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What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers?
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Scott Novak
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 9:50 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

mark tucker wrote:
well im back I have changed oh soamny oe burnt out coiuld it would make you puke, and nun had iridium or platinum plugs.not a single one.


As I said, weak stock ignition systems.

Of course even the best of the available aftermarket ignition systems are marginal at best. Just not as marginal as stock ignition systems. Your engine would like to see 0.100" spark plug gaps. But not too many ignition systems will fire that reliably.

Just because an engine is still running doesn't mean it's running at it's best possible performance. If you want best performance, use a good ignition system with copper core spark plugs and change them more often.

If you don't care about performance, use a crappy ignition system with platinum spark plugs, reduce the spark plug gaps and don't change the spark plugs until the engine stops running.

Scott Novak
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 10:22 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

Scott Novak wrote:
mark tucker wrote:
well im back I have changed oh soamny oe burnt out coiuld it would make you puke, and nun had iridium or platinum plugs.not a single one.


As I said, weak stock ignition systems.

Of course even the best of the available aftermarket ignition systems are marginal at best. Just not as marginal as stock ignition systems. Your engine would like to see 0.100" spark plug gaps. But not too many ignition systems will fire that reliably.

Just because an engine is still running doesn't mean it's running at it's best possible performance. If you want best performance, use a good ignition system with copper core spark plugs and change them more often.

If you don't care about performance, use a crappy ignition system with platinum spark plugs, reduce the spark plug gaps and don't change the spark plugs until the engine stops running.

Scott Novak



The interesting thing.....is that virtually all sparkplugs.....platinum, double platinum, iridium etc.....have a solid copper core...all the eay up to maybe......060" from the open end of the ceramic insulator. The exotic metals......are simply there to increass the gap life. Wink

The really odd thing....and it pissed me off.....is I bought a 2012 Golf....five cylinder 5 speed......great car.......and 35k miles rolls around and my warranty is about to expire so I ask the dealer about plugs. They say......" not under your warranty because they dont get changed until 65k." I'm like....ok....must be, iridiums. Car running like a top.

Pushing 50k miles.....I'm in Connecticut for 3 months......engine gets the occasional odd iDLE. I'm at close to 50k miles.

I pull the plugs......and they are copper.....with VW symbols on them....Bosch. And.....I have gaps of just under 2mm.....and they are supposed to be 1.1mm. And.....#3 coil plug is deformed from heat. Dealer says......"oh yeah....you got that special package with everything in it.....but for some reason those came with copper instead or iridium".....not a huge deal......but just another point showing that just because you CAN run forever on plugs....its not ideal.

Put new plugs in and my highway mileage went up 3mpg. Idle issue gone. I now gap them at 10-15k and change them at 25k. No issues.

The other thing about MODERN iridium and double platinim plugs. ....is that the resistance is very even and stable from plug to plug. Computerized ignitions love that. It translates to smooth.
My copper plugs do just as well....until the gaps start to get large and uneven.....then the ignition system fights to keep all sparks perfect and even at all times. Ray
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 10:50 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

RailBoy wrote:
Now that we are all talking Platinums, any referals on what to run in a stoker 2180 with like 8.5-9 CR?
RB


I run a 2175, 8.9:1, Engle 110, CB 044s, 009 w/Pertronix and run NGK D6EA plugs with no issues. Last changed at 22k, they looked good but it's an cheap tune up item, why not do it at 20+k.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 11:26 am    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

Just got off the Phone with CB Performance, and they are recommending the NGK DP8EA-9.....

Any expierence out there with them.. They say they are for a Moderate Heat Range and are 12mm x 3/4" which my heads call for...

Anyone out there running them and can advice? Not to say I am not into trouble shooting my own car, just that winter being here and no garage I am with the gravel gods and pulling tires to get to carb doors is not the funnest thing to be doing with it is 30 degree and below out...lol RB
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 11:50 am    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

funny, everything is blamed on a week stock ignition.....sounds a lot like exscuses from the peanut gallery where they do not serve platinum or iridum plugs. only boiled fried or roasted. I wonder how many people have the $3000. ignition systems on thier bugs......I dont and wont... it's a bug but dosent know it. go ahead and put the dispasable plugs in I dont give a shit.I also dont work on my car all the time.I like to drive without worry or having to eff with it before going somewhere.I dont take the wifes car because Im affraid my bug will break down or it's raining, or cold or hot. like I said my bug dosent know it's a bug.about the only thing it dosent do is pull our camper as it has no hitch.....yet. oh I do have 2 fancy "box's" ignition system's with built in revlimiter's. I would be stupid to not have them...one for the unfinished 356 and one for the bug.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:12 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

