Technical SPARK PLUGS

Thanks Danny.

 

(Squirrel) I just wanted to Say that is a Very Nice Time..
But I would tell you I Did that in 1974 3 Nine Second with a
64 Chevelle 427/l-88 1 four barrel 4 Speed Car Weight 3430 lbs.
on Gasoline

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die A Fool

 

How a plug looks is only a small part of what your looking for.. Hair line cracks in the porcelain mid section can't be seen but leak a lot of power..

I change plugs every 10,000 miles. I use NOS plugs from e-Bay, they are made in the USA..

 

cool!

did you drive the car a couple hundred miles to the track first?

 

Big difference in driving the car cross country, racing the car and driving the car back home and Jim's done it many times. HRP

 

So does this mean a50merc should be frowned upon for pulling 9s if he was a towhead or trailer queen? Jack E/NJ

 

No, not a all, but there is something to be said about driving hundreds of miles in the car you are racing. HRP

 

Jim, not to take anything away from this thread but I was watching TV last night and thought I saw your red altered wheel base Chevy II racing a black 55 Chevy, I don't know what track it was.

 

I had towed my Race car 100 miles to the Track & Raced all day
and Towed it Back.!
On this tread there would be about a couple of hundred guy's that
did the same thing that I did, but any body that Turned that
Time with a Race Car is something.!
I stopped Racing along time ago, let the newer Generation
Pick it up

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

Somewhere, Karol Miller is smiling

Unlike most of the other Bonneville entrants, Karol wasn’t towing the car he intended to race, he was driving it. He and a friend had decided to see what the famous salt flats looked like so they threw a couple of sleeping bags in Karol’s 1956 Ford Victoria and left Houston for the 2000-mile drive to western Utah. Karol was used to long drives though for his full-time job was operating oil exploration teams for his father’s Houston-based drilling company and the test locations might be all over the country, from Louisiana to North Dakota. When the two Texans and the Ford arrived on the salt, there was already more than 25,000 miles logged on the odometer.

 

I saw a cool Champion spark plug cabinet at a junk shop last week, I made a offer but they didn't take it.

 

The only guy I know of that when the tow rig broke, he found a safe place to leave the tow rig and trailer, unloaded the race car and took off cross country in it. Well the premise of Drag Week is driving your race car between races, he just drove his to the start, between races and back home.

When I worked in a Pontiac dealership in Waco in the 70's the rigs with points got tune ups about every 10 to 15 K.
When I worked at Bowden's Auto parts here in the valley in the late 80's early 90's I sold a lot of spark plugs to the migrant workers who came up from Mexico. It seemed that no matter what they drove it was a social thing to change plugs in one of their cars on their day off. Even back in the day it may have been as much a social thing for you and your buds to throw a tune up on your ride as a necessity.

 

Lifted the hood on the 32 at the weekend.
There were four plugs there, so closed the hood.
Forgot to check the other side.

 

I got in on that promo too. Got boxes of spark plugs in all the workbench drawers, wall lockers and basement shelves. I change mine [cold range plugs] a few times every year. But my daily driver O/T HHR has never had the plugs changed since I bought it in '09......has 114,000 miles on original plugs! I'll prolly get around to it .........tomorrow.

 

When did this take place? HRP

 

What HRP said.

 

I haven't installed new plugs, since I put my 34 Ford coupe together 20 years ago. It even runs dual quads ! If I do it'll probably jinx it !

 

I recall an epic thread here on the HAMB a few years ago, about a guy with a nice little 28 or 29 RPU that he and the wife started out trailering to CO from CA for the Hot Rod Hill Climb. They got about a day away from home and something went wrong with the two vehicle, so they turned around and went home, unloaded the RPU and packed everything into it and drove it to the hill climb. Was a great thread, full of photos, an epic hot rod experience for the couple. I showed the thread to my wife to show her how much fun a hot rod vacation could be, she didn't buy it.....

 

SQUIRREL back in the 1950's & early 1960's I used to
Drive My Car to the Tracks & race all day and Drive it Home
This went on for a couple of Years until 1962 I went to the Track
and set A Record of 16 seconds with my 50 Merc complete Stock in N/stock
I would always Rejet the Carb & change the jets when I drove Home
My Son was playing around the Car & the Jets Disapered
So I Drove home & used a Tank & 1/2 to go 100 miles
That is 30 gal of Gas so needles to say it was The Last Time I would
Drive to the Track.!

Just my 3.5 cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

I forgot to say it Took somebody 10 years to Break my Record & the
Track sent me a Letter asking if I wanted to Chalange Him
I figured if it took somebody to break it let them have it.
in 72 I was running my Chevelle L/88

just my 3.5 cents

Live L4earn & Die a Fool

 

I never could figure out why nobody's tool box was locked but the plug cabinet always was?

 

Hello,

I had the most fun being taught to change the spark plugs on my brother’s 51 Oldsmobile sedan in 1956-57. Since I was always hanging around, he decided to show me what to do and I learned fast. If I wanted to arrive at my friend’s houses in style, I had to do something to pay for the door to door service. (actually, it was my mom’s orders for my brother) but, he decided to make me earn the car service. So, I started my mechanical training.

He and his older teenage friends had all sorts of cars, from simple 2 door sedans to 4 door sedans. one had a truck and one had the coolest 34 Ford 5 window coupe with a nice sounding Oldsmobile motor rumbling as he drove up our driveway.

My job was to exchange the old plugs for the new ones my brother had purchased. He had everyday street driving plugs and for the weekend, plugs that were better for more performance at the cherry avenue drags on Friday nights. I was not aware of that place as yet.

So, I learned and did such a good job that I was given the job for the other older teenager’s hot rods, too. Now, those were cash deals for the work. The older teens liked it and it did not cost them an arm/leg, while they kicked back and ate my mom’s fabulous cooking.

Jnaki

One thing I learned during our Impala days and then into the 1940 Willys Coupe with the 671 SBC motor. Once the champion plugs were replaced constantly, a new set was introduced, lodge plugs. They were more expensive and I had to take extra care of installing them and removal for checking on the burn.


In the early stages, I broke a couple removing them. They jiggled inside of our spark plug socket. With me doing the exchanges, I broke one too many and my brother paid for another spark plug socket that had some kind of rubber insert to keep the plugs upright in installing and removal.

The rubber portion grabbed the plug tip and kept it in line during the install or removal. That spark plug tool was the last of its kind that stayed in my own tool box through all cars, including the SBC 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery and countless sporty cars/station wagons for our family.

When the time came for the socket to get a new home, our extended family gladly took it to add to the mechanic’s toolbox collection. No more spark plug exchanges for our newish daily drivers.

 

I only change plugs when one wears down too far, or has some other fault. Plugs are dumb, and have no moving parts. When I was young I would change out a whole set because of a miss on 1 or 2 plugs, so I ended up with lots of still good used plugs. Still using that collection, cleaned and re-gapped.