The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop NO MORE PINGING !! WAHOOOO

WALDO53, i got rid of my pinging in my 57.

last night after work I tried to retard the timing just a tad, but was still getting a slight pinging under load.

So I took out 1 plug, got the number off of it, champion RV15Y34, went to autozone and asked for one step colder, and they didn’t know what the heck I was talking about. LOL. i had a feeling they would not know.

So I came home and got champions number off the internet, 1-800-325-8886, and asked them about my plug.

He said the one I had was right in the middle of the heat range, with their being 7 ranges total, 3 higher and 3 lower then the one I had.

One step colder is part number RV91MC, so I called autozone, but they don’t carry it.

Had to call my local speed shop, horsepower sales, and they cross referenced the champion plug I needed one step colder to an NGK plug, NGK-UR5.

NGK’s plugs get colder the higher last number. So I then called autozone, and they had the NGK plug I needed, so I bought them last night and installed them this morning.

It did make a difference. No more pinging. It is running very good, actually the same as before, but without the pinging. I will put a few hundred miles on it and pull them again and see how they look.

thanks a bunch waldo...

leonard

That's great Leonard. Gotta keep that beautiful '57 happy!!

Too bad a guy can't just walk in to any FLAPS and expect the person behind the counter to know something about cars, but nowadays if a kid can punch a number into a computer he's a "parts man"!! We gotta do our own homework.

yep, we sure do gotta do our own homework.

like you said, all they know how to do is type it into a computer. even if you ask for a certain length fan belt, they want to know what year the truck is. LOL. just give me the length i want.

and with the help of this site, i have a buch of experts at my fingertips. LOL.

thanks again.

leonard

I learned something new, I did not know they made a differance as to temp? Can some one give us unknowing ones a lesson on this? Maybe even a writeup in the tech section?

Thanks
Jake

jake,
here are a couple articles on spark plug heat ranges and other info.

http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinfo/spark_plugs/overviewp2.asp

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/spark_plugs_tips/index.html

i always heard of different heat ranges, but never really paid much attention to them.

but from what i was told by the guy at my local speed shop, is that the higher performance an engine you have, say radical cam, high compression, power adder such as turbo, blower, or nitrous, thats when you want a "colder" spark plug.

my original champions were burning all the fuel off them, but seemed to be too "hot", so that is why i went one step "colder".

i will drive it a few hundred miles, pull a few plugs, and see how they look. if they are still burning all the fuel off them, showing no signs of fouling up, then i am good, since i now have no pinging under load.

hope this helps, but i am by no means an expert on this subject.

leonard

No expert here either, but I learned a few things about tuning my daily rides over the years.

Complete burn in the cylinders depends on a variety of factors, like spark timing, air/fuel ratio, fuel octane, distributor advance curve across rpm range, dynamic compression, temperature, altitude and valve timing events.

Reading spark plugs can point in the right direction when tuning.
With todays gas however it has gotten more difficult to get a good reading from the plugs.
Once you get everything in tune, tweaking the spark plug heat range and gap is pretty much the final step.

Besides:
Who needs fuel injection, sensors and computers to get ideal burn?
I love carbureted, mechanically timed early motors.
With the right gearing you get around 20 mpg or more and all the power you ever need.
No expertize required with the old cast iron machine - it's about having fun and learning something on the way.