[Healeys] Spark Plugs

Mon Feb 1 10:27:04 MST 2021

The hotter plug with soot up less (oil or rich fuel mixture).  If too 
hot it will cause pinging (pre-ignition) when run hard.  I think the 
newer plug designs have a wider operating range - hot enough to stay 
clean, cool enough not to ping.

https://www.championautoparts.com/Technical/Tech-Tips/choosing-the-right-spark-plug-heat-range.html

On 2/1/2021 11:17 AM, healeyguy--- via Healeys wrote:
> There is a lot of fudge room on the plugs. How many of our BN1 and 2's 
> out there are still at factory specs. Our BN2 has nearly flat top 
> pistons which bump the compression, yours may have electronic ignition 
> or  a special coil, cam, carbs of something else. Most likely a large 
> number of the cars are not even tuned to get a clean burn. The plugs 
> give you a reading on what is going on inside the combustion chamber. 
> Sometimes a factory recommendation is not the best choice.
> That said the N5C plugs in our BN2 seem to work well.
> Perry
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net>
> To: Bob Haskell <rchaskell at earthlink.net>; healeys at autox.team.net
> Sent: Mon, Feb 1, 2021 10:51 am
> Subject: Re: [Healeys] Spark Plugs
>
> Since we're on the topic--sorta, we now know what the 'official' plug
> recommendation was/is--what do the numbers mean? An N5C is a 'hotter'
> plug than an N3C, but what are the real world ramifications for, say, an
> old Healey 4-banger? As I mentioned, I have the N5C in my BN2, and they
> seem to work fine; presumably, they run hotter than the N3Cs, but what
> does that do for performance, etc.? I know hotter plugs are sometimes
> suggested for engines that burn a lot of oil, but do they cause the
> engine to run a bit hotter? What if I dropped an alloy head on my 100's
> engine, would I want to run a colder plug?
>
> In aircraft piston engines that still run on heavily-leaded fuel,
> residual lead can foul plugs quickly; for problematic engines, a 'fine
> wire' plug is sometimes used (just like it sounds, these plugs have
> smaller center electrodes that are less likely to harbor unburned
> elemental lead).
>
>
>
> On 2/1/2021 3:25 AM, Bob Haskell wrote:
> > Bob,
> >
> > Looks like NA8 were replaced by N5C.  But if you're looking for
> > originality:
> >
> > 
> https://www.ebay.com/itm/3-NOS-Champion-NA8-Black-Body-Spark-Plugs-Austin-Healey-100-4-Jaguar-XK120-MG-TD/393094267661 
>
> >
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Bob Haskell
> > Austin Healey 3000 BN7/BT7 registrar
> >
> > On 1/31/21 6:48 PM, Bob Spidell wrote:
> >> We are running Champion N3C in our BN2; they work well.
> >>
> >> The shop manual calls for Champion NA.8 (whatever those are):
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> On 1/27/2021 1:16 PM, Michael MacLean wrote:
> >>> Not to get too far off the subject about Healeys, but my Harley
> >>> Davidson (30s technology like our cars) runs the best on the
> >>> cheapest Ford Autolite 4164 copper plugs. I tried "high
> >>> performance" plugs from Harley Davidson and saw no difference.  Best
> >>> of all they are only 89 cents a piece when on sale and I only need
> >>> two at a time.  Does anyone know for sure which Champion plug works
> >>> for the BN2?
> >>> Mike MacLean
> >>>
> >>> On Wednesday, January 27, 2021, 10:18:57 AM PST, Kees Oudesluijs
> >>> <coudesluijs at chello.nl <mailto:coudesluijs at chello.nl>> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Never had much problems with trouble because of plugs on any of my
> >>> vehicles in the past 55 years. The only thing that is more or less
> >>> important is to gap them, clean them once in a while and replace
> >>> when they are to far gone. I do not think I even did that in the
> >>> last ten years or so. I have nearly always used Champion plugs as
> >>> they are very cheap: between €8 and €15 for four.
> >>>
> >>> I presume that electronic ignition (Pertronix in my case) may also
> >>> help.
> >>>
> >>> Kees Oudesluijs
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Op 27-1-2021 om 18:27 schreef Laurie Wilford:
> >>> I continue to use only Champion plugs in my Healeys but have
> >>> experienced at least two episodes of plug problems over the years.
> >>> Based on the number of miles covered that is probably not too bad,
> >>> but the second time was with a newly installed set of plugs. One was
> >>> defective.
> >>> Both times the symptoms were intermittent missing both at idle and
> >>> on the highway.  Finally changing plugs was of course one of the
> >>> last things I did.
> >>>
> >>> Laurie Wilford
> >>>
> >>> Sent from my Galaxy
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
>
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