mark tucker wrote:
funny, everything is blamed on a week stock ignition.....sounds a lot like exscuses from the peanut gallery where they do not serve platinum or iridum plugs. only boiled fried or roasted. I wonder how many people have the $3000. ignition systems on thier bugs......I dont and wont... it's a bug but dosent know it. go ahead and put the dispasable plugs in I dont give a shit.I also dont work on my car all the time.I like to drive without worry or having to eff with it before going somewhere.I dont take the wifes car because Im affraid my bug will break down or it's raining, or cold or hot. like I said my bug dosent know it's a bug.about the only thing it dosent do is pull our camper as it has no hitch.....yet. oh I do have 2 fancy "box's" ignition system's with built in revlimiter's. I would be stupid to not have them...one for the unfinished 356 and one for the bug.



Lets quit screwing around with terminology Mark...because you keep seeming to miss what we are saying each and every time. Laughing

When I say weak ignition....what I mean is one of two things.

1. WEAK PARTS IN THE SYSTEM...usually due to age and wear and lazy owners who never replace anything. These are....as I already NOTED...cracked, high resistance wires and plug connectors, carbonized cap contacts, burned points etc.
This can make the voltage delivered to the plug gap WEAK.

2. A coil that is not putting out the voltage is should either because its ancient and has poor insulation that has been overheated a zillion times....or sometimes even low voltage to the coil......and or....a stock coil that has been applied to a higher rpm and/or higher compression engine.

The stock coil was a 1930's system that put out roughly 18kv. It is known and has been proven......to be weak.... in higher compression, lean burn and higher rpm applications using wider gaps than stock.
It just does not have the power to reliably arc in those situations.....none of which are stock...except for the higher compression, leaner burning type 4 engines that the stock coil gave notorious trouble with

Aside from the non-stock issues with the original coil not being up to snuff.....The original Bosch platinums were aimed at people with WEAK AND OLD PARTS in their ignition systems....who were too lazy to change the parts (or too broke or too unskilled).....and they actually worked fairly well in that respect.
In reality it was a working gimmick. The platinum required less current to arc. The arc was lower quality...but it arced...and the car started easier. Doesn't mean it ran better....it started easier.

That was the marketing line from Bosch

If you dont remember the commercials and marketing....then you dont know what we are talking about.

The interesting thing is that they were smart enough not to try and tell you these plugs would help older, high mileage cars with poor efficiency.

For the vast majority of "as built" applications from VW for the aircooled engine...the stock coil was just dandy.

When fuel injection started getting involved with leaner burn and fuel mixtures....and compression on certain models (not to mention ignition advance) was higher than the baseline beetle or bus.....the fairly low key 18kv coil started having problems. Ray
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 1:28 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

so... your talking about 98% of the vw's&thier owners out there that have sub par week ignitions and componets.... so...where is the issue?thats what theyr made for........and as a benefit they also work great with upgraded ignitions!!! I dont think Im the one using all the fancy termanoligy......hell I caint even spell it. Wink but I do know what works.
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 2:00 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

Ok, to bump the Thread from Platinums Plugs over to Ignition Systems, what do you call a moderate ignition system?

Running a Bosch 010 Distributor with Bosch Blue Coil plus Bosch Silicone Plug Wires, is that Moderate to good or on the bad side do to all the other performance systems out there that are better that can leave it in the dust do to it is dated? RB
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 2:25 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

mark tucker wrote:
so... your talking about 98% of the vw's&thier owners out there that have sub par week ignitions and componets.... so...where is the issue?thats what theyr made for........and as a benefit they also work great with upgraded ignitions!!! I dont think Im the one using all the fancy termanoligy......hell I caint even spell it. Wink but I do know what works.


Nope..again...you missed the point entirely.

The stock system for a stock car starts just fine. An 18kv system in reality gets just a little over 10-11kv to any plug on each cycle. Plenty......for a low compression engine turning about 4000 rpm on any day.......but.....thats when all 10-11kv gets to the plug.

