Sand blasting plugs?

[jcisworthy]

https://www.harborfreight.com/pneumatic ... 32860.html

[hoffman900]

Are plugs really so expensive in the grand scheme of racing cars that you need to do this?

[Schurkey]

Depends on how often the plugs foul.

If you're replacing plugs often, the expense adds up. Yes, the real solution is to fix the oil burning, and get the tune corrected. I wouldn't let blasting the plugs stand between me and a running engine, though.

[Cougar5.0]

IMG_20171002_141919.jpg

I don't remember it being 12 volt powered, but this is the one I used back in the day...

[Krooser]

When at Great Lakes Dragaway "tuning" my friends '52 Mercury (that he borrowed from his grandfather) my hot setup included a set of "rebuilt" spark plugs from Midwest Auto Supply...circa 1964.

[Schurkey]

When at Great Lakes Dragaway "tuning" my friends '52 Mercury (that he borrowed from his grandfather) my hot setup included a set of "rebuilt" spark plugs from Midwest Auto Supply...circa 1964.

I remember K-Mart selling "rebuilt" plugs and "re-refined" motor oil when I was in High School.

[Krooser]

I used the 15 cent rerefined oil in my '57 Olds after both heads cracked and pumped oil on I the

combustion chambers... To the tune of 5 qts per day!

[Schurkey]

Are plugs really so expensive in the grand scheme of racing cars that you need to do this?

In the aviation world they run from $30. to $122. per spark plug. Is it worth cleaning them?

...and two plugs in each cylinder, required by FAA regulations.

[andyf]

Brand new NGK plugs are $1.97 each. Sand blasting plugs seems to be something that old men who collect tin foil and rubber bands would do. I know people like that, they save every paper bag from the grocery store and have boxes of old newspapers in their garage. Not my style but whatever turns your crank..........

[mk e]

Brand new NGK plugs are $1.97 each.

When the store is open and they are in stock. Also it takes about 5-10 minutes to blast and clean a set of plugs, the nearest store to me is 20 minutes one way, and they stock 2 of the plugs that fit my engine that needs 12....and ngk no longer makes them at all so the couple sets of nkgs I have are all there is. I can get autolite on-line in 3-4 days.

There are times when it makes sense to clean plugs

[David Redszus]

There are times when it makes sense to clean plugs.

Yes, it does. Some of our Bosch racing plug sell for $25-$37 each and are seldom readily available.

But, a spark plug should retain its sharp electrode edges after cleaning. If sand or glass bead is used, those edges will become rounded. Since the object is carbon removal, a softer blasting material should be used that will not round off electrode edges.

Consider soda blasting, plastic media or walnut shells.

[jeff swisher]

I was going to say soda blast them.

Now I used to use a soft wire wheel on a bench grinder then I went to the air powered bag spark plug cleaner.
It left the media deep in the plug.
Take a totaled plug and blast it clean with that bag cleaner.. then blow it clean with air.

Now tap it on the table top and see how much media you tap out of it.

I now use a siphon feed parts cleaning gun with the pickup hose in a bucket of Hot water with baking soda in it that I get from the local grocery store.

Cleans plugs and carburetors and carb parts up very quickly without removing material..

[andyf]

Spark plugs cost $16 a set and last 50K miles or more if the engine is tuned correctly. So no, I don't bother to blast them. After using the same plugs for 5 years I just throw them away and replace them.

[jeff swisher]

I did an experiment back in the 1980's through the 1990's.
I had an 82 ford mustang inline 6 cylinder carbureted NO OD it had an automatic C5 trans.
27 MPG is what it got city was 24.On a bad day.

I delivered Pizza with it and also hauled scrap iron and mowed 75 yards a month with it.
To say the least i put miles on this car.
I retired it with 376,000 miles..The spot welds came out of the floor pan and sway bar mounts..Of course i fixed that a couple times.. it just fell apart.

The engine trans and rear end were fine..I gave them to a buddy and kept the front clip for another friend and rack and pinion off of it went onto my 78 Nova.

SPAEK PLUGS were original Motorcraft..The experiment was to see how long they would last.
I would clean and reuse them..Never failed a single plug.

I will say driving in the winter months was a bear. It no longer had enough friction to warm the coolant in the engine. Cranking compression was 200 PSI

I had a ford flex fan on it and you could turn the engine over by turning the fan with your pinky finger.
I installed a single core radiator and placed cardboard in front of it still on a sleeting day you could not warm the windsheild.
I would bend the fan blades almost straight in the winter time. Not much help.

Love those engines.

[mk e]

Spark plugs cost $16 a set and last 50K miles or more if the engine is tuned correctly. So no, I don't bother to blast them. After using the same plugs for 5 years I just throw them away and replace them.

Plus they are pretty bunt at that point, trash.

But I has just having a problem that turned out to be a combination o f an error I made on't the way the way applied the calculated dwell time and a second error in understanding exactly what a set of semi-smart coils were during.....and I gas fouled the plugs 10 or 12 times before I found and sorted it. Cleaning them saved me about $500 and a lot of lost time. Once the problem was fix I replaced them with new, plated, sharp edge plugs.

There are times when cleaning plugs makes sense, there are times when it doesn't.