sidegapped plugs & mpg
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sidegapped plugs & mpg
Well, a week into my test of sidegapped plugs in my 90 F150 with 300-I6, here are the mpg results:
drove 219 miles this week to work and some errands, a mixture of highway and intown driving.
Filled the tank this morning, it took 12 gals. to top off...so mileage is about 18-plus. This was with 86 or 87 octane fuel. With regular splitfires I was getting 15-16 in town and about 18 down the road running premium with the tailgate down. I'm confident I can get 19-20 on roadtrips running premium with tailgate down. Try sidegapping your plugs if you haven't already
drove 219 miles this week to work and some errands, a mixture of highway and intown driving.
Filled the tank this morning, it took 12 gals. to top off...so mileage is about 18-plus. This was with 86 or 87 octane fuel. With regular splitfires I was getting 15-16 in town and about 18 down the road running premium with the tailgate down. I'm confident I can get 19-20 on roadtrips running premium with tailgate down. Try sidegapping your plugs if you haven't already
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sidegapped plugs & mpg
Tim ,
Do you have a 2 or 4Wd ? Ive heard of this side gapping for yrs but have never fiddled with it . Ive never really considered mileage with my truck ...I never bought it knowing it would deliver great mileage . Anyone else reading this ..whats the average life of a properly side gapped spark plug ?
Paul
Do you have a 2 or 4Wd ? Ive heard of this side gapping for yrs but have never fiddled with it . Ive never really considered mileage with my truck ...I never bought it knowing it would deliver great mileage . Anyone else reading this ..whats the average life of a properly side gapped spark plug ?
Paul
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sidegapped plugs & mpg
Paul, I'm strictly 2wd. Learned a long time ago that I can go as far as necessary down the trail without 4wd. Had a 83 F150 4wd, but finally went back to 2wd so I wouldn't keep paying the FTS...Farmer Towing Service...for yank-outs.
Don't know the life of side gapped plugs...I'm figuring 5K to 10K miles, but I've got several sets laying about from almost 20 years of running the 300 I6 so I won't be buying new for awhile. Even if I was buying new each time, plugs are cheap compared to the $1.50 per gallon gas prices here in West Texas. The weekly difference in gas consumption before and after the swap will buy a lot of plugs at these prices. Try it, you might notice a difference and even like it...it's not hard to do. Took me all of about 30 minutes in the shop with a sharp hacksaw and my gapping tool.
Don't know the life of side gapped plugs...I'm figuring 5K to 10K miles, but I've got several sets laying about from almost 20 years of running the 300 I6 so I won't be buying new for awhile. Even if I was buying new each time, plugs are cheap compared to the $1.50 per gallon gas prices here in West Texas. The weekly difference in gas consumption before and after the swap will buy a lot of plugs at these prices. Try it, you might notice a difference and even like it...it's not hard to do. Took me all of about 30 minutes in the shop with a sharp hacksaw and my gapping tool.
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sidegapped plugs & mpg
Eddie,
I don't think indexing side gapped plugs would have as much of an effect as with 'normal' plugs.
Indexing puts the spark in the best part of the combustion chamber, but a side-gapped plug pretty much does this no matter how it's seated. Personally I don't have the patience to do either of these tricks, but I can understand how they improve performance.
Jon
I don't think indexing side gapped plugs would have as much of an effect as with 'normal' plugs.
Indexing puts the spark in the best part of the combustion chamber, but a side-gapped plug pretty much does this no matter how it's seated. Personally I don't have the patience to do either of these tricks, but I can understand how they improve performance.
Jon
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From: I live in Lakewood Colorado a suburg of Denver
sidegapped plugs & mpg
Hey guys what are you using for spark plugs? I know that there are alot, but I was told to use the bosch Plus 4. Have you guys tried this with the plus 4 yet and if so what are the results.
davida
88 F-150 xcab 4x4
davida
88 F-150 xcab 4x4
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sidegapped plugs & mpg
The Bosch Plus 4's are already side-gapped by design. Bosch was all over the increase in performance side-gapping gives years ago but they couldn't get the long term reliability needed for production use. Until now. The combination of the 4 vertical electrodes and the platinum tip, makes the Bosch plus 4 as reliable as standard plugs, for 10 times the cost. If you are worried about doing side-gapping wrong and ruining something, try the Bosch plus 4's, they will give a similiar effect right out of the box.
Note: I do not sell nor use Bosch plus 4's for the simple reason that they are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive for what you get. You can achieve the same effect with a vise and a hacksaw that will last a reasonable amount of time.
Randy
88 F-150 4x4 302 5spd
Note: I do not sell nor use Bosch plus 4's for the simple reason that they are OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive for what you get. You can achieve the same effect with a vise and a hacksaw that will last a reasonable amount of time.
