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A case against Splitfire plugs.


Guest uberhahn

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I ran an independent test of Splitfires when they were new back in the early 90's.

My results on a lean-burn stationary engine using stratified-precombustion chamber firing showed an overall decrease in fuel comsumption (Medium BTU Sour Gas) of close to 50,000 CFD on a 3,000,000 CFD facility.

The firing pressures on a cylinder to cylinder basis were startingly closer than any other plug we tried from .69 cent Champions to $400 (PER PLUG) Stitts. These were verified with kenescope readings. They were also borne out with cylinder exhaust temperature variations in some cases less then 10 degrees apart! This is phenomenal on a mechanically fuel injected engine like we were testing on.

 

The only problem we had was center electrode errosion, and I could not get the manufacturer to put their patented ground electrode onto a Champion Plug so we could get 500 hrs from the plugs instead of 100 hours. I was am still curious as to how their new platinum electrodes would stand up in that service.

 

I went through 1500 plugs on that trial. My only complaint was they didn't last more than 100 hours, and the Champions for 20% of the cost lasted 5X as long.

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Guest uberhahn

OK, so I can't show you the pic. don't know why. I'll find a way later.

 

the pic is of two (2) plugs, 1 and 2, showing that the electrode upper end is separated from the lower end. Basically, I wanted to check my plugs, I pulled the wire off, and the half of the damn electrode came off with the wire. Completely corroded. It looked like it had cracked very early in life, as it was corroded at the cracked section as much as everywhere else.

 

In any case, I believe the principle of the Splitfire is a "longer" spark, dimensionally. Instead of going straight, you force the spark to go at an angle, thus exposing more of it to the fuel. Don't care. There will always be only one spark at a time. And if my failure is representative, forget it. They were replaced with quality NGK plugs. Obvious improvement. I'll have fuel econ numbers in a few days.

 

uberhahn

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Don't waste time or $ running anything but NGK plugs. Nissan uses them for a reason, they are excellent plugs. Use the same plug that came in your Z from the factory, unless you have been told by an expert to run a different heat range because of modifications. Then just slect the correct heat range. Don't run a platinum plug unless it came with them from the factory.

 

Pete

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Don't waste time or $ running anything but NGK plugs. Nissan uses them for a reason' date=' they are excellent plugs. Use the same plug that came in your Z from the factory, unless you have been told by an expert to run a different heat range because of modifications. Then just slect the correct heat range. Don't run a platinum plug unless it came with them from the factory.

 

Pete[/quote']

 

What Pete Said!

Over 20 years using NGK in daily drivers and my Z, NEVER a prolem.

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