And....like another other relatively low voltage stock system....they run like shit when resistance gets high and voltage drops to the plug.....and just like with any other system...if the owner is lazy and refuses to renew those parts....or believe that they should be replaced...simply because they are still working......if you slap in a set of the old style platinums......you can usually actually see an improvement for difficult starting (related to low voltage) because they arc easier at lower voltage.

And....if you are upgradng your ignition.....it has nothing to do with anything we have been talking about.......in that case what are you even asking about platinum plugs for?

If there is nothing wrong or weak with the stock ignition. ...why would anyone ever upgrade it? Why aren't new cars using the same system? Wink Ray
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 2:40 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

RailBoy wrote:
Ok, to bump the Thread from Platinums Plugs over to Ignition Systems, what do you call a moderate ignition system?

Running a Bosch 010 Distributor with Bosch Blue Coil plus Bosch Silicone Plug Wires, is that Moderate to good or on the bad side do to all the other performance systems out there that are better that can leave it in the dust do to it is dated? RB


When I think of system....electrically. ...I am not even including the distributor or its advance (important for stability and advance control but has nothing really to do with the available system current or plugs)

The blue coil is a good slightly better tban stock system coil. Nothing really high performance about it. Its enough better for stock and slightly hotter than,stock that for ages its been considered "high performance".....in the past. Nothing wrong with it ....better than stock in "most" cases. I say most becauze there are some stock coils for some ACVW.....that were actually better than the basic blue coil.

Others know more but the blue coil (of which there are several versions).....have slightly better high rpm current saturation and about 2-3 more kv. Its an improved stock coil.

If nothing else in the stock ignition system is going to change. ...points, cap, rotor, good wires.....type of distributor. ..010, 009, 050, 205 series...whatever.....is irrelevant. ....thats all stock (and no issues).....the frst major step up that I would call an improvement (whether you stick with points or go to a module)......is something like a Pertronix 42kv coil.

Makes a noticble difference on the ability to tune higher cmpression, leaner burning fuel injected engines.

Of course there will be many who tell you even more improvements come with getting rid of the distributor altoghether (crank fire, COP etc.).....they are correct.

The next step up that is laregly stock (just later in time).....and I woud call an,intermediate level of ignition. ..all other things stayig the same.....still using distributor of your choice, cap, rotor and wires.....would be slaving in a hall effect module and window rotor from say....a late vanagon or most 80's to 90's watercooled cars with the external solid state module.....and thd 55Kv coil. Big difference.

None of this yet....has anything to do with spark duration or timing control. That does have a lot to do with the distributor you choose and its advance controls. This is just about the voltage capability. Ray
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 5:52 am    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

RB, use your 010 & blue coil,Awesome set up I ran them for many years & miles
I step up to full MSD system and other then 'Starting' It made no diff on my time slips Laughing but has some features,like BTM & rev limiters Wink
NGK plugs in my turbo motors are D9EA's Cool
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 8:50 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

Ray and Scott have added some value to this thread. I'd like to add another point. Ray had mentioned that the old original Bosch platinum spark plugs were quite different than the ones that are made today. The old originals were terrible plugs. They don't work worth a hoot with a CD ignition either when almost every other plug electrode design does. The centre electrode was completely shrouded by ceramic and my personal theory is that this caused the plug to behave a bit like a rectifier so that the plugs would only fire consistently in one polarity. They were expensive but terrible spark plugs. Another theory years ago was that the platinum tip inside the ceramic shroud would erode away and be replaced by carbon, but I found the plugs worked badly from day one with a CDi. The new NGK iridium plugs work very well with an AC spark so I think the fact that there is more exposed metal on the centre electrode makes the difference. Fred

RailBoy wrote:
Hello All..... I was advised to run Platinum Plugs in my 2180 for they have a wider Heat Range than the normal plugs.

I went through the forums for info but there was not really any info there, also what I heard in the Forums that were avaliable is that Platinum Plugs work good with a somewhat Lean Condiction when it comes to jetting. So, before I jump right into jetting for my plugs I have now read great really but I have a slight Popping at times, I figured I try the Platinum Plugs first.

