how do these plugs look?

[chardhin]

Front cylinder:
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad13/chardhin/photo3-2.jpg
;http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad13/chardhin/photo4-1.jpg

Rear cylinder:
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad13/chardhin/photo1-2.jpg
http://i917.photobucket.com/albums/ad13/chardhin/photo2-2.jpg
Just pulled these out, They look clean no build up that is, the rear is whiter than the front wich leads be to believe its a little lean. Am I correct?

[wilbur]

They look like plugs.

How many miles?
What type of riding/RPM range?

Overall; not bad. I've seen worse.

[rabes56]

Look OK to me. Rear cylinder runs a bit hotter so it is not unusual for it to look a bit leaner. I use a colortune plug and try to get the rear cylinder spot on which usually has the front slightly richer. Are you having running issues?

[bitpusher]

they loo good to me. not black, not white - just right.

[chardhin]

4,000 miles since conversion, riding in the 3200-3600rpm. I have some pinging under mid- heavy acceleration. Put in colder plugs, of that doesnt work I will change jets.

[wedge]

4,000 miles since conversion, riding in the 3200-3600rpm. I have some pinging under mid- heavy acceleration. Put in colder plugs, of that doesnt work I will change jets.
The pinging must be very slight, and you must be aware of it and keeping it from getting too bad by limiting how fast you feed the throttle, because there is zero evidence of detonation on that plug. Color is a bit dark down inside, but then this is not from a clean cut so I will say that it does not appear to be black, but rather a (as Rocketman likes to call it) Kingsman charcoal color. You can live with that, and if that color does not get very light gray down inside near the bottom you are good. Looking at this, you are possibly correct in going to the #8 plugs. Color is hard to determine on the computer, but it looks like a slight tan is developing on the porcelain, which would indicate a good heat range for the plug. You may still get away with running colder, and we will find that out now. Watch for pepper looking specs on the porcelain, that is detonation, and if they get bad, it's time to start rethinking everything.

Did you say what ignition you are running? I'm thinking if it's a TC88 that you may want to back it up a slight bit and possibly get back to standard #7 plugs. But lets see how the new plugs color up, and how it feels first.

How long were the plugs in? The picture is not too clear, so I have to ask, am I seeing the center electrode rounding off? If so, you need to change the plugs more often. I run the cheaper ones like you just got and trash them every 5000 miles. It's just not worth running bad plugs when they are so cheap. Again, can't see for sure, so this may mean nothing.

[chardhin]

About four thousand or so miles on these plugs. I am rummin the tc88a with Ricco big bore hooligan map. I will put a good 100 miles on these plugs and check em out. You are correct, I dont let it ping if I can help it.

[xena]

On my Sporty the front cylinder has always
run a little leaner than the rear - just the opposite
of yours. I've run lots of different Maps and jets
and have never been able to completely eradicate
all the pinging especially when the outside temps
go up above 90 degrees.

[shotgun46]

They look Normal to me ! Mine always look the same

[chardhin]

On my Sporty the front cylinder has always
run a little leaner than the rear - just the opposite
of yours. I've run lots of different Maps and jets
and have never been able to completely eradicate
all the pinging especially when the outside temps
go up above 90 degrees.

over 90 degrees is defenatly when it pings. I think I am just gonna take it easy in this kinda heat.

[bitpusher]

over 90 degrees is defenatly when it pings. I think I am just gonna take it easy in this kinda heat.

it is 90* by 7am in my neck of the woods. I am always running 210-220* in the tank.

When I was getting tuned on the dyno we added a few degrees total advance and picked up 6lbs in my dreaded THeader dip but it introduced pretty consistent pinging on loaded acceleration. Think I need to pull about half that added advance back out and see if it helps.

point is: if this pinging is happening after a conversion you might just retard a degree or two and get rid of that pinging.

just my $.02 and likely not even worth that much.

[cc rider]

i thought the front cylinder usually runs hotter or leaner than the rear?

[Ireeman]

Chard it is so hard to read plugs now, with alcohol washing them out. Yes the 10% kills the readings. You really need a jewelers loupe and look for pitting on the electrode to see a lean condition.

[Ireeman]

Fuels now, just don't leave the tell tale anymore.

[Rico 05R]

4,000 miles since conversion, riding in the 3200-3600rpm. I have some pinging under mid- heavy acceleration. Put in colder plugs, of that doesnt work I will change jets.

We can adjust the mapping some Joe, if you like.

