[lemoncoke]

Hi,

I got a set of Nology Hotwire, which spark plug should I go for? I live in a hot climate area, do colder heat range play a factor? Please advise...

[oceanstarBug]

Denso Iridium or NGK Iridium will work fine.. and together with a fine set of wires like yours Rating 8 will be perfect... 100% no problem with hot climate area. I am using the same rating myself and never experienced any problem on cold start....

[lemoncoke]

Hi OceanstarBug,

Are you using the IK 22, if yes, did you regapped the plug? I understand the gap is 0.032", should I regap it to 0.044 like the original plug?
thx
Lemoncoke

[oceanstarBug]

Quote: Originally Posted by lemoncoke (original)

Hi OceanstarBug,

Are you using the IK 22, if yes, did you regapped the plug? I understand the gap is 0.032", should I regap it to 0.044 like the original plug?
thx
Lemoncoke

Yes it is IK22 from Denso but I am sure IK24 will also work in HK...for the gap I would use somewhere between 0.034-0.044 for save side. I used 0,044 myself.. no problems whatsoever... thank you

[lemoncoke]

Hi OceanstarBug,

What is the pros and cons with the gap of the spark plugs.

thx

I highly recommend the Nology Silver Plugs! Check out their website. You aren't getting the performance you think you are with Iridium or Platinum plugs. I just installed a Screaming Demon Coil, Live Wires, and a set of the Nology Silver Plugs. What a difference!

Check out the write up on nology.com!

------------------------------------------------
’06 MCS, Chili Red & Astro Black, Black M7 Extreme Hood Scoop, BMP Performance Intake, PROMINI Front Stress Bar, Pilo-Racing Rear Stress Bar, Screaming Demon Coil, Live Wires, Nology Silver Plugs (D4YS)

[ScienceGuy]

The nology website makes two claims about their sparkplugs:
Silver is a better electrical conductor.
Silver is a better thermal conductor.

1) Silver is a better electrical conductor.
Think about the path the high-voltage takes from the coil to the plug:

• End of the coil pack. Steel/nickel connector.
• Plug wire end steel/nickel.
• Plug wire. several inches of copper.
• Plug wire end. Steel/nickel.
• Plug end connector Steel/Nickel connector.
• Plug internal maybe 1.5 Inches of copper.
• Plug tip. 0.2 inches of iridium, platinum or silver.
• Pressurized air/fuel mixture 0.04 Inches. (Yikes. That's got to be high resistance.)
• Plug return electrode. 0.25 Inches of steel.
• Engine head. Many inches of steel.
• Ground strap. Many inches of copper. 2 connectors.
• Chassis Many inches of steel.
• ECU ground cable. Many inches of copper. 2 connectors.
• ECU ground wire to the coil pack. Many inches of copper. 2 connectors.

Now tell me that changing the resistance of 0.2 Inches of the tip of the plug makes ANY difference.

2) Silver is a better thermal conductor.
The temperature of the tip of the spark plug is set by adjusting the length of the center
insulator. Look at any spark plug manual at the cold vs hot plugs and you'll see that.
Changing the thermal conductivity of the center electrode makes no difference.

So, What's all the fuss about? Snake-oil?

[KiwiJCW]

Quote: Originally Posted by raymond_chase (original)

I highly recommend the Nology Silver Plugs! Check out their website. You aren't getting the performance you think you are with Iridium or Platinum plugs. I just installed a Screaming Demon Coil, Live Wires, and a set of the Nology Silver Plugs. What a difference!

Check out the write up on nology.com

C'mon!....it's just bling!!

[norm03s]

Quote: Originally Posted by ScienceGuy (original)

The nology website makes two claims about their sparkplugs:
Silver is a better electrical conductor.
Silver is a better thermal conductor.

