As I have spent more time with my muscle car drag racing friends (yes, there really are 1500 hp street cars), I have learned a LOT more than I ever would have suspected was possible. And, on a wider variety of subjects than I ever would have thought possible - intake design, NOS, timming, piston alloys, head design, transmissions, header design, and on and on. These guys are tech gurus when it comes to internal combustion. It is easy to dismiss them as rednecks, but I have never met a group of people who know more about engine design and extracting the absolute maximum power. I had a twelve year old kid telling me why hemispherical combustion chambers are more efficient than most other designs. Then he stated going on about exhaust port design. Jeez.
One of the really neat tricks I have picked up from these guys is reading spark plugs. I am sure all of you know the basics, but there is a lot more to it than I would have ever thought. The next time you are in a serious performance shop, pick up one of the little scopes designed for checking spark plugs. They are about six or seven inches long, with a light built in and look a bit like a really cheap kid's microscope. Most cost less than $20.
It is absolutely amazing what you can learn about your motor with one of these. My friend Billy checks his plugs after every run during our tunning sessions and can tell if the motor is rich or lean, by how much and if it is getting too hot or is running too cold. He instantly knows if the plug temperature is correct. It blew my mind one day when he looked at a plug and announced 'I rattled the pistons on that run.' Tore the motor open the next day and it was EXACTLY as he had described.
I knew you could check for tiny little fragments of metal, but I had no idea the SHAPES of the little fragments could tell you how they got there and what was happening inside the motor. It is really astonishing what you can figure out based on the size, how jagged they are or how smooth they are, etc. Shards mean one thing, little molten spheres mean something completely different.
This is a really neat thing to know if you run your car hard. You can pull a couple of plugs after a hard track session or a drag run and know what is really going on in your motor.
Just thought I'd share.
[This message has been edited by David (edited 10 August 2001).]
One of the really neat tricks I have picked up from these guys is reading spark plugs. I am sure all of you know the basics, but there is a lot more to it than I would have ever thought. The next time you are in a serious performance shop, pick up one of the little scopes designed for checking spark plugs. They are about six or seven inches long, with a light built in and look a bit like a really cheap kid's microscope. Most cost less than $20.
It is absolutely amazing what you can learn about your motor with one of these. My friend Billy checks his plugs after every run during our tunning sessions and can tell if the motor is rich or lean, by how much and if it is getting too hot or is running too cold. He instantly knows if the plug temperature is correct. It blew my mind one day when he looked at a plug and announced 'I rattled the pistons on that run.' Tore the motor open the next day and it was EXACTLY as he had described.
I knew you could check for tiny little fragments of metal, but I had no idea the SHAPES of the little fragments could tell you how they got there and what was happening inside the motor. It is really astonishing what you can figure out based on the size, how jagged they are or how smooth they are, etc. Shards mean one thing, little molten spheres mean something completely different.
This is a really neat thing to know if you run your car hard. You can pull a couple of plugs after a hard track session or a drag run and know what is really going on in your motor.
Just thought I'd share.
[This message has been edited by David (edited 10 August 2001).]
