side cut your plugs?

[grumpyvette]

http://performanceunlimited.com/illustrations/sparkplugs.html

 

the plugs are normally done (the electrodes cut back)with a dremel tool cutting disk

[grumpyvette]

the first thought that comes to mind is that, if your NOT running a HIGH COMPRESSION ENGINE COMBO, WITH an MSD multi spark ignition with a QUALITY MATCHING AFTERMARKET HIGH OUTPUT COIL that really puts out a good spark or some other similar system your NOT likely to gain much... simply because the stock ignitions DON,T put out enought energy to make much differance (ESPECIALLY OVER 5000rpm) where cutting back the plug tip tends to help the flame propogation at the higher rpms, your unlikely to see much gain at low rpms or low cylinder pressures where the cylinders are easyier to light off, remember the idea here is to expose the max amount of electric arc to the cylinders fuel air mix by unshrouding the arc, at low rpms and cylinder pressures thats not likely to make much of a differance

 

look at it this way

at 1500 rpm youll have aproximately .08 seconds between the plugs fireing, but at 6500rpm your down to about .018 or well under 20% of the time in seconds per strike and thats for a whole revolution, if you concider that the cylinder must ignite correctly in about 2-5 degrees of that 360 degrees youll soon see how important a good hot electric flame at the plug becomes, and the rediculusly short time available for it to ignite the mix in the cylinder

or put another way, if your not putting out a whole lot of voltage and amps at the correct time the small advantage gained by cutting back the eletrode is wasted effort because you won,t effectively light the charge anyway

as to indexing the plugs, Ive always tried to put the electrode on the plug facing up to gain max piston to valve clearance (the plugs in the picture are facing down)

many of the things you can do have little effect by themselfs but the total cumulative effect of all the minor mods adds up,making the differance of the few hundredths or tenths of a second you need to win a race!