1) Silver is a better electrical conductor.
Think about the path the high-voltage takes from the coil to the plug:

• End of the coil pack. Steel/nickel connector.
• Plug wire end steel/nickel.
• Plug wire. several inches of copper.
• Plug wire end. Steel/nickel.
• Plug end connector Steel/Nickel connector.
• Plug internal maybe 1.5 Inches of copper.
• Plug tip. 0.2 inches of iridium, platinum or silver.
• Pressurized air/fuel mixture 0.04 Inches. (Yikes. That's got to be high resistance.)
• Plug return electrode. 0.25 Inches of steel.
• Engine head. Many inches of steel.
• Ground strap. Many inches of copper. 2 connectors.
• Chassis Many inches of steel.
• ECU ground cable. Many inches of copper. 2 connectors.
• ECU ground wire to the coil pack. Many inches of copper. 2 connectors.

Now tell me that changing the resistance of 0.2 Inches of the tip of the plug makes ANY difference.

2) Silver is a better thermal conductor.
The temperature of the tip of the spark plug is set by adjusting the length of the center
insulator. Look at any spark plug manual at the cold vs hot plugs and you'll see that.
Changing the thermal conductivity of the center electrode makes no difference.

So, What's all the fuss about? Snake-oil?

I had a set of those wires once (probably still out in the garage) and the Beru silver stone plugs on another car, but I was younger then. Money not well spent IMHO.

[KiwiJCW]

I came across this in a research paper:

'Since most automotive engines operate with resistor spark plugs, acceptable ignition of stoichemetric or richer air/fuel mixtures is typically achieved with very low spark energies. As long as the circuit resistance does not increase appreciably, the engines maintain high-performance levels. '

'For late model engines with ignitions in good condition, the effect of high-power ignition is often small.'

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 25, NO. 2, APRIL 1997
An Efficient, Power Enhanced Ignition System by Gerlad J. Rohwein

Okay, so spinning a response isn’t really providing a comparison of silver plugs against iridium or platinum. My claim was that the silver plugs were better than both, based on electrical and thermal conductivity properties. How do you intend on defending the case that iridium and platinum are better then?

Speaking of snake-oil... sounds like a case of the pot calling the kettle, black!

[ScienceGuy]

Quote: Originally Posted by raymond_chase (original)

How do you intend on defending the case that iridium and platinum are better then?

I don't intend on defending that statement at all since I didn't make it.

My statement was that there is no difference between the two due to either the thermal or
electrical charteristics of the center electrode tip.

I guess I would choose the "better" one by price.

Performance claims based on faulty science get a deduction in my book though.

With regard to your research paper observation, the key words are ‘acceptable’, ‘typical’, ‘maintain’. It’s many of our quest is to elevate above standard levels to the exceptional. If you haven’t upgraded your system, you’re missing the evidence to backup your claim. All the generalized research papers in the world are pointless without experimentation.

In response to your statement that there is no difference between the two due to electrical or thermal conductivity, from the Nology site:

For high performance or racing applications, an efficient spark plug is needed. Such a spark plug operates optimally only within a narrow heatrange, without any consideration for durability. This is not a good spark plug for street automobiles, as a wide heatrange is essential to assure good drivability under all temperature conditions. Heatrange latitude of standard low cost spark plugs for passenger cars has improved, but with major trade-offs. They are designed to offer a wide heatrange only, without any consideration for efficiency. The ignition system has to compensate for low spark plug efficiency and wide spark plug gap caused by wear.

Original equipment spark plugs offer a wide heatrange and high durability to increase spark plug change intervals. These are the least efficient spark plugs. In order to reduce wear, erosion resistant materials and suppressor resistors are used, considerably sacrificing spark plug efficiency. The correct relationship between efficiency, durability and heatrange is important and has to be considered over the entire life of the spark plug. A functional combination of these properties is possible, it is only a matter of technology and materials used.

