So for the last 6 months my car has been breaking up bad under high boost. Ive tried new plugs gone through about 20 sets, tried wires, coils retune retune retune. Well today I decided to buy some feeler gauges. Previously when I would gap my plugs Ide use the ****ty little disk type. Well what read .020 on the disk was actually .028 on the feeler gauge. ****ing awesome! So I bought some new plugs regapped and my car no longer breaks up. So just some advice buy some feeler gauges. Also I have an evo 8 gt35R 25psi and running NGKBR8EIX plugs. Now at a .022 Gap and its perfect. Something so simple I could have checked and Ive wasted about $200 or more to figure this out. I even bought a new battery . I feel as if I should get a Darwin Award.

 

Award goes to... :P

Aaron

 

It really is funny how something as small as spark plug gap can make or break your power curve. I had the same issue recently and fixed it the same way. Pulls strong with no breaking up at all now.

 

Another tip is don't gap iridium plugs. When you slide the disk in to check gap..you will scrape the platinum off the ground strap. I've seen the way NGK says to do it by pressing down on it, which is fine. The problem is when you pull on it to open the gap back up, you do the same thing. It probably does not ruin the plug in every case, but I would not want to risk damage to the plug and have to buy another set..or waste time trying to figure out why my car still has problems with new plugs, not knowing you introduced the problem in the first place.

N

 

^^ Good point. Well at first I was running just normal BPR8ES plugs so they were copper. This is the first time I switched to iridium. So... May be the fact that I switched to the iridium or it was the fact that the gapper was messed up. Im thinking the gap. But getting the EIX to gap was a pain Right out the box all four were different spec. They were about .030 right out the box I got lucky and after pushing down abit very very slowly and checking multiple times I didn't have to widen the gap.

 

If you had to open it back up they have gappers that can open it up without even touching the firing end, it's hard to explain but I know its on the kind of gapper that has the different thickness wires....I had borrowed one from a older guy at work and I was making fun of it cuz it's "old school" but is good if you gotta open the iridium plugs and not want to use pliers or other means. There's a little cutout in that gapper that you put the ground strap in and twist and it will open it up, hard to explain tho

 

Can yah find a picture?

 

I think they call that tool "needle nose pliers".

 

Haha this.

 

Yep needle nose pliers works, actually I used baby vice grips last time since I didn't have needle nose handy but this is the tool I'm talking about. It's the little pieces on the end sticking out on the left and right side with a little slot in it (2 on each side) and you just stick the ground strap in the middle and turn it and it bends the ground strap

http://pertronix-ignition-systems.bl...er-review.html

 

This is the way I always adjust the gap on my plugs. I don't use this tool to measure the gap though, I use a regular old feeler gauge. This might not be the best way to adjust the gap on a plug with precious metal though as I think the edge of the tool could "dig" into it.

 

Best thread on spark plugs yet. Good job guys.

This should be stickied.