[Shop-talk] Spark plugs in regular cars

[Karl Vacek]

Rounding isn't an issue if you file (or preferably stone) the electrodes 
carefully after blasting.  Those little blasters do the same thing that 
(that portion of) the $1,000 Champion machine does.  It's also got something 
like a Model T coil inside to functionally spark-test the plugs, and some 
pressurize the plug to spark-test it under more realistic conditions.  But 
it's still a sandblaster.

Now if someone blasts plugs and then screws them right back in without doing 
anything else, after a while the plugs get pretty round.  But then I'm sure 
some guys don't take any care to remove all the blasting grit from a 
newly-cleaned plug either.

Used properly, it's a great tool.

Karl




> OK, Karl, I don't know about aircraft plugs and the reconditioners that 
> are sold for them. The little sandblaster bags that JC Whitney sold were a 
> bad idea.
>
> Yeah, they removed all the crud that your Wankel engine dropped on them (I 
> had one of those, too!). But every time you used it, you rounded off the 
> edges and weakened the spark...