Huh? How would plugs have any bearing on how much fuel is in the cylinders when they ignite?

 

Rob,
The kit should be to me within the next ten days and I too intend not to install the thermostat or the plugs; however, I will pose that question to Magnuson and let you (all) know what they tell me. As for not being scientific about your mods, you sound just like me so for what it's worth, you're in good (?) company.
I may do the headers in the Spring after I have had a chance to run with this new setup for a while. I bought another down pipe w/ cat expressly for the purpose of installing headers so that I do not have to cobble up the only OE cat I have and not be able to reverse the procedure. Thanks for the feedback.

 

The colder the plug the colder the spark and the less efficiently the burn meaning that not all the fuel that enters the cylinders is ignited. That's my attempt at an answer.

 

Umm... that does not sound right at all.

The fuel mixture has an ignition point. The plug either ignites it or it does not. There is not any ignite it less or more... Whether or not the mix gets a chance to burn completely or not is really subject to where in the cycle the plug ignites the mix. Too soon and you get pre-ignition, knock and loss of power. Too late and the exhaust valve opens and sucks the mixture out while it is still burning.

I am still coming to grips with what heat ranges mean in plugs and how it affects the combustion cycle/performance of an engine. Perhaps someone could point us to a primer of some sort that covered plugs, heat ranges and what they mean to us

Queue Gadget...

 

Your geek is showing there dood!

That would be "Cue Gadget", not "add this element to the FIFO queue"

 

Ahem... from Dictionary.Com;

Queue

n - a line of people or vehicles waiting for something [syn: waiting line]

Cue

n - A line of waiting people or vehicles; a queue.

I meant it in the context of having Gadget standing by to answer technical questions... as in, "have Gadget stand by" Not as in; "A signal, such as a word or action, used to prompt another event in a performance, such as an actor's speech or entrance, a change in lighting, or a sound effect."

We are both correct.

I am much more of a word geek than number/computer geek

 

I'll be hiding under my truck while you guys try to figure this out.
I am sorry I said anything.

 

It's all good. Mark is something of a wordsmith from time to time as well, so it's fun to debate everything from definitions to the meaning of song lyrics with him

C'mon out from under there and join us

As to what difference different heat ranges in sparkplugs do, I am still researching

 

Hmmmm.... ummmm... huh.

Hmmm...

This is what I was thinkin' (from m-w.com):

Cue: a signal (as a word, phrase, or bit of stage business) to a performer to begin a specific speech or action b : something serving a comparable purpose : HINT

Queue: a sequence of messages or jobs held in auxiliary storage awaiting transmission or processing b : a data structure that consists of a list of records such that records are added at one end and removed from the other.



and btw... wordsmith my backside! You don't wanna know my "grades" from English classes.


But, it's all good! I figger that you're right that we're both right.

Wahoo!


C'mon ManyM! Come on out and Party!

 

Shhh... I was trying to be polite and not let everyone know that you took six years to complete high school heheheh

Now everyone is going to know that you use a team of "ghostwriters" to compose your posts...

 

Ah Hum -- excuse me. May I ask one more question? (I have an oil leak under the truck and had to come out from under to get a shop rag to wipe my head.)

Rob, where did you connect your vacuum hose, if I am not being too personal? Are you still connected FMU style or are you now connected at the intake muffler?

 

<May I ask one more question?> Is that the question? heheh

I went ahead and did the install per the instructions. I used their funky tapered hose to connect the intake silencer to the FMU. I wanted to see how the kit performed per TRD spec, before I started monkeying with it. I may hook the free FMU back up, just to see what that does for me, but while we were putting it in for the first time, I wanted it to be "by the book".

 

Logical --- makes sense but I do not want to alter my ISR tube if it is of no significance. LMK as soon as you try it the other way ... PLEASE.

 

It's my understanding that the colder plug is to better absorb the increased amount of heat created by the compressed air by the S/C, resulting in a lower CHT temperature.

Chris

 

It might be a while. I am quite happy with how it's running now, so I am in no rush to change it.

 

Oh Fine! Be like that.

 

Close but not really.

The spark plug gets hot as a matter of normal operation. There is a lot of heat in the cumbustion process. The chamber is pretty much flat except for the spark plug and its electrodes sticking out in the chamber all by its self.

Picture this. Take a cylinder head with a plug in it and turn it upside down on your work bench. Now take a propane torch and blast the whole cumbustion chamger area with it. It is all starting to get really hot, but that plug sticking out there is going to hotter faster. You might even get it red hot and glow before the rest of the head gets really hot. Red hot is bad and that can lead to detonation.

The temp range of the plug is determined by how fast the plug can transfer that heat to the head so it won't be radically hotter then the rest of the head or cumbustion chamber surface. It is the way the insulator is shaped around the center electrode is what determines its ability to transfer heat to the head and away from its self. There is a fanstastic explination of this on the NGK website complete with pictures... You all should sniff it over. It is well done.

Now, the plug has to be allowed to get hot enough to burn off deposits. If these deposits build up it can interfere with it igniting the mix and can even short it out so there is no spark. To hot is bad because you can get detonation and to cool is bad because it can foul and prevent proper operation. So, you have to find the right temp range for overall good operation.

I have tried lots of different plugs in my supercharged engines and I keep coming back the one that works the best. I can't remember the part number off of the top of my head right now, but it is the one with the tripple electrode and is two steps cooler then stock.

It seems to give the best overall performance and there has never been an issue with fouling. I have tried all the past TRD recommendations as well as a few I have thought up myself. The 2 steps cooler then stock tripple plug works the best so far.

I have not tried the Iridiums yet. I want to stay two steps cooler then stock and that is the Denso IK22 and I just can't find them around here at a decent price. We now have a good contact with Denso directly and I am going to try to get a set of the IK22s and try them out. There is somethings that I do not totally understand yet, specifically how that thin electrode does not get red hot right away and cause poorer performance, but the Denso guy says they are the thing for forced induction, so I am going to try them.

Now I can tell you that they do work well in Lycoming TIO-540 aircraft engine. Where they shine there is easier starts and smoother ground idle. No difference in fuel economy or power, but they do last longer then the massive type plugs and the easier starting is a great plus. Have you ever tried to start a HOT fuel injected aircraft engine??

So, that is all I have to offer. I know it is not much.

Gadget

www.GadgetOnline.com

 

I knew you'd clarify things! Thanks, and I did try the iridiums in my 1998 before, and to be honest , my 1997 is running better on the triple electrode ones you recommended to me recently, which are the ones you are running currently, I think. Do I know for sure it's the plugs, nope.

Chris

 

You know, I tried the two-steps cooler, three-electrode plugs in my truck and had them in there for less than 15 minutes. After we swapped them in, the truck REALLY didn't want to start, once we got it started, it ran like 100 year old lawn mower, it stuttered, tried to die and basically stumbled to it's knees.

The test drive was hideous. It kept trying to die threw a check engine light* and felt like I was dragging a spare Tacoma around behind me.

We pulled it back in, yanked the new plugs, put new stock replacements in and it ran fine...

*We tried to get a reading on the OBDII, but there were multiple codes and it crashed the OBD scanner, clearing the codes. Mostly a combination of mixture related codes.

 

Here's some dyno results from one of the TTORA guys...

http://www.bigbri.com/code/7thinjector.htm