Hey guys, I'm doing quite a bit to the little 3400 in the Monte next summer including ported UIM and LIM with 65mm TB and L67 coils with red wires and new plugs. And quite a bit of other stuff but I need some help finding plugs.

I understand that plugs don't make a huge difference, but what makes more power in a plug, is it burning hotter? I'm curious how that works, making more power and being more efficient.

Now, what do you guys recommend for plugs? The price isn't a huge deal because I'm going to do this right and I want it to last, especially since I don't want to have to do the plugs more than once in 10k miles.

Any help would be great, thanks!

basically going for the combination between these with the manifolds and wires, with no supercharger or turbo obviously =p

 

I really think that spark plugs are one of the most over thought things that are known to exist. You might want to go one notch hotter if you're planning to run higher octane fuel in it all the time, but don't go for these trick of the week plugs. These E3's, these whatever trick plugs that create all this power don't.. if anything, they'll hurt you. Just stick with an AC Delco. The ignition coils and getting that spark to the plug are what counts.

 

The only time sparks really matter is if you're going colder for forced induction IMO

 

with the ac delcos do i have to worry about spacing the plug or are they ready to go right in?

 

they go right in most of the time. pre gapped. but u shud check the gap anyway. if u wanna do this right

 

They do come gapped, but the box isn't strong, and if it got banged around in trasnportation or on the shelf, the gap can be off.

 

IMO, if you're not going to boost it- then forget about getting fancy with plugs- just buy regular OEM replacements (iridium or platinum- either way they should last 100k no problem). The only people IMO that should even consider going copper and messing with heat ranges are the boosted people (I suppose some NA people could get to that mod point of needing to mess with heat range, but we're talking super heavy modded- big cam/ported heads/etc). Check the gaps, and drop them in.

There are some minor tricks for getting a little more power out of the plugs- back cutting the electrodes, indexing the plugs, etc- but IMO it would be a waste of time for the tiny tiny power gains on your setup. Just get some OEM replacement plugs, and go with it.

 

I vote stick with AC Delcos. As Bumpin' said, if you stick with iridium or plats, you are good for at LEAST 100K! Heck, the '05 Impala my wife and I bought last December had the stock AC Delcos in it (relabeled NGKs I learned) and the car had 150,000 on it and NO problems! I did change them as good maintenance with a host of other things wise to do.

Whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM BOSCH PLUGS! Bosch wires are fine (used them a LOT over the years in different cars), but the plugs are horrible. Sometimes the car won't run right OR you'll be changing them 6 months later because the car began running like crap.

 

my plugs are fine still to, but I'm doing everything else so I figured I'd take some time to do that too, what happens if a plug gets too large of a gap?

 

Misfires. You don't want it too tight, or you don't get as big of a spark to light the mixture off, and you make less power. Too loose, and it may not fire at all, if it can't get a spark across the gap. Just make sure the plugs are roughly OEM spec on gap before you drop them in.