Yea, on my jetting I may need to go up a touch richer on my idles, but the popping is so suttle that new plugs maybe in order for what I am running now are stockers... So I like to give Platinums a try. RB
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 7:19 am    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

Fred Winterburn wrote:
Ray and Scott have added some value to this thread. I'd like to add another point. Ray had mentioned that the old original Bosch platinum spark plugs were quite different than the ones that are made today. The old originals were terrible plugs. They don't work worth a hoot with a CD ignition either when almost every other plug electrode design does. The centre electrode was completely shrouded by ceramic and my personal theory is that this caused the plug to behave a bit like a rectifier so that the plugs would only fire consistently in one polarity. They were expensive but terrible spark plugs. Another theory years ago was that the platinum tip inside the ceramic shroud would erode away and be replaced by carbon, but I found the plugs worked badly from day one with a CDi. The new NGK iridium plugs work very well with an AC spark so I think the fact that there is more exposed metal on the centre electrode makes the difference. Fred

RailBoy wrote:
Hello All..... I was advised to run Platinum Plugs in my 2180 for they have a wider Heat Range than the normal plugs.

I went through the forums for info but there was not really any info there, also what I heard in the Forums that were avaliable is that Platinum Plugs work good with a somewhat Lean Condiction when it comes to jetting. So, before I jump right into jetting for my plugs I have now read great really but I have a slight Popping at times, I figured I try the Platinum Plugs first.

Yea, on my jetting I may need to go up a touch richer on my idles, but the popping is so suttle that new plugs maybe in order for what I am running now are stockers... So I like to give Platinums a try. RB



Actually from experience, memory of issues and marketing.....I think you are fairly well right on almost all counts.

The original platinum seemed to be a Bosch solution that had more to do with 6-8 year old inductive ignition systems of the day. Those would be the ignitions ranging from first generation HEI and the late 70s/80s hall effect systems common on Euro and Japanese cars. These systems were a step up from the 50s to early 70s basic points and 18-20kv coil systems.
They were typically 40kv to 55kv......and a little less intuitively easy for owners to tinker with. They had no points or condensor....and in the case of HEI had even less wires. It was kind of the first generation of items that owners started seeing as "no user servicable parts".....so they didnt......so as cars got into middle age....in those days....60k+....far out of warranty.....unserviced items like ignition would get sloppy.
Bosch and others slipped in the platinums as an easier sparking plug....so the owner could continue doing nothing and still start. Wink

Yes the original platinum electrode was fully shrouded and very small. It was designed that way because platinum was even more expensive then than now in relative terms.....and it was just a way to make lower resistance ionization with long lasting gaps. The electrode was recessed....so you could still gap the plugs.
Yes....platinum electrodes still wear....so the old ones when they wore.....would recess. This especially happened if you increased the gap and went to higher voltage coils. The ground electrode has so much more area that at some point when the heat gets very high.....the super small center elelectrode would start eroding faster and recess.

Yes....both the double platinum and iridium plugs use larger and longer electrodes and work much better. But they are more fragile being exposed. The newer double platinum designs can usually be gapped. The iridiums not really able to be gapped.

The main thing with the new plug designs with exotic metals.....is not anything to do with "better" spark. They are designed to spark equally to the classic benchmark design that is the yardstick for spark plugs.......the nickle/copper plug.

The difference is that they are designed to last roughly 3-4X longer than nickle/copper plugs....before they MUST be gapped.
Depending on your ignition type and voltage.....in the old days with a basic inductive coil a nickle/copper plug might go 20k miles before gapping sets it all right. In the hall and HEI systems with roughly double the voltage......maybe 12-15k on copper plugs before regap.

Its odd as I noted.....my 2012 Golf came with Nickle/copper instead of iridium or double platinum......and......in roughly 15-18k miles......the gap nearly doubles! Shocked

The only reason I have not yet changed to an iridium to simply move the realistic plug gap life to about 40-50k miles.....is because (as I found on my 2006 Jetta with basically the same engine)....is because some of the newer drive by wire systems and their ignition and fuel injection systems.....have a fuzzy logic system that uses adaptive technology. When you go to a radically different plug or change driving styles......it runs and drives oddly for about a week until it adapts. I have been to busy this year with long trips to put up with that.

There is also another plug technology that Bosch has that has merit but has not gotten popular with general car owners (probably,because its not any cheaper than going to iridium and double platinum....which are already mainstream).......and that is nickle/copper with yttrium plating.
This allows the nice big fat copper electrode....which makes the biggest sparks....to have electrode gap wear very similar to double platinum and iridium.

I would think the high performance crowd would like them.....but they are hard to find in very many sizes. Ray
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 10:06 am    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

Just re-reading some notes on the Yttrium/copper electrode technology.

