question about spark plugs.....

[ecko614]

hey guys....well, i want to know what is the deal with bosch spark plugs?? what is so bad about them?? i have some platinum2's in my beast and everyone tells me to get them the hell out of there. whats so bad about them compared to a set of A/C Delco reg's or rapid fires?? and i heard that back in the day when old heads were hot roddin around....they had a method of cleaning spark plugs because they didnt have readily access to them like we do now. i still have my old A/C's that came in my car and they are in pretty damn good shape but i just wana give them a nice clean up,re-gap them and slap them back in. i heard using a battery terminal cleaner/scraper would do it.....but does anyone know of a method of cleaning my old ones up a bit?? thanx a million to anyone that can give me some feedback. thanx

[IsaacHayes]

The Bosch and other brands are not the right heat range usually, and they are only platinum on the electrode tip and not the ground strip. The way our ignition system works, that causes problems. (need platinum on both sides). They will wear down extremely fast and start to missfire. Some people can't even start the car after a while on them. Rapid fires aren't that great either really.

The normal plain metal ac delco's can be cleaned up to get the carbon off and re-used if the gap is ok and it's not worn down the metal.

Other wise they are less than $2 a plug. The iridium ac delcos are the next to consider and they will last a loooong time but are a lot more expensive. You should not gap them if you do make sure you don't pry on the tips or it will break the iridium coating off.

You're not going to get power out of spark plugs. Only thing you will get is a good running motor if youre old ones were so bad off you were loosing power. Stick with stock they work great. I run the cheap normal ones in my car and they last a long time and run great.

[ecko614]

i have my other 6 plugs still.....they look really good....a little carbon on them....but nothin major. Only reason i changed them was because i had just got the car and did a full tune-up so i was on base with all the recent upgrades. The ones i have are A/C Delco R44LTSM6......are these cleanable?? thanx alot isaaschayes.....dude you've been a great help for both me and my beast. Thanx

[Superdave]

Iridiums are well worth the $6 per plug..

[Z26-T]

Not sure what car you're running, but in the berettas the rear ones are kind of a pain in the back to do... let alone do them over and over again for bad plugs. Just buy new Ac Delco plugs. Do it once, do it right. Personally the $12ish to put the new plugs in is worth more to me than the time to do it over and over again.

[ecko614]

yea, i got a 1995 grand am gt with the 3100/4t60e setup. When i changed the back ones it took me about a lil over a hour to put them in, when the front ones didnt take but 5mins a piece. I just went and got the regular A/C Delco's. whats the difference between the R44LTSM6 and the R44LTSM??

[3400-95-Modified]

It takes me 15 min to do my rears on my beretta...

Step 1 Remove Coil pack bracket and coils
Step 2 Remove wires
Step 3 Remove plugs.

Its amazing how much space opens up if you remove the 4 bolts that hold the Purge and coil pack assy down. You can see the plugs your changing. I can even leave my strut bar in.

[Z26-T]

Took me about the same last time I did mine, just removed the wires an did it by feel though. Might take off the upper mount and pry the engine more my way. But we'll see how it goes.

[IsaacHayes]

Yes those can be cleaned, they are just normal metal plugs. See the write up I did here:

http://60degreev6.com/forum/showthread.php?p=328559

Yeah taking the coil packs off does give you a lot of room. My engine won't move forward with my poly mount much now I bet LOL. taking off the alt and strut bar gives you a lot of room though. I always do it by feel.

[asylummotorsports]

Here's what it says on my brand new out of the AC Delco packaging Irridiums.

AC Delco 12568387 ITR4A 15

Then on the stamped part

NGK 1180

Assembled in U S A

from Japanese parts

[jonbourg]

I just put NKG Iridium IX's, $8 ea, in my beast. I had 134K on the original plugs and they seemed like they were doing fine. Had to do a LIM change so I changed out the plugs too. Anybody else use NKG's?

[asylummotorsports]

If you read my previous post it is obvious the AC Delco irridiums ARE NGK's

[3400-95-Modified]

I use NGK's and yeah My AC delcos that came out of my 3400 and 3500 both had NGK stamped on them

[Z26-T]

Everytime I do a tune up on the H2s (100K miles) the original iridium plugs are stamped NGK.

[jonbourg]

If you read my previous post it is obvious the AC Delco irridiums ARE NGK's

Yeah, you got me there. I was thinking the AC Delco plug was maybe a different model than the IRIDIUM IX. I looked on NGKs website and they are the same. Not sure what the difference is between the different models though. Point is AC Delco/NGK are good plugs!