was acting up (expecting it to be the cylinder I put the copper plug in) but it wasn't. I pulled the dead cylinder's plug and measured the core and it died too! I got another copper plug and put it in that cylinder.
By the time I was done I had 3 out of 4 iridium plugs with a dead core for $33 worth of paper weights...
I think the tiny tip size of the iridium plug gets fouled and the core shorts to the plug body were the large tip size of the copper plug can take more of a beating. Once the tuning was done I thought about buying a new set of iridium plugs but decided to run copper plugs and just change them very often to keep it fresh.
With that experience, I would be very leary of running an iridium plug in a 2 stroke. If the core shorts while you're a haul out in the woods, you're pushing it back...
When I boosted my CRX I was the the "best" of everything and of those things was iridium plugs at about $11 a piece. While I was tuning the ECU, I started getting a pronounced misfire.
I pulled the plugs and they were black (I started rich and widdled the AFR up to 12.5:1 flat up to redline) so I measured the resistance across the core and one of the cores had died. I installed a standard copper plug in that cylinder and went back to playing with the tune. About 20 minutes run-time later I got another dead miss. I pulled wires to figure out which cylinder was acting up (expecting it to be the cylinder I put the copper plug in) but it wasn't. I pulled the dead cylinder's plug and measured the core and it died too! I got another copper plug and put it in that cylinder.
By the time I was done I had 3 out of 4 iridium plugs with a dead core for $33 worth of paper weights...
I think the tiny tip size of the iridium plug gets fouled and the core shorts to the plug body were the large tip size of the copper plug can take more of a beating. Once the tuning was done I thought about buying a new set of iridium plugs but decided to run copper plugs and just change them very often to keep it fresh.
With that experience, I would be very leary of running an iridium plug in a 2 stroke. If the core shorts while you're a haul out in the woods, you're pushing it back...