I was in error to what I noted this was for. While it is noted that it may help the electrode wear slower as well...the main reason its used is because the Yttrium allows the copper core to reach its self cleaning temperature faster to burn away possible fouling deposits.

Made for heavy traffic stop and go driving.

Another original benefit of the original platinums and somewhat of the modern platinums....is that the platinum tip reaches "self-cleaning" temperature within seconds after start up...much faster than copper....and is avialble in a much wider heat range.....which is probably also why it was a little help on older cars with worse oil and compression control.

Ray
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 11:25 am    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

I dont tend to drop my plugs and as such I dont gap them either. go figure, no ignition issues at all, no misses, farts,pops,backfires,loadup,foul... but with only a few thousand that I have used and installed in performance and std applications.....I cant remember any issues...execpt for the pain in the ass changing the fouling ngk,nippon,acdelco,crapagion in many big cam big carb low rpm for long times to the no issue platinums.although I have seen a very few platinums spit the electrode when detonation is a issue.....probably self preservation feature Wink wouldent it be nice if other plugs were "smart" plugs. just wondering from the exsperts just how many they have installed and used ?and used to remedy a issue??to get a much happier coustomer? to get a much cleaner running engine??? or is it just more plain old engineer babbell that we have heard oh so much. I have much respect for many of these guys, but sometimes........the rong things get in the way...like opinions ,internet exsperts,thinking with no real way to conferm the thinking outcome,on things that they possiably have no real experience with on a large or small scale.
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 1:07 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

mark tucker wrote:
I dont tend to drop my plugs and as such I dont gap them either. go figure, no ignition issues at all, no misses, farts,pops,backfires,loadup,foul... but with only a few thousand that I have used and installed in performance and std applications.....I cant remember any issues...execpt for the pain in the ass changing the fouling ngk,nippon,acdelco,crapagion in many big cam big carb low rpm for long times to the no issue platinums.although I have seen a very few platinums spit the electrode when detonation is a issue.....probably self preservation feature Wink wouldent it be nice if other plugs were "smart" plugs. just wondering from the exsperts just how many they have installed and used ?and used to remedy a issue??to get a much happier coustomer? to get a much cleaner running engine??? or is it just more plain old engineer babbell that we have heard oh so much. I have much respect for many of these guys, but sometimes........the rong things get in the way...like opinions ,internet exsperts,thinking with no real way to conferm the thinking outcome,on things that they possiably have no real experience with on a large or small scale.


Wow.....so you have seen detonation blast an electrode off a platinum plug? Cool! Makes sense.

I have seen detonation shatter the ceramic on a standard copper plug several times. But the electrode was stout enough that it was still there.

The electrodes on these modern platinum and iridium plugs are skinny frail little things.
The old platinums.....there never was really a "visible" electrode sticking out.....but I also know that the platinum part of te old deaign was maybe .050-.060" deep.....so it could probably be blasted out easily if the detonation is bad.

Personally....I have never really had good....lasting....performance from the original platinum plugs back in the late 80s early 90s on any of my ACVWs.

They never fouled....they just had a really wimpy, pink little sparks.....and for high compression and leaner burn engines (411, 412 and 914)....they always made for harder starting in anything but,warm weather. Back in those days it never really occured to me that the coil system was a little wimpy. They worked great in my one and only Chevy with HEI.

For a short period of time in late 80s...it was hard to buy Bosch plugs in some places that were NOT platinum.....they were pushing them so hard and they were popular. I generally went to champion copper for a while simply because I had a hard time finding Bosch copper in stock....and where I was living....NGK was not a common everyday plug brand in the late 80s.
I never missed stopping using the platinums......but I do understand why they are used now and what made them different. Ray
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 3:18 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

