funny enough it was a 2.0 Ford engine that I first started going through the spark-plug dance with. I tell ya, I was ready to throw a torch inside that car after a couple months. I just could not get it to run more than a week or two without misfiring. But it couldn't be the plugs, could it ? I went with Autolites first, then put in the Bosch platinums, the finally the NGK Iridiums. But it still would start to misfire after a couple hundred miles. A friend at a local Ford dealer finally saw my post on another forum and said; "kid, go buy some Motorcrafts", I did. It never missed again.

I'll never tell anyone what to do, or call them stupid for doing anything anyway other than mine. This is just based on my own experience.

 

Interestingly enough, our engines must be stock compression ratio, we use AVGAS or racing fuel, so far the plugs that work best seem to be NGK's, the Champions will do in a pinch, haven't talked with anyone that uses Motorcrafts. Like I said doesn't hurt to try new pieces, and you end up using what you like and works for you.

 

arent the motorcraft plugs the same as the autolite just painted different

 

Motorcraft, and Autolite plugs are both made by Honeywell, an Allied Signal company.

 

Yes, but whether or not they are the same plug is yet to be determined

 

I agree, I'm sure both are built to different specifications!!!

 

crap, they make frams

 

I won't use Autolite plugs because I've seen too many problems with them but other people swear by them. I won't use Fram filters either.
A while back I emailled Honeywell to ask about differences between Motorcraft and Autolite plugs. Here is the reply............


"As a division of the Honeywell Corporation, Autolite is the manufacturer responsible for the production of all Motorcraft spark plugs in North America for the Ford Motor Company. Both Autolite and Ford/Motorcraft spark plugs are built to quality standards using quality components. Autolite manufacture's the Motorcraft plugs based on the specific design requirements of the Ford Motor Company. Autolite and Motorcraft spark plugs are manufactured side-by-side at our facility in Northern Ohio."


What I get by reading that is that the Motorcrafts are built to Ford specs but the Autolites might not be.

 

yes it has always puzzled me too. i picked up a MC plug for a 5.4 engine and a autolite double platinum. i did the test last year in feb so the plugs may or may not have changed since then. but i started by measuring the resistance from tip to electrode. both were within .01 with the MC having more. so because that seemed inaccurate i bought 3 more of each to get a real good idea. so i did the rest the 3 other mc's were identical,.01,less. so each plug was slightly different. i next checked the integrity of the prong. i rigged each one up in a valve spring press and checked the shear point of each one.


# MC AU
1 9 10
2 10 8
3 9 8
4 10 10

so they were pretty tough little things, so just for the fun of it i bought a champion platinum and a ngk platinum , the champion was 6 an the ngk was 8. all of those were in lbs. it seemed the autolites had a better penetrating weld.

the next step was to use a diamond stone and shave the electrode down a little and look at any imperfections in the metal. i used a 16x magnifier. each seemed fine and none of them seemed porous. the champion was the exception it had a visible imperfection there was 3 tiny slag bubbles inside the metal so the quality may not be very good.

i then used a .002 diamond disc and cut each plug in half length wise. it was a very long process so i only did 1 of each. the mc,au and champion showed nice even porous bubbles in the porcelain. the ngk had many egg shaped and very large porous holes in the insulator.


while i can't say they are identical they are so so close that they may just be identical. but i will not make a comment on that without some further proof.

 

Very interesting, did you take any pictures??????

 

Bob i did and have spent all day looking for them, i stored them on a cd i just need to find it.