Randy
88 F-150 4x4 302 5spd
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From: Hutto 20 mi. above Austin USA
sidegapped plugs & mpg
Hey guys, it looks like if one has to do it, all of 'em have to do it, including me. :-) Anyhow, I was considering starting my own thread, then thought some people might be getting tired of hearing about these sidegapped plugs, so I'll just piggyback off this one. As my signature indicates, I have a 300, and I used (against everyone's advice) Champion spark plugs. I noticed atleast 10-15 more horses, and about 15-20 more pound feet of torque. I just used a hand file, and it took me about 45 minutes to do it that way, but with the handfile, I could be a little more exact, and comfortable! I don't really know about the mileage, but I'm sure it'll be on the rise pretty soon. All I know, is that for this much free horsepower, this is great! Thanks to the FTE member, that brought it to our attention!
Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300" T18 4speed
Blue & Silver
PS, The Champions are holding up well now, but I'm definately going with a better brand, in a month or two, like Autolite, or Motorcraft.
Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300" T18 4speed
Blue & Silver
PS, The Champions are holding up well now, but I'm definately going with a better brand, in a month or two, like Autolite, or Motorcraft.
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From: Durham
sidegapped plugs & mpg
How did you tell the pickup in hp and torque? I figured I opened up at 30 horses on my son's car and the only way I could tell is by comparing 0-60 times.
'82 F150 2WD w/351W (orig 300 I6)
Slik
'82 F150 2WD w/351W (orig 300 I6)
Slik
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sidegapped plugs & mpg
I read somewhere here that the altered plugs should last between 5 and 10 thousand miles... is there a consensus of opinion on that mileage estimate?
Did anybody see that older post that had the link with photos of how a side gapped plug should look? It was very helpful. It also showed several plugs that were damaged by this process... it involved the ceramic insulator cracking...
Wouldn't this be an absolute disaster if this insulation chipped or cracked and the small ceramic particles fell into your cylinder? If so, why would somebody want to take such a risk? I would love to start doing this right away, but I fear "the disaster scenario." ...Murphy's Law and all...
And, would this be a terribly unwise thing to do to a 300 6 cyl. with 168,000 miles on it?
Did anybody see that older post that had the link with photos of how a side gapped plug should look? It was very helpful. It also showed several plugs that were damaged by this process... it involved the ceramic insulator cracking...
Wouldn't this be an absolute disaster if this insulation chipped or cracked and the small ceramic particles fell into your cylinder? If so, why would somebody want to take such a risk? I would love to start doing this right away, but I fear "the disaster scenario." ...Murphy's Law and all...
And, would this be a terribly unwise thing to do to a 300 6 cyl. with 168,000 miles on it?
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From: Hutto 20 mi. above Austin USA
sidegapped plugs & mpg
This is going to probably sound really stupid to you Slikness, but I could just feel it, when you know a truck as well as I know mine, you can just feel it in the characteristics, of acceleration. For instance, when in first, and second, it'll scream off the line, but when I shift into third, it would really bog down the engine, because of the poorly proportioned ratio's of my T18. Now when I go into third, it doesn't bog down at all, and that speedo needle moves twice as fast as it did! Anyhow, I regret not putting an "Approx" before those numbers. Well, maybe not. hehehe :-)
Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300" T18 4speed
Blue & Silver
PS, I like your method alot better!!! I'll try that one next, before I open up my big yap again about horsepower! ;-)
Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300" T18 4speed
Blue & Silver
PS, I like your method alot better!!! I'll try that one next, before I open up my big yap again about horsepower! ;-)
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From: Durham
sidegapped plugs & mpg
I wasn't challenging you, but I was just curious since I'm having a heck of a time telling whenever we make an adjustment. I'm thinking seriously of getting one of those g-force detectors, just to see the differences when I make an adjustment.
'82 F150 2WD w/351W (orig 300 I6)
Slik
'82 F150 2WD w/351W (orig 300 I6)
Slik
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From: Durham
sidegapped plugs & mpg
If you go to the sight and read the article, it says nothing about a side gapped plug being more susceptible to chipping the porcelain. It does show a regular plug with chipped procelain as it explains that this is what happens when you put a plug in that has too cold of a range for the application.
'82 F150 2WD w/351W (orig 300 I6)
Slik
'82 F150 2WD w/351W (orig 300 I6)
Slik
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From: Hutto 20 mi. above Austin USA
sidegapped plugs & mpg
I know you weren't trying to challenge me, you don't seem like a cocky guy at all. :-) Anyhow, that is a great idea on your part to get yourself an acceration guage, well atleast that's what they're called in airplanes. It might be something fun to watch, almost as fun as watching the tilt guage in a rockcrawler Jeep!
Good luck!
Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300" T18 4speed
Blue & Silver
Good luck!
Chris
1982 F100 Flareside
300" T18 4speed
Blue & Silver