I have a 1992, F150 with a 302 it has 153000 miles on it. I'm trying to get more power and better milage it's time to tune it up and was thinking of going with Splitfire Plugs and I'm looking for any comments good or bad.

 

Normally, that's where you get your power gains, is starting with induction and ignition. I personally started mine by changing over to an MSD Blaster TFI coil and added the Motorsport 9mm plug wires. Also at the same time I switched over to a Brass Contact Distributor cap, and K&N drop in filter. It does start and run beter, but soon I will switch over and add the MSD 6A box I want to get.

Also, changing the rear gears will help out some as well. Opening up the exhaust definitely helps out on these trucks as well. It depends on what you want out of your truck. Mine I just run up and down the roads going to work and back, but I get better mileage out of it than Idid when it had the Six in it.

By the way, I get most of my parts from Summit. And everything I have bought is emissions legal.


1988 F-150 Custom to XLT Lariat conversion, 5.0 EFI (formerly 300 I6), 5-speed M5OD, 3.08 rear gears (will be upgraded to 3.55's), Summit headers, Flowmaster muffler W/ dual 3.5" tips 24" long.

Pioneer CD, AC, Tilt, Cruise, Mobile Radio, Lightbar (Force 4 LP6000), Federal Signal PA300 Siren W/100W Siren Speaker. Caution Customizing in progress, Watch for flying tools & Parts!

 

Don't waste your money.I did a little test on a 302 efi and took the splitfires out and put motorcraft plugs in could NOT tell a difference.I have noticed that the price keeps coming down,probably cause nobody is buying them.You might try a good platinum plug.They will last just as long and are a little cheaper.Good Luck

 

Yeah i agree dont waste your money i previously owned a (C*maro) (i know not a ford but its just an ex.
and the split fires didnt give me any gain

Troy

 

I tried splitfires in my 90 F150 SC with 300-I6 awhile back and liked them. Them pepped up the truck and gave slightly better response and mpg. Then read posts on sidegapping plugs (go back to main ford-trucks.com page and run a search on this) and went this route. I haven't put the splitfires back in since. Sidegapped old autolite plugs are outperforming them a lot...much better pep and response and close to 18 mpg..in town and highway.

 

Yeah, I don't think they're worth the hype either. My brother has them on his uggh (chevy 1/2 ton)

Needless to say my light duty swb 1/2 ton will always get better mpg, and run better than his thing. Plus it looks better, and mine's not crying rusty tears.

Plus I can't see spending up to $5 per plug either. If I wanted to spend $40 on something under the hood, I'd save up a little more and buy an MSD 6 or save some more and buy an MSD 6A.

1988 F-150 Custom to XLT Lariat conversion, 5.0 EFI (formerly 300 I6), 5-speed M5OD, 3.08 rear gears (will be upgraded to 3.55's), Summit headers, Flowmaster muffler W/ dual 3.5" tips 24" long.

Pioneer CD, AC, Tilt, Cruise, Mobile Radio, Lightbar (Force 4 LP6000), Federal Signal PA300 Siren W/100W Siren Speaker. Caution Customizing in progress, Watch for flying tools & Parts!

 

I tried them some years back in a VW VAN and a Yamaha XT350 motorcycle. At wide open throttle both engines seemed to rev a little better (higher). But driving like this is wasting gas.
For economy? Save the extra money on plugs and buy a few more gallons of gas. You would get further down the road...

 

For power gains and economy in the ignition, you're looking for the hottest spark at the plug or the most efficient burn at the plug. I've tried the splitfires and I was happy with them, but I side gapped a cheap set of Autolites and gained more power; the downside is, you need to replace them at least once a year. I have also run NGK platinum and Bosch Platinum + 4s in my son's pure stock and have been very happy with both plugs. The Bosch Platinum +4s eliminate the need to side gap or index a plug, but the electrodes are small and I think that takes away from the power of the spark. Our best result in the race car was with the NGK normal plugs that I side gapped. Nology's silver anode plugs ($6.50 each) each are impressive sounding. They market that their plugs are the least resistant and they make a good point. You can get a tremendous variability in the resistance of a set of plugs and you want to keep resistance at a minimum.

For the hot spark, there are at least two theories. One is MSD's spark box that gives you multiple hot sparks over a longer duration than a stock ignition. This is a proven solution and I love my MSD 6A box. It's quick and responsive and definitely a power gain. Nology, on the other hand, has a low resistant capacitor plug wire that shoots a high voltage spark over a short duration. They claim that this is the most efficient means of firing your engine as long as your timing is set correctly. The MSD box will set you back about $130 and you'll need to add another $30 or more for a coil that handles the increased capacitive discharge of the MSD box. The Nology wires will run about $280 and I believe they're called hot wires. Another expensive but efficient wire to purchase would be the Jacobs low resistant wires with ceramic ends. They are gauranteed for live, but cost somewhere around $200. We will probably try the Nology wires and plugs in our race car this winter and I will let you know if we experienced any gains.


'82 F150 2WD w/351W (orig 300 I6)
Slik