Silver is the best electrical and thermal conductor of any metal, and therefore the best material for the center electrode. In managing the ever changing combustion chamber temperatures, caused by different engine and load conditions, silver is unsurpassed. To prevent plug fouling, optimum operating temperature is reached shortly after start up, yet under full throttle, when things really start to get hot, heat is dissipated rapidly. Silver provides the widest heatrange latitude. As the best electrical conductor, silver assures that the spark encounters the least resistance and virtually no spark energy is lost. Unlike conventional electrode materials, silver delivers the most powerful spark possible and therefore guarantees combustion initiation. The large diameter silver center electrode increases spark carrying ability and with it spark power. Silver is extremely resistant to erosion, guaranteeing a virtually unchanged electrode gap for the life of the spark plug. This greatly extends change intervals. Nology Silver is the most efficient, durable and thermally adaptable spark plug available and delivers the most powerful spark.

This is a long one, but I think it covers your questions.

How a Spark Plug Works:

The basics of a spark plug is that it must perform two primary functions.

To Ignite the Air/Fuel mixture
To REMOVE the heat out of the combustion chamber
Spark plugs transmit electrical energy that turns fuel into working energy. A sufficient amount of voltage must be supplied by the ignition system to cause the spark to jump the across the spark plug gap, thus creating what is called Electrical Performance.

Additionally, the temperature of the spark plug's firing end must be kept low enough to prevent pre-ignition, but high enough to prevent fouling. This is called Thermal Performance and is determined by the heat range of the spark plug.

It is important to understand that spark plugs CANNOT create heat, only remove it! The spark plug works as a heat exchanger, pulling unwanted thermal energy away from the combustion chamber and transferring the heat to the engine's cooling system. The heat range is defined as a plug's ability to dissipate heat. The rate of heat is determined by:

The insulator nose length
Gas volume around the insulator nose
Materials and/or construction of the center electrode and porcelain insulator
Now to the actual function: As the Ignition is triggered it sends the spark through the rotor, to the cap, down the wire and then it jumps the gap of the spark plug, a spark kernel is created that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber. Proper timing of this spark is not the only concern as described above. You must have the proper heat range (described later) as well as the correct gap.

Opening The Plug Gap:

On weaker or stock ignitions, opening up the gap CAN increase the spark kernel size, thereby creating a more efficient burn. The problem lies in that any added gap creates more strain on the other ignition parts.

Coils may not have enough stored energy to fire, or in the least case, not enough energy to cross the gap, creating a miss-fire.
Plug wires will break down due to the added resistance as the spark tries to reach ground.
Rotor and Cap, as well as points (if you still have an interest in prehistoric ignitions), and the carbon bushing in the center of the distributor cap will show early failures.
All of this is because the greater the gap and the higher the voltage requirement to jump the gap. Do not forget the gap between the rotor arm to the distributor cap too. A high performance rotor is a bit longer at the tip, allowing less spark loss or chance of spark scatter in the cap as the spark attempts to jump the plug gap.

As many of us know that race, it is also possible to slow down a car if the gap is too big. I will get into this later when I describe proper spark plug gaps.

Spark Plug Heat Range:

A spark plug's heat range has no relationship on the actual voltage transferred through the spark plug. Rather, the heat range is a measure of the spark plug's ability to remove heat from the combustion chamber. The heat range measurement is determined by several factors:

The length of the ceramic center insulator nose
The insulator nose's ability to absorb and transfer combustion heat
The material composition of the insulator
The material composition of the center electrode
The longer the insulator nose gives you a larger surface area exposed to combustion gasses and heat is dissipated slowly. This also means the firing end heats up more quickly. We are talking about exposed ceramic length, not extended tip length.

The insulator nose length is the distance from the firing tip of the insulator to the point where the insulator meets the metal shell. Since the insulator tip is the hottest part of the spark plug, the tip temperature is a primary factor in pre-ignition and fouling. No matter what the plugs are installed in, be it a lawnmower, a boat, your daily driver or your race car, the spark plug tip temperature must remain between 450°C to 850°C. If the tip temperature is lower than 450°C, the insulator area surrounding the center electrode will not be hot enough to deter fouling and carbon deposit build-ups, thus causing misfires. If the tip temperature exceeds 850°C, the spark plug will overheat which can cause the ceramic around the the center electrode to blister as well as the electrodes will begin to melt. This may lead to pre-ignition/detonation and expensive engine damage. (see the plug pictures that are part of this article)

In identical spark plugs, the differences from one heat range to the next is the ability to remove approximately 70°C to 100°C from the combustion chamber. A projected style spark plug firing temperature is increased by 10°C to 20°C.

