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| | | | Joined: Mar 2021 Posts: 258 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2021 Posts: 258 | I’ve seen videos where they state that drilling a hole in the electrode provides a better directed spark and it achieves a more effective combustion. Opinion please.
Last edited by Gdads51; 06/23/2026 1:41 PM. Reason: add detail to title
| | | | | Joined: Oct 2021 Posts: 6,845 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Oct 2021 Posts: 6,845 | Sounds like snake oil to me.
If it made any sort of measurable improvement, spark plug makers and performance parts makers would already be selling them.
1950 Chevrolet 3100 (Ol' Roy)
1939 Packard Standard Eight Coupe (The Phantom) | 1956 Cadillac Coupe de Ville (The Bismarck) | 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 coupe |1966 Ford Mustang (Little Red) | 1969 Pontiac GTO (The Dishpit) I 1979 Ford F-100 | 1976 Ford F-150 (Big Red) | 1995 Ford F-150 (Newt)
| | | | | Joined: Sep 2020 Posts: 451 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Sep 2020 Posts: 451 | Verifiable combustion improvement is achieved by upgrading to a (GM style) HEI, where plug gap almost doubles going out to .060.
Short of that I'm skeptical (and that’s being kind).
Chuck
Hank: 46 Chev 1/2ton shortbed
2023 Miata RF Club
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2021 Posts: 258 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2021 Posts: 258 | Thanks for the response. I thought “too that’s snake oil.” I’ll stick with the known old techniques .
Ive read a lo about HEI configuration and though I’ve been tempted I’ve backed away because of all the changes that go along with it. | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,825 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,825 | Sounds sort of like the "Fire Injector" plugs that J.C. Whitney used to sell about 50 years ago- - - - -the ones with six (Count 'Em!") ground electrodes. I believe the marketing director for the company that made those things was P.T. Barnum!
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Mar 2021 Posts: 258 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Mar 2021 Posts: 258 | Recollecting my years in aviation, I must say that old piston engines all the way to radial engines used multi electrode, some 2 others 3 electrode. Probably due to high compression. | | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,825 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,825 | I seem to remember a special gap-setting fixture for those aircraft plugs- - - -one that used a cone-shaped device to move all the ground tabs in or out equally. The 28 cylinder radial engines on the big planes had 56 spark plugs- - - - -two per cylinder, and two complete magneto systems. 224 plugs on a 4 engine plane!
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2019 Posts: 4,486 AD Addict & Tinkerer | | AD Addict & Tinkerer Joined: Feb 2019 Posts: 4,486 | This thread is starting to get way off of stovebolt engines. Time to rope it in guys!
Phil Moderator, The Engine Shop, Interiors and Project Journals1952 Chevrolet 3100, Three on the Tree, 4:11 torque tube Updated to: ‘59 235 w/hydraulic lifters, 12v w/alternator, HEI, PCV and Power front Disc BrakesProject JournalsStovebolt Gallery Forum | | | | | Joined: Feb 2000 Posts: 5,224 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Feb 2000 Posts: 5,224 | The spark or arc, will jump to the closest ground it can find, doesn't matter how many grounds you have around the electrode, it will go to the closest. If you drill a hole in the ground, the arc will jump around the opening on the sharp edges, it will never go through the hole. All the hole will do is introduce a slightly extra bit of mixture at the arc.
Indexing the plugs so the open side of the ground is facing the chamber will do more good then a hole will, but you will never see the gains of your hard work indexing them on a truck.
I've run lots of plugs and distributors on my machine, I've never seen the arc change with different plugs. | | | | | Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 2,195 Insomniac | | Insomniac Joined: Jul 2000 Posts: 2,195 | Drill a hole in the electrode? Too much work for me!
NGK makes "V power" plugs where the electrode has a groove. They make many claims about how they increase performance. I'm skeptical...
However, if one of you 'bolters make YouTube videos, NGK might send you a set so you can make a review.
Gord 🇨🇦
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1954 1/2 ton 235 4 speed
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