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Okay, so I went back and checked.
9.45:1 compression and a #6 plug is about mid way on a scale of hot 2--> 11 cold.
We would run BP7ES in air cooled twin motorcycles, like a Norton Combat.
If it seemed okay in that, I can't imagine a #6 plug would be a problem in a water cooled engine.
We didn't polish anything, but there were no sharp edges. I looked. And, we are at 6˚ BTDC as Bruno said. In fact, we checked the timing indicator against the balancer using a dial indicator to find TDC and it is dead-on.
Another symptom is the way it cranks. Or, maybe I should say the way it kicks back. Today when Bruno first cranked it the engine spun nicely. Just as he let off the starter it fired a bit but didn't catch. When he hit it again it went UGH and stopped spinning for an instant and then spun and started. Keep in mind that he has MSD (sounds like a disease) and I doubt it has any retard built in for starting.
I hope they polished all the sharp edges in the combustion chambers. That will give you all kinds of detonation.
I am not sure. A good machinist has had his hands on these heads twice now them all the way apart and nobody said anything about places needing polishing. The odd thing is that I cant remember the truck acting this way the first time it ran before the head gasket failure. Now I can hear something like back fires or something when I flog it down low. I am writing it off as plug wire issues for now, but I hope I am not having detonation issues and I hope that wasn't what caused the head gasket failure the first time.
Okay, so I went back and checked.
9.45:1 compression and a #6 plug is about mid way on a scale of hot 2--> 11 cold.
We would run BP7ES in air cooled twin motorcycles, like a Norton Combat.
If it seemed okay in that, I can;t imagine a #6 plug would be a problem in a water cooled engine.
Jim I am running an accel 276S plug this go around. It is what the head manufacturer recommended. I was running an NGK UR4 I believe.
The only way you could be having detonation is if those heads are much smaller than we think. We should have CC'd them to make sure, but they don't look small. And, you haven't driven it long enough for it to get completely hot. Further, you don't have anywhere near full throttle (it'll only go 35 MPH) and it usually takes lots of throttle to get detonation on an engine with no vacuum advance.
The only way you could be having detonation is if those heads are much smaller than we think. We should have CC'd them to make sure, but they don't look small. And, you haven't driven it long enough for it to get completely hot. Further, you don't have anywhere near full throttle (it'll only go 35 MPH) and it usually takes lots of throttle to get detonation on an engine with no vacuum advance.
Maybe that's what was happening when the gasket went. You and I were messing with the carb because it was running out of fuel on the top end. So I was running it really hard up the on ramps on HWY 75 when the gasket went.
Bruno, That 276s plug crosses to a heat range 6 in NGK.
I don't think that is the issue... unless you sealed them with silicone and the heat can't get out of the plug and into the head!
Is this a reference to how they treated his p/u bed you shipped?
You mean the bed I should have kept? No. He just doesn't like slang like "throw the engine in" or "throw the Bronco on the trailer". Would rather we be more precise and take 8 pages to explain how we will first start it up, put it in 4lo, ........ and finally secure it tightly to the trailer in 6 places.
That is correct. Euphemisms such as "throw it on" imply a lack of professionalism, concern for correctness & quality, and can suggest unsafe procedures and end results.
Just my opinion.
and take 8 pages to explain how we will first start it up, put it in 4lo, ........ and finally secure it tightly to the trailer in 6 places.
That's a bit much but be verbose if you need to, I certainly am sometimes. However, I didn't earn the title of King of the 8-page microanalysis, so....