The firing end appearance also depends on the spark plug tip temperature. There are three basic diagnostic criteria for spark plugs: good, fouled, and overheated. The borderline between the fouling and optimum operating regions (450°C) is called the spark plug self-cleaning temperature. This is the temperature point where the accumulated carbon and combustion deposits are burned off automatically.

Bearing in mind that the insulator nose length is a determining factor in the heat range of a spark plug, the longer the insulator nose, the less heat is absorbed, and the further the heat must travel into the cylinder head water journals. This means that the plug has a higher internal temperature, and is said to be a "Hot" plug. A hot spark plug maintains a higher internal operating temperature to burn off oil and carbon deposits, and has no relationship to spark quality or intensity.

Conversely, a "Cold" spark plug has a shorter insulator nose and absorbs more combustion chamber heat. This heat travels a shorter distance, and allows the plug to operate at a lower internal temperature. A colder heat range can be necessary when an engine is modified for performance, subjected to heavy loads, or it is run at high RPMs for significant periods of time. The higher cylinder pressures developed by high compression, large camshafts, blowers and nitrous oxide, not to mention the RPM ranges we run our engines at while racing, make colder plugs mandatory to eliminate plug overheating and engine damage. The colder type plug removes heat more quickly, and will reduce the chance of pre-ignition/detonation and burn-out of the firing end. (Engine temperatures can affect the spark plug's operating temperature, but not the spark plug's heat range).

Influences on Spark Plug Temp and Performance:

Below is a list of possible external influences on a spark plug's operating temperatures. The following symptoms or conditions may have an affect on the actual temperature of the spark plug. The spark plug cannot create these conditions, but it must be able to deal with all the levels of heat, otherwise performance will suffer and engine damage can occur:

Air/Fuel Mixtures seriously affect engine performance and spark plug temps.

Rich air/fuel mixtures cause tip temperature to drop, causing fouling and poor drivability.
Lean air/fuel mixtures cause plug tip and cylinder temperatures to increase resulting in pre-ignition, detonation, and possibly serious spark plug and internal engine damage.
It is important to read spark plugs many times during the tuning process to achieve optimum air/fuel mixture. Computer-controlled engine applications do a pretty good job of this with the various sensors that report back to the ECM.
Higher Compression Ratios and Forced Induction will elevate spark plug tip and in-cylinder temperatures.

Compression can be increased by performing any one of the following modifications:
a) reducing combustion chamber volume (i.e.: domed pistons, smaller chamber heads, milling heads, etc.)
b) adding forced induction (Nitrous, Turbocharging, Supercharging)
c) camshaft change
As compression increases, a colder heat range plug is required, as well as higher octane fuel and paying careful attention to ignition timing and air/fuel ratios are also necessary.
Advanced Ignition Timing: Advancing timing by 10° causes plug temperature to increase by approximately 70°C to 100°C.

Engine Speed and Load: Increases in firing-end temperatures and are proportional to engine speed and load. When traveling at a constant high rate of speed, or carrying/pushing very heavy loads, a colder heat range spark plug should be installed.

The heavier your vehicle or greater the amount of work the engine sees (racing applications, construction trucks, vans, RVs & Motorhomes, etc.), the more critical this becomes.

Ambient Air Temperature:

As air temperature falls, air density volume increases, resulting in leaner air/fuel mixtures. This creates higher cylinder pressures and temperatures that causes an an increase in the spark plug's tip temperature. Fuel delivery should be increased.
As temperature increases, air density decreases, as does intake volume, and fuel delivery should be decreased.


Humidity: As humidity increases, air volume decreases. The result is lower combustion pressures and temperatures, causing a decrease in the spark plug's temperature and a reduction in available power. Air/Fuel mixture should be leaner, depending on ambient air temperature.

