Indexing spark plugs, and the effect of gap size

First I've seen...Wonder how clean they stay..

 

Remember back in the day, J.C. Whitney used to sell plugs with 2, 3, or even more side electrodes? They were also advertised on the back cover of any magazine that had anything to do with cars. I never bit on them, but the rap on them was that they fouled easily. I realize the "Brisk" plugs are a little different. They are more like the "Surface-Gap" plugs that are run in some outboards. I had a Johnson 50 HP back in the day that used them and they worked fine. So good as a matter of fact that I ran them in the 276" Merc in my '36 3-window because they were the only plugs I could find that would screw all the way into the Offenhauser heads without the electrodes hitting the pistons. I ran one set in the six years I had the car with no problems. The guy that bought the car removed them as soon as he got it because he said he was absolutely sure that they wouldn't work.

 

Well if you have actually read this thread you already know that you have just repeated what I have already said.

If you go back and reread your dyno post you will note that the oil may not be up to temp to start with and thinned (we can't read what you are thinking) when it was and that close is cool when it comes to plug gaps. The oil temp I guessed, hence the note of sarcasm, the gap I didn't comment on because you make it sound like it doesn't matter and I just figured that in your world it doesn't.

 

Well I guess you wouldn't have to gap or index those. idiot proof, even I could get those right.

I like the vid, just like a sounded like a teeny tiny dirt bike.

 

As a practical matter how does one index plugs without making a career out of it? I figure a sharpy line indicating where the ground strap is located, and then installing to see where it ends up. Mix and match plugs and cylinders till done. On a Y block, the sweet spot would be (I think) for the ground strap to be located at the 6:00 o'clock position. Seems like it could take a couple dozen plugs to find 8 that would line up correctly?

 

You use washers/shims. They come in kits.

The truth is that I am fair at it, some may even say good at it. It doesn't take me very long in any event, takes me longer to decide where I want it clocked at most of the time and I won't waste my time doing it to a driven around car. Your time is better spent getting the rest of a tune up correct, unless you just happen to have a real balls to the walls Y block, and you are out for blood.

 

Too many years ago when my hair was dark sable and rippling muscles stretched my shirt sleeves I used a series of Bosch plugs in 356 Porsches: the designation was 'T-7'.
These plugs had a side electrode ground strap, as though someone had shortened the strap and bent it to face the electrode button from the side.
Not 'long reach' plugs, these were said to run more 'clearly'. The design kept the electrode ground from 'covering' the center electrode, thus preventing 'carbonizing'.
Did I believe it? Somewhat... until I asked Master Vasek Pollack what he thought. Vasek extended a slurry of Germanic phraseology that sounded... 'final'.
Not easily translated... I reserved future questions for more forethought.

Never was a 'flame traveler'...hence, didn't follow the 'indexing' of plug grounds.
But I DO index my nozzles on spray cans...to prevent that awful 'empty coke straw noise' when nearly empty...

Along those lines: Plug ceramics with a red dot showed up some time in the '80s. (don't recall which brand) The dot pointed to the side of the electrode ground.
We had a self-anointed 'guru' at the local drive-in, guy knew everything! (ask him!)
My bud took him for a ride in his fast 427 '56 Vic, soon as taillights went around the corner I was under his Chevy hood, drawing lines with a #2 pencil down his spark plugs' ceramics.
They got back, we shot the shit for awhile, then the guru announced he was leaving. He cranked and pumped the throttle for a whole minute, then stopped, then ground the starter for another seemingly unending period.
I told the young hang around to 'give him a hand', but only after this bozo went through the cap, rotor, coil wire, etc.
Our little mascot asked if he could take a look...the guy was fuming at this point, but hissed "Go ahead, I'm sure YOU can find something I missed!"
14 year old kid pulled every plug wire, looked in the ends...one by one, (discreetly wiping the plug ceramics as he replaced the terminals)
"Try it now," the youngster said. Chevy cranked for 2 seconds, started a little 'fat', but cleared right out.
"What'd you do???" he demanded. "Nothin', just recited the Majarishi chant when I looked at 'em..."
Guru left in a shower of gravel...

 

Still made.
https://www.boschautoparts.com/en/auto/spark-plugs

 

Index em on the dragster, not on the street truck...........gives me something to do when in the pits................

 

I would say it depends on the fuel used, ignition ect. If you have a 15 to 1 engine with domes like your fist I would advise indexing the plugs!! Remember Eddie Hill going 300 mph with the mag hanging by the wires off the side of the engine ? My new 1969 Kawasaki 500 triple had capacitive discharge ignition and surface gap plugs, seemed to work pretty good. At least all the cars and bikes it smoked thought so.

 

LOL These days if I have that much time on my hands I go cooler diving. The never ending search for the perfect ham sandwich.

There was a time when it was all important to me, and being the ass that I am I am going to say that drivers don't win Nationals, the Nats are won in the pits. Those days are past and as my light begins to dim I find myself with loftier goals, I'll find that sammich come hell or high water.

 

That a Boy porknbeaner I am with you! Come by our pits at Steel In Motion and I will have a cooler full of beverages and...my wife is one heck of a tail gatin cook too! Peace man!
I build maybe three to four engines a week--have raced all my life--Yes! If taking a class and working for a grade or ..if you are class racing, professional racing and Need that extra fraction of a second then "dancing with plugs" is on the To Do list--I just hate to see regular guys waste time with those tiny sort of details when the basics matter sooo much more. See ya at Steel in Motion? Come on by and see Tick Tock make a few passes--get a hand shake and smile.

 

Nah, I have it tuned well and it's completely stock. I think it would be interesting though, to see if the idle quality improves. Stands to reason it might, and noticed somebody up thread confirms it does. And I agree there's no reason to do it other than some kind of OCD on my part of which I freely admit.

 

Nuthin new....
Been cutting the ground electrode cut-back since the 60's (yea, I'm that old..!)
Does it make power...again, by itself, probably not, or not much, but along with other little things, it surly can't hurt to more "fully" expose the spark to the fuel vapors.
I do this to the spark plugs that go into all of my engines, street and otherwise. Well...not my lawn mower..!

Mike

 

SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF GUYS HAVE OPINIONS OR KNOW SOMEBODY ETC THAT HAVE NEVER EVEN TRIED INDEXING. IN MY WORLD THATS CALLED BULL SHITTING. IF YOU HAVE A TORCH BURNNING AND YOU THROW GAS ON IT ITS GONNA FIRE RIGHT OFF BUT THE SAME TORCH IF YOU THROW GAS OFF TO THE SIDE THE FUMES WILL IGNITE JUST NOT AS DOMINATE. I INDEX GAP END TO INTAKE VALVE..................JMO