spark plug questions

[Knuckles4696]

first what is the proper gap size for my plugs as i just got new ngk bronzes to put in.

secondly i noticed when taking the old ones out that i had a fair amount of oil in the spark plug holes, any clues as to what this maybe and is it a common occurance?

 

[luigisho]

The oil is from valve cover seals leaking. Very common. Each spark plug tube has it's own round seal and there is another seal for the outer perimeter. You need to pull the intake and valve covers and replace them. You can find the procedure on the shophoenixproject website. I want to say gap is .044. double check that.

 

[Irish Pride]

SHO Phoenix Project

Everything you need right here.

 

[rubydist]

First thing to do is to take the NGK plugs back and buy Motorcraft ones. It has been well documented that only the Motorcraft ones perform adequately.

 

[jayro]

Autolites have always worked well for me.

The oil in the plug wells is fairly common and is pretty easy to fix.

 

[sperold]

It is not very often that the Motorcraft part is the lowest cost part, but for some reason that can be the case with the sparkplugs.

Some plugs are a little shorter in height in the zone of the ceramic body and the spark plug wire boot does not sit on the plug properly (because the boot "top" also seals at the valve cover hole).
The oil gets in the wells when the little felt washers / gaskets at the bottom of the spark plug well dry out and get smaller, as mentioned above.
A lot of people claim that once the wire boots sit in the oil for a time, they lose some of their abilities, so these people change the wires as well.

 

[38SHO]

autolite makes motorcraft I beleive


the original SHO plugs were made by Denso I believe.

they don't sell oe motorcraft plugs that are identical to stock... although what they do sell nowadays works just fine..........

last time around I used some denso plugs that were more closer to the originals then the current motorcrafts and they worked perfectly

Autolite, Regular AC Delco, Motorcraft, Denso... as long as they look like the original design they will work fine......... its a spark plug.....

 

[shobote]

I've used 5 different types of spark plugs in my 89 over the past 23 years and all fit the same as OEM, and all have worked great. I had OEM and found they are not as good as others, so the argument about only Motorcraft plugs being adequate is 100 percent false information.

 

[rubydist]

good for you shobote, you got lucky. The only plug that has worked for me is the Motorcraft. The Bosch are so bad the car doesn't even want to run with them in it.

ALL the non- Motorcraft plugs are too tall, so the plug boot does not seal on the valve cover and the front plug wells get full of dirt and gravel (and water on rainy days) so the car does not run right.

This information is fact, not "100 percent false".

 

[zblackbeast]

ALL the non- Motorcraft plugs are too tall, so the plug boot does not seal on the valve cover and the front plug wells get full of dirt and gravel (and water on rainy days) so the car does not run right.

This information is fact, not "100 percent false".

^^This.

The autolite work the same as the motorcraft and fit just fine as well. I run the autolites personally.

I tried NGK's and they fouled out within a few months. Waste of time and money.

As for the oil in the wells, I reccomend a full 60k. just get th eupkeep done and shell be reliable. Go to the link provided and read, then do.

 

[sperold]

Yea, I had the spark plug height wrong. Turns out they are too tall, not too short.... then the top seal of the wire boot at the plug well does not seal, and water gets in.
If I remember correctly, there was an issue of some plugs having too much thread, and the first thread would cake up with carbon and make withdrawl difficult.

I only use the Motorcraft plugs as they are usually the least expensive, and I know they work well. And those back 3 are so hard to get to, I don't want any issues.

 

[zblackbeast]

The back three are easy as shit to get to.

Remove the bracket for the secondary actuator and get it out of the way, use like 9 inches of extensions and its cake. I honestly don't see what the fuss is about people removing the plugs. I can have all 6 plugs swapped out in <20 minutes, it really isn't as hard as you make it to be.

 

[turbo79]

First thing to do is to take the NGK plugs back and buy Motorcraft ones. It has been well documented that only the Motorcraft ones perform adequately.

Fred, I have had good luck with Denso plugs. Denso - as you may know from SHOTimes, RIP - made the original Motorcraft plugs, and they still make a plug for the Yamaha V6. (I think?) Denso Number: PK16PR11

What think you?

ALL the non- Motorcraft plugs are too tall, so the plug boot does not seal on the valve cover and the front plug wells get full of dirt and gravel (and water on rainy days) so the car does not run right.

The Denso plugs are made to the Yamaha engine ISO spec. and so are not too tall.

 

[SHOtime2511]

I prefer Autolite double platinum with a .44 gap in a stock application.
Copper 3923 in N2o or boosted cars.

 

[rubydist]

The Denso plugs are made to the Yamaha engine ISO spec. and so are not too tall.

I was not aware of that. If they are ISO spec, they should work right.

 

[shobote]

good for you shobote, you got lucky. The only plug that has worked for me is the Motorcraft. The Bosch are so bad the car doesn't even want to run with them in it.

ALL the non- Motorcraft plugs are too tall, so the plug boot does not seal on the valve cover and the front plug wells get full of dirt and gravel (and water on rainy days) so the car does not run right.

This information is fact, not "100 percent false".

This is without question 100 percent incorrect info, so dont buy into it folks. I have been using 2 types of Splitfires, AC Rapidfires, E3's for the past 18 years, and with all of them the boots fit the same as OEM. Even better, my SHO runs noticably better than with new OEM Motorcrafts. Splitfires with 30k on them even worked much better than brand new OEM's, which I removed a few weeks after putting them in. Car ran fine, just not as much response with Motorcrafts.

 

[rubydist]

Splitfires have never worked right in any engine I have seen them in.

The non-ISO spec plugs are all too tall for the SHO motor. period.

 

[jimtash]

The old AC Delco Rapid Fire plugs were the best plugs IMO. Car ran excellent with them.

Recently had two Autolite plugs separate at the insulator allowing them to rotate in their housings and cause massive compression loss.

 

[yamahaSHO]

My (several) non-Motorcraft plugs have fit well for the last 7+ years.

 

[shobote]

Splitfires have never worked right in any engine I have seen them in.

The non-ISO spec plugs are all too tall for the SHO motor. period.

So you never put them into your SHO, but are making claims about how they do not work and do not fit. LOL Well, I have used 2 sets and they work much better than Motorcraft and fit exactly the same.