Or something like that, Good morning Steve in sunny Fla, Jim Snyder in Hot Texas or T-cro in the great cold North or anybody running the Irridium plugs, Whats  a gap no. to use, I have my old plugs they are at .26   the new irridiums out of the box are alot more open on the initail gap. usually my plugs are pretty close out of the box. Just want to be on the safe side - any one anyone   Bueller!!!!     regards Steve

Hey Steve, they're a wide gap plug so you'll need to close it down to .026" HTH, steve

Thank you so much sir, Hope all is well with you and the family, Take care regards Steve

Looking for education, not argument .... why irridium?

Y'all have a specific 'make/model' preference?

TIA

Looking for education, not argument .... why irridium?

Y'all have a specific 'make/model' preference?

TIA

Supposedly last longer, cost way more.  I ran some for a few K, took them out for a look-see, and broke a center electrode while checking gap. I'll stick to the "regular" plugs.

Centex, sorry for not getting back sooner i just got back into town. I got these as a Fathers day present when I got my corbin seat. just now getting around to putting them in.  Dont know myself but Ill give you some feed back.  My son is a controlled rider for sportbike track time on an aprillia mile, He overheard me talking about them one day, so he surprised me with them. they are expensive I think he paid like 34.00 from cycle gear. take care Steve

As far as checking the gap in an iridium plug, DON"T. Yes, I know this doesn't make sense, but the iridium coating on the electrodes are VERY THIN. You can literally wipe off the iridium coating by checking the gap. This effectively turns the plug into a very expensive standard plug and you won't benefit from the higher mileage. Most iridium plugs will last WELL over 100,000 miles if they are not damaged. 

NGK say don't re-gap irridium plugs as there's a chance of breaking the thin center electrode http://www.ngk.com/glossary.asp?kw=Should+I+gap+my+Iridium+Plugs?&manID=1&pt=.

Same also applies to Denso irridium plugs http://www.densoiridium.com/faq.php.

Interesting. I've never gapped mine by prying against the electrode, so I assume I'm ok. The gaps need to be pulled down if you want to run high rpms though, due to spark energy at high rpm. I noticed this when I was tuning with them. steve

I typicall just change the standard, "cheap", plugs during my yearly maintenance.  Is there any benefit to iridiums other than longevity? 

  Is there any benefit to iridiums other than longevity?

IMO, and it's probably all in my head - easier starting, smoother tickover, stonger pull in all gears. If there's a better alternative to standard plugs, then why not do it. It's a bit like saying stick coils and conventional coils are the same as they both give the same end result but most of us (and manufacturers) know that stick coils are the way forward.

Back to iridiums - initial cost is high. After many years of using them and, when the honeymoon period is over, they just become another set of plugs that do what any plug is supposed to do.

IMO, and it's probably all in my head - easier starting, smoother tickover, stonger pull in all gears.

It's called the "Farkle Effect"   

Or something like that, Good morning Steve in sunny Fla, Jim Snyder in Hot Texas or T-cro in the great cold North or anybody running the Irridium plugs, Whats  a gap no. to use, I have my old plugs they are at .26   the new irridiums out of the box are alot more open on the initail gap. usually my plugs are pretty close out of the box. Just want to be on the safe side - any one anyone   Bueller!!!!     regards Steve

Hey Steve,
  I normally set all my plugs at .26 to .30 and have never had any problems. I have always run the standard NGK's, they are pretty hard to beat (found that out drag racing M/C's for 20 years).   

Hey Steve,
  I normally set all my plugs at .26 to .30 and have never had any problems. I have always run the standard NGK's, they are pretty hard to beat (found that out drag racing M/C's for 20 years).

My super charged Mustang also likes the standard plugs over the iridium or platinum plugs. 

On the Lincoln Mark VIII forums they say the same thing ... use the standard stock plugs the car came from the factory with.

And yet I have Iridium plugs in my bike ... go figure.

On the Lincoln Mark VIII forums they say the same thing ... use the standard stock plugs the car came from the factory with.

And yet I have Iridium plugs in my bike ... go figure.

Some cars  have to have the OE plugs because the "resistance" of the spark plug is critical to proper operation of the ignition circuit. There are ignition systems on some cars that will set a trouble code if you don't put the factory plugs back in. Dephi developed an ION sensing ignition system that uses the spark plug as a sensor to determine the air-fuel ratio in the combustion chamber. The OE spark plug is critical in this system. I believe this system was installed on Sabbs and may be on other cars. 

Some cars  have to have the OE plugs because the "resistance" of the spark plug is critical to proper operation of the ignition circuit. There are ignition systems on some cars that will set a trouble code if you don't put the factory plugs back in. Dephi developed an ION sensing ignition system that uses the spark plug as a sensor to determine the air-fuel ratio in the combustion chamber. The OE spark plug is critical in this system. I believe this system was installed on Sabbs and may be on other cars.

Dang that sounds like some serious Star Trek Tech stuff there..... 

My Mustang was much more simple; we just found that it dynoed better with the stock plugs.