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Boy, considering the possible down side of overly "Hot"
plugs vs replacing the stock ones, I have to agree, Mic. Nice to have Lynn
with real-world experience point out those not-so-nice down sides.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2006 1:29
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Spark plug
choices.
Lynn:
You scared me so I went out and removed the spark
plugs. WX too crappy to fly anyway.
The BUR6EQ-L and BUR8EQ-T were
installed 9-16-06 and I put 6.0 hours on the plane since then.
The plug
color didn't look any different than any other set of plugs I've removed in
the past, and the electrodes still looked like new.
I have excess
radiator capacity and a thermostat, the coolant temperature as measured at the
stock location never varies from thermostat temperature even on an extended
full power climb on a hot day. So that's probably why I lucked out and didn't
experience any detonation with the hotter plugs. According to NGK only about
70 to 100C hotter than BUR7EQ/9EQ.
I agree with you that this is not a
good solution to lead fouling, so the experiment is terminated prematurely. I
have 500 hours on this engine, no reason to destroy it now.
I don't
fully understand how these plugs get lead fouled anyway, the whole ceramic
insulator must get coated with enough conductive lead to short them out.
I
hate 100LL and don't even want to burn it, but on long trips it's the only
thing readily available. Trying to locate aviation enthusiasts to help me get
mogas enroute is a bit of a hassle, but not as much hassle as changing the
spark plugs mid-trip. I was successful flying from Oregon to Kansas and back
last summer and the summer before with mogas assistance in Utah and
Nebraska.
http://www.bridgingworlds.com/k61_2/k61_2_photos.htm
http://www.frappr.com/mogasassistancenetwork
Next
question: how easy or difficult is it to install a MSD system on a stock Mazda
EFI? I'm going to get one and put it in my RX-7 to find out.
Lynn
wrote:
That 1,000 degrees of nose temp is not a limit. Even 800 degrees is not a
limit. Those are "kiss your engine good by temps".One episode of preignition
and it is over.
Since the only way there is to detect plug damage is to damage the plug
and then look at it, this will be a very expensive system for determining the
maximum heat range. If it takes a set of plugs to make a round trip to
Sun&Fun, so what? Spring for the $7.00 and put in a new set. If you get
the SAG after even 10 hours, this is a tiny percentage of the cost of flying.
Carry 4 new plugs with you and the wrench. How many people have not had
coolant and oil temperature control problems on the first flights? This means
higher nose temps does it not?
Running a car plug at 900 degrees to avoid lead fouling is out of the
question. Run whatever Tracy runs. He isn't loosing engines.
Lynn E. Hanover
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