[XLXR]

As usual, there is very little that has been said about those plugs that I can agree with.

4,000 miles since conversion, riding in the 3200-3600rpm. I have some pinging under mid- heavy acceleration. Put in colder plugs, of that doesnt work I will change jets.

First of all, pinging, any pinging is bad, very bad. Retard timing first, to protect the pistons and valves, then start working on the other problems. Stick with standard heat range plugs until further tuning is completed.

Second, since you did not state the last throttle position, you cannot make any assumptions about needed jetting changes.

Third, jetting is done in relation to throttle positions, not rpm.

Fourth, 3,200 to 3,600 rpm is barely getting into the bottom of the power band. Full throttle at that low of an rpm is not really considered mid to hard acceleration. That doesn't even start to occur until you get over 4,000 rpm and full throttle.

Fifth, the black base ring indicates those plugs are too rich, at the last throttle setting. And they are a bit too rich to make any other assumptions about if the spark plug heat range is correct or not.

After retarding the timing, then you need to do proper plug readings at idle, mid throttle, and full throttle positions. Get the jetting closer, then see if you can advance timing again. Then worry about spark plug heat range.

This is the thread that describes how I jet carbs by reading plugs. It is buried in the Carb Tuning (and Jetting) Sticky Index.

Rubbermount_EVO Carb basics and jetting by reading the plugs (http://www.xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=506958)

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/500/medium/Harley_spark_plugs2_015.jpg

I took the picture with a few thousand miles on them, They now have 22,000 miles on them and still look the same. Gas mileage is still near 50 mpg. Can you guess which one is from the rear cylinder?

And, get some anti-seize on those threads.

[cc rider]

As usual, there is very little that has been said about those plugs that I can agree with.



First of all, pinging, any pinging is bad, very bad. Retard timing first, to protect the pistons and valves, then start working on the other problems. Stick with standard heat range plugs until further tuning is completed.

Second, since you did not state the last throttle position, you cannot make any assumptions about needed jetting changes.

Third, jetting is done in relation to throttle positions, not rpm.

Fourth, 3,200 to 3,600 rpm is barely getting into the bottom of the power band. Full throttle at that low of an rpm is not really considered mid to hard acceleration. That doesn't even start to occur until you get over 4,000 rpm and full throttle.

Fifth, the black base ring indicates those plugs are too rich, at the last throttle setting. And they are a bit too rich to make any other assumptions about if the spark plug heat range is correct or not.

After retarding the timing, then you need to do proper plug readings at idle, mid throttle, and full throttle positions. Get the jetting closer, then see if you can advance timing again. Then worry about spark plug heat range.

This is the thread that describes how I jet carbs by reading plugs. It is buried in the Carb Tuning (and Jetting) Sticky Index.

Rubbermount_EVO Carb basics and jetting by reading the plugs (http://www.xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=506958)

http://xlforum.net/photopost/data/500/medium/Harley_spark_plugs2_015.jpg

I took the picture with a few thousand miles on them, They now have 22,000 miles on them and still look the same. Gas mileage is still near 50 mpg. Can you guess which one is from the rear cylinder?

And, get some anti-seize on those threads.

the one on the right is the rear.....

[BWP 5p]

I will say that it does not appear to be black, but rather a (as Rocketman likes to call it) Kingsman charcoal color.


Louie-Lou-I.....oh baby............

Or did you mean KingsFORD charcoal black!:doh:D:D

[chardhin]

Ricco has worked on a new map for me, thankee sai!!

[xena]

Ricco has worked on a new map for me, thankee sai!!

Awesome! Let us know how it goes. If you get a chance I'd like to have a copy of the Map you're
using before Rico revamps it. I'm still not dialed
in 100% but getting close working with it myself.
I'll pm my email.

[XLXR]

Dynojet Power Vision (http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=1199290)

Read this thread about how hot air can be pulled off the cylinder heads and cause very high intake air temperatures. That may be at least part of your problem.

[Ireeman]

that's a good point xlxr, given his riding temps now.

[wedge]

Louie-Lou-I.....oh baby............

Or did you mean KingsFORD charcoal black!:doh:D:D

Oh yeah, the Kingsman trio.

[BWP 5p]

Louie-Lou-I.....oh baby............

Or did you mean KingsFORD charcoal black!:doh:D:D

Oh yeah, the Kingsman trio.

Bonehead::doh:doh:buddies:buddies

http://www.louielouie.org/ These guys are the Kingsman!