Spark plugs- ground strap”tech”?

[Caprimaniac]

Hi, all.

I know there are guys on here that is highly skilled in ignittion tech.

I want to ask abot somthing a friend told me abot a guy he knows who is considered a guru in prepping spark plugs for motorsport and hi Hp veichles.

I was told he use traditional plugs with single ground straps and- to promote flametravel, speed and area covered, he drills small holes tenths of mm (0,1-0,9 mm or smewherr around 0,02’’) in the ground strap.

From all the vids I have seen and what I have previously read, i have a hard time seeing this tech doing much use. But- I might be terribly wrong....

[Roundybout]

That's a new one to me. I couldn't imagine such a small hole/s would stay clean and not clog up with combustion by-products after a while. Not to mention how that would help, at all. Only thing I've ever seen work "better" is indexing them. And that's for clearance with maybe a small side benefit in the combustion process.

[Caprimaniac]

Agree to that.

One other thing I just came to think about. Irirdium/ platina VS regular ground strap: As I remember, there has been found no Hp difference, even if the elektrodes on these are slimmer.

[Tuner]

Drilling a hole in the side electrode reduces the mass available to conduct heat away from the electrode tip, less cross-sectional area at that spot reduces heat transfer from the tip to the plug shell and cylinder head/water jacket/cooling system. An engine being used in a sporting manner is much closer to melting the side electrode to begin with, so anything that increases the temperature of the tip of the side electrode is merely insuring the electrode is more likely to melt or will melt in a more timely manner.

[Walter R. Malik]

Hi, all.

I know there are guys on here that is highly skilled in ignittion tech.

I want to ask abot somthing a friend told me abot a guy he knows who is considered a guru in prepping spark plugs for motorsport and hi Hp veichles.

I was told he use traditional plugs with single ground straps and- to promote flametravel, speed and area covered, he drills small holes tenths of mm (0,1-0,9 mm or smewherr around 0,02’’) in the ground strap.

From all the vids I have seen and what I have previously read, i have a hard time seeing this tech doing much use. But- I might be terribly wrong....

I have seen rounding off the tip of the ground strap to the limits of the center electrode and on plugs with a full strap which go past the center electrode having one hole about a 1/32" drilled right under the center electrode but, not what you speak of.

If it works for them or they think it works for them ... have at it. It probably does little or no harm.

[digger]

id be concerned about anything that makes the strap run hotter or more prone to falling of

[peejay]

id be concerned about anything that makes the strap run hotter or more prone to falling of

I've melted the straps off before without doing anything so crazy as to drill holes in them to make them run hotter. Can't see the advantage here, unless they are looking for preignition intentionally.

[af2]

Hi, all.

I know there are guys on here that is highly skilled in ignittion tech.

I want to ask abot somthing a friend told me abot a guy he knows who is considered a guru in prepping spark plugs for motorsport and hi Hp veichles.

I was told he use traditional plugs with single ground straps and- to promote flametravel, speed and area covered, he drills small holes tenths of mm (0,1-0,9 mm or smewherr around 0,02’’) in the ground strap.

From all the vids I have seen and what I have previously read, i have a hard time seeing this tech doing much use. But- I might be terribly wrong....

Also had a blowhard tell my son taking .001 out of #7 plug is worth 100 HP on a sbc.

[englertracing]

Agree to that.

One other thing I just came to think about. Irirdium/ platina VS regular ground strap: As I remember, there has been found no Hp difference, even if the elektrodes on these are slimmer.

The iridium ground or platinum ground straps are great for holding up to the twin post coil where one plug fires electrode positive and the other fires electrode negative.

[Caprimaniac]

Definately see the heat/ melting argument. Didn't think of that fisrt hand.

I don't know if Adam's comment on the 100Hp convince me, but.....

And Walter makes a great comment, and enlighten something I have seen numerous times: "If it works for them or they think it works for them ... have at it."
If you believe in something hard enough- there you have the truth.


On the other hand; take away melting temps: would you be able to see a difference on the dyno? 100Hp, Adam?

[Circlotron]

Maybe the sharp edges of the holes make it easier for a spark to jump to, compared to a smooth surface.

[NewbVetteGuy]

On this subject, I've been meaning to ask about "Surface Discharge" design spark plug electrodes for a while...


My understanding is that the only way you're getting more power out of a spark plug is if you end up burning all the fuel faster (fewer # of degrees); I don't want to use the term "Faster flame front" because I don't think the flame front speed can change just from a plug design but if the initial ionization event is physically larger, there's less distance that the flame front has to travel so less time until peak cylinder pressure.


On another SpeedTalk thread there was something remotely starting to resemble a concensus that getting the plug as close to the center as possible can be worth a bit of power, "always use extended tip" plugs. -Get the spark to the center of the chamber and it has less distance for the flame front to travel to the walls and the burn occurs faster -reduce ignition timing and make a tiny bit of power.


I have also seen people talking about indexing the plugs, or going with a shorter electrode that helps unshroud the path from the spark to the furthest part of the chamber and again to burn the total combustion space faster. (Seems like a TEENY TINY improvement is likely the best-case here.)


This makes me wonder if things like electrode-less plugs would be useful and potentially worth a small bit of power as it takes the approach of "unshrouding the spark from the chamber" to an extreme.

-This also seems like why going with a bigger spark elecrode gap and a higher voltage ignition system to be able to reliably jump that gap at peak cylinder pressures works -spark is in contact with MORE air and fuel and the burn moves outward from that point- if the inital spark takes up more space in the chamber it means less burn time and with retarded ignition timing closer to TDC, more power.



Coming full circle, this is why I have to wonder about Surface Discharge spark plugs or semi-surface discharge spark plug designs. (NGK has them as an option as does Brisk with their "LGS" line and I believe TorqueMaster / Extremespark.com has one.) IF this design allows a lower voltage spark to jump a larger gap, wouldn't it perform basically the same as the same spark plug gap with a traditional spark plug design and the higher voltages required to jump that larger gap? Seems like a good way to maximize the size gap that you can run for a given ignition system and engine...


I'm also guessing this same reason is why people are seeing mild improvements in average torque with some of the Plasma ignition systems - a physically, and in this case 3 dimensionally, larger "spark" starting the fire means less distance that the flame has to travel to complete the burn and small improvements in torque, MPG, and emissions when the ignition timing is retarded from a normal ignition system. (Even more MPG gains when run extra lean.)




Adam

[af2]

Definately see the heat/ melting argument. Didn't think of that fisrt hand.

I don't know if Adam's comment on the 100Hp convince me, but.....

And Walter makes a great comment, and enlighten something I have seen numerous times: "If it works for them or they think it works for them ... have at it."
If you believe in something hard enough- there you have the truth.


On the other hand; take away melting temps: would you be able to see a difference on the dyno? 100Hp, Adam?

Haha The best thing I have done is grind the strap away from the center electrode to the gap you want. On the 2stroke it definitely keeps the plug from fouling and is worth doing. Doing 8 plugs would make make go crazy..

[Jeff Lee]

I met a guy at Norwalk that sold spark plugs to the drag racers which he had modified. He would radius the edges of the ground strap and I think he may have even polished it. Seemed like he had a good following. See any value in that?

[jake197000]

only thing ive ever done is take a dremel with a cut off wheel and cut back the ground strap.dont have any proof that it helps but i doesnt seem to hurt.a so called hotter coil doesnt give you more spark so to speak but gives you more spark potential.