Barometric Pressure and Altitude:

Affects the spark plug's temperature
The higher the altitude, the lower the cylinder pressure becomes. As the cylinder temperature decreases, so does the tip temperature.
Many tuners attempt to "chase" tuning by changing spark plug heat ranges.
The real answer is to play with the jetting or air/fuel mixtures in an effort to put more air back in the engine.

[ScienceGuy]

That was an excellent summary of why the thermal conductivity of the center electrode
makes no difference in the performance of a spark plug. It explains clearly that the center
insulator length determines the temperature of the spark plug. I especially liked this

Quote:

No matter what the plugs are installed in, be it a lawnmower, a boat, your daily driver or your race car, the spark plug tip temperature must remain between 450°C to 850°C.

Plug manufacturers will just pick a center electrode insulator length that provides this temperature and you're fine. Thank you for your support.

And as I posted, the electrical conductivity of the last-part of the center electrode
also makes no difference in the performance of the plug due to the much larger resistances
of all the other parts in the electrical path, so what's left other than hype?

[KiwiJCW]

Quote: Originally Posted by raymond_chase (original)

This is a long one, but I think it covers your questions.

How a Spark Plug Works:

snip

You might have shorted this long post by simply quoting the url (Spark Plugs) that you cut the article from.

Sorry about the long text, I'm new to these blogs and still learning the ropes. Thanks for putting the hyper-text link in.

As for the reference to the tip with respect to the kernel size and center electrode conductivity with respect to the ability to dissipate heat. Again, I will refer to two parts of the write up.

1. The article clearly points out that the rate of heat dissipation is directly correlated to the materials and/or construction of the center electrode and porcelain insulator.

2. There are hundreds of different spark plug types designed for different engines as well as specific applications. The two main ones we use in racing are the standard tip and extended tip. It is my opinion that any time you can use the extended tip, do it! The longer tip gets the spark kernel started further into the center of the bore for a more complete combustion process. This is also achieved with the better aftermarket cylinder heads on many available engine applications. The newer heads position the spark plug location closer to a more optimum location.

But, there are also specially designed spark plugs that are supposed to increase the spark kernel size. You see, the larger the spark kernel that is generated by the spark jumping the electrode gap, the more complete burn, the better power and efficiency and the smoother the car will run for longer periods of time. These specially designed plugs will have multiple angles that allow the spark to find the easiest path as well as getting the spark kernel out from under the ground electrode which can quench the kernel size limiting it's size and expansive growth.

[norm03s]

Quote: Originally Posted by KiwiJCW (original)

You might have shorted this long post by simply quoting the url (Spark Plugs) that you cut the article from.

I don't agree with this

Quote:

Silver is extremely resistant to erosion, guaranteeing a virtually unchanged electrode gap for the life of the spark plug. This greatly extends change intervals.

1. it's the ground electrode that wears out (erodes) causing the gap to widen. Have you ever closly inspected worn spark plugs.
2. what is the life expected? 10k, 20k, 14.23 miles
3. remember these are brought to market by the same people that make the PLASMA BOOSTER
They sure do write nice copy
Spend your money and believe whatever you like

[ScienceGuy]

Quote: Originally Posted by raymond_chase (original)

The longer tip gets the spark kernel started further into the
center of the bore for a more complete combustion process.

Now we've moved on from
the actual claims on the website (about silver being better conductor) to NEW claims about the
spark being started farther into the cylinder. (Which is not claimed by the website)

Maybe you misunderstood how manufacturers change the center electrode length. They don't
make a shorter electrode by making a shorter plug, but by moving the point where the
electrode attaches to the main part of the plug. All plugs for a particular engine will have the
spark gap in approximately the same place in the combustion chamber. If they moved it farther
into the cylinder, the plug would hit the top of the piston.

It is typical for these claims of superiority to drift around to other characteristics when they get
challenged by engineering facts. We haven't gotten to magnet-vorticity yet, but I sense its
nearness.