Ive never seen the week pink spark on any of them. and way less coil issues like plagued gm with the hei system.infact i dont recall having to replace any coils on cars that had the platinum plugs in them and good wires. you were luckey to get 203 years from a gm coil with the std plugs& wires and less if you had the x gap plugs(.080" or more). In theroy the x's were great, but the rest of the system could not handle the wide gap. the platinum would solve most of this in most apps .theroy is what effs up oh somany things and peoples ideas of them, too many are just plain missunderstood by exsperts.
IMHO std style plugs are still made for the ones that 1 are too cheep to buy a good plug, 2 dont know any better,3 are stuck in the long past past,4 internet exsperts,5 degrees in something but no real experance,6 they make the plug manufactures a lot of money from the 1-5 people changing the dead/dying/wearing out/fouled plugs oh so many miles before they should be. I sure I could go on but there is no use. so... put some cheep crap in there and change them every few months, helicoil the headsl,,, stay in the past where the rest of the vw world is. I moved on long ago.
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raygreenwood
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 5:22 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

mark tucker wrote:
Ive never seen the week pink spark on any of them. and way less coil issues like plagued gm with the hei system.infact i dont recall having to replace any coils on cars that had the platinum plugs in them and good wires. you were luckey to get 203 years from a gm coil with the std plugs& wires and less if you had the x gap plugs(.080" or more). In theroy the x's were great, but the rest of the system could not handle the wide gap. the platinum would solve most of this in most apps .theroy is what effs up oh somany things and peoples ideas of them, too many are just plain missunderstood by exsperts.
IMHO std style plugs are still made for the ones that 1 are too cheep to buy a good plug, 2 dont know any better,3 are stuck in the long past past,4 internet exsperts,5 degrees in something but no real experance,6 they make the plug manufactures a lot of money from the 1-5 people changing the dead/dying/wearing out/fouled plugs oh so many miles before they should be. I sure I could go on but there is no use. so... put some cheep crap in there and change them every few months, helicoil the headsl,,, stay in the past where the rest of the vw world is. I moved on long ago.


The HEI's....really HEI series 1....yes really had problems burimg out coils. It took til about series 2 before they started foguring out that...exactly what you said...exceasive gaps (and the coil inside the distributor where it cant shed heat)....would burn coils out. Went through numerous.

That same issue.......excessive gaps even by letting very good modern plugs like iridium. ....also burns out coils when the gaps get excessive..

The new plugs though....iridium and double platinum. .....are awesome for lifespan. Just dont keep them as long as the car dealers telll you to. Which is cheaper...plugs or coils.

They all work fine (even the original platinums to a reasonable degree).....just have different life spans....only real difference.

As I noted....the original platinums. ..only produce the weak pink spark on weak systems. But weak or pink.....on a weak system they spark when other plugs may not. That was their primary claim to fame when they arrived on the market.

And again.....generally I didnt have the weak park issue on my cars (only once...and hats when I gigured it out).....but mainly found it working on other people's cars who were far lazier than I am......which is why half the parts in their system needed replacing.....which is why they had weak sparks.....and why they wanted me to install platinum plugs.

Great working gimmick. ...but,actually was a pretty good stepping stone in plug development. I would say all of the spark plug,companies learned a lot during the early platinum days. Ray
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DeathBySnuSnu
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 9:16 pm    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

I am planning on these for mine once it is back together.
Running a ford coil pack.
Hopefully my research is correct.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 8:59 am    Post subject: Re: What Platinum Plugs are People Running in there Strokers Reply with quote

DeathBySnuSnu wrote:
I am planning on these for mine once it is back together.
Running a ford coil pack.
Hopefully my research is correct.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Great piugs....and an interesting part # you have there. For those who dont decipher plugs:

B= 19mm reach
P= projected tip xesign
R= resistor plug....do you need a resistor?
6= medium hot plug equivalent to a Bosch 8 heat range
E= 3/4" gun reach
I=......denotes special design
X= now this is interesting. This stands for "BOOSTER GAP"

The booster gap is an internal air gap. It is designed to create an internal air gap in the spark plug core.
Champion has ine as well called an "auxiliary gap".

The gist is that deposits that form across the insulator and center electrode bleed off current as potential (voltage) is building up in the millissconds before it arcs. Remember that the current must reach a threshhold level before its able to arc.
Anything that bleeds that off can reduce spark strength or even prevent the arc/spark. This is technically....fouled.

So.....the booster gap or auxiliary gap.....acts like a switch. Its an internal air gap. It creates an internal gap or break of a different potential......adding to the potential of the original gap that allows the coil to build up enough energy to arc through the deposits and build up on the tip...effectively blowing them away.

Some CDI systems do much the same thing with multiple spark capability and variable voltage.....so I have read. Supposedly the booster gap is effective.

Interesting. Let us know how they work. Ray


Last edited by raygreenwood on Fri Jan 08, 2016 10:01 pm; edited 2 times in total
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