I dont want to start a war on the topic of spark plugs but I have some questions. I was using CHAMPION spark plugs RA8HC in my sporty for a long time and decided to check out the NGK iridium DCPR7EIX. They seem to be a little better on cold starts and help throttle response. I recently bought a new DYNATEK 2000i ignition and switch over to single fire. Had the bike dyno tuned and the timing was set last week and its running great. Today on the way home from work temp was about 95 degrees and the bike started pinging on take off. Im wondering if the NGK platinum plugs are hotter than the CHAMPIONS and causing it to ping. I checked the plugs and the mixture is almost perfect slightly rich. Any ideas?
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Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 99
Oh, you just started a war buddy- I will sit back and have a picnic as the soldiers march in with their drums a beatin".....good luck, my guess is you will need more information as there are a ton of variables involved here
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Posts: 217
Well this is a complete opinion topic to some degree. Can you post a photo of the plugs? What gap are you running? What kind of timing are you running? Are you sure that your accelerator pump is working?
First off, I don't care what anyone says on the topic. You can only get a general idea of afr's from plug reading. There's no replacement for wideband reading to fine tune. I'm not saying that you can't read plugs and have a motor running tits because you can. We've been doing it for decades.
I live in Florida myself and it's plain hot. I use the 8's for the ngk as it's the correct heat range for my setup. I also don't buy the iridiums because I change my plugs every oil change. I see no reason to try to get 40k+ miles from plugs when they are so cheap. Not mention the perks of changing them.
There are a couple of methods of reading plugs and everyone has an opinion. I'm from the school of using the strap to read heat range. I'll simply say that if you're running 7's than they are probably too hot and in those temperatures and could possibly cause preignition. I'm not saying that ambient temperature makes this happen directly either.
I also prefer ngk plugs over any other make myself. They provide excellent results and are consistent. My experience with them has been from riding dirt for years and my 10+ years with performance automotive setups producing as much as 1000+whp. There's no need for any of the fancy gimmicks sold for ridiculous prices.