I'm thinking of changing the plugs to iridium and go one step colder at the same time.

I looked at www.sparkplugs.com and saw that they are gapped at 0.30 inches. are these need to be capped? or is it unncessary and simply needs to be installed?

 

Get the brisk one step colder from alta...works really really well for me. I had the ones you are looking at and I couldnt get my pinging to go away here in Arizona when the temps got above 110. I gapped the NGK's to .044 then brought it down to .032 and still had bad bad pinging issues with 91 octane. I switched to the brisks one step colder and it helped a lot. Not gone but helped. Now with the temps in the 70's and 80's the brisks are working flawlessly

 

ah i see, these don't require gapping right?

i'll try those set. thanks!

 

In the middle of summer I was having some missfire issues. 2 of the 4 denso 1 step colder plugs were totally missing the electrode...as in no electrode at all. I then swapped out to the BRK7EIX's and I am thinking the were pre-gapped at around .032 or so??? I did a search here and found that .044 or so was a factory gap. The new NGK's one step colder gapped at .044 solved my missfire issues but the piging was bad. I then got in touch with Jan (RMW) he said that he gaps at .028 one step colder NGK. I regapped at .028 and it helped a little. I then talked with Alta and they sent me the Brisk one step colder. They told me that they would set the gap and just to put them in. They worked better than the NGK one step colder for my pinging issues. I still had pinging issues but I think that is what I get for having a pullied cooper and living in a state that only serves 91 octane and day time temps in the 115's and night time lows in the low 90's for 4 months straght. I think the brisks are what Jan of RMW is using now. I think the Brisk plugs are very good and have a huge forced induction mustang (cobra, GT500, Kenne Bell, etc.) following so they have been proven in HP figures 3 and 4 times what a modded Cooper S puts down.

 

Don't assume single prong plugs are pre-gapped correctly out of the box, always varify each plug's gap with a wire gauge and adjust if needed.

 

go look at the brisk plugs. if you are not heavely modded look to the "lambo" plugs. best idea is to send email to brisk for proper match.

 

so if i were to go NGK,

which one is the one to get between BKR7EIX-11 (0.44 gap), and BKR7EIX (0.30 gap)?

 

Both are the same except for the gap. I had the NGK iridium before and gapped it at 0.032 inch. Watch out for the tip that erodes over time. That's the reason why I switch to NGK JCW 4 prong plugs. I'll also try the Brisk next time.

 

as others mentioned the electrode errodes pretty quickly...

If you're still getting ping with new plugs and the like, try some Sea-Foam to clean the carbon out of the combustion chambers. Worked wonders for me....

Matt

 

where did you put the seafoam? Did you put it directly into your engine via the oil filler tube, or in the gas tank, or both? I have seen this on you tube and it looks very intersting.

 

I have used the IK-22 denso plugs for 3 years and they work great. Last about 10,000 miles. No pings or knocks.

 

I am not sure how long the denso IK-22's were on my car but, my #1 and #3 plugs had absolutely no electrode whatsoever and the #2 and #5 had blow by that scortched the insulator? I am using the Brisks with no problems.

 

jtack -- is there only one recommended BRISK plug for the MINI? Or do they offer "colder" plugs, too. I went to the "HALO" web site, and it looks like a smart idea. Did you go with the one recommended by their "Spark Plug Selector" feature, or a step "colder"?

Thanks.

 

Here is the link to where I got mine:

http://www.altaminiperformance.com/p...ng-Spark-Plugs

I used the DR12S which is for a pullied MCS 15% or greater.

Adam gapped them for me.

 

Thanks!!

 

if you do this don't drive very hard and the change oil relatively quickly. This is to clean gunk out of the pan and passeges. But it does thin the oil for sure.

I've added it to the tank, to do a mild clean of the injectors and the fuel system. Best results is to suck it straight into the intake path. I've used a rubber hose sucking it into the intake track post-IC using an IC boot I use for pressure and temp testing. There are lots of places where you can get intake vacuum. Many have had good luck with the tube that goes to the brake booster..... You'll need two people. When the stuff is sucked in, the revs will drop, so the person in the car will have to feather the throttle. Suck about 1/2 a bottle into the engine and shut it off immidiatly. Let it soak for 15-30 minutes then fire it up and watch all the smoke come out of the exhaust pipe!

The idea is that the soak time loosens the harder deposits (back of valves, piston tops and combustion chamber) and needs some time to work.


On the Densos, they are great when new, but the tip changes faster than any plug I"ve ever used. The harder you drive them the faster it happens. First there is a rapid change as the tip of the electrode rounds, then the changes are slow, then they're fast as the tips really go to hell. If you change plugs all the time, they're fine, but they will never be 100,000 mile plugs at all.

Matt

 

You've got a 5 cyl Mini?

 

I don't want to scare anyone running Iridium plugs, but a very well respected tuner here in Italy says that they don't work well on our engine because the stock plugs are of the planar type so the electrode is on the same level with the insulator while with the Iridium plugs the electrode is 3 or 4 mm into the combustion chamber, which in his opinion can cause the electrode to melt and fall into the cylinder. And in fact, I know of at least one case when this happened...believe me that the results weren't pretty.

He says he likes the Iridium plugs very much but they simply aren't good for our engine, and to go with the JCW plugs only if the car is very modded.

In his opinion the stock plugs are already at top level so there's no need to go with colder ones if not in very particular cases.

 

but you know, a lot of people are reporting positive things (less pinging, knocking, better performance) after switching to colder plugs after i.e. pulley install.

 

Well, I'm just reporting what he said on the matter. He says that the colder ones might have problems on cold starts or at idle, also he says that if the car isn't modded enough to require colder plugs, they won't reach the necessary temperature to auto-clean themselves at their operation temperature because there's no enough heat in the engine to keep them at that temp.

A colder plug means that it can dissipate heat faster so if there's no enough heat it will not reach the needed temp to burn the combustion residuals that may deposit on it.

Again, I'm only reporting what he said. As for me, I'm going to stick with the stock plugs, also because I've got a non-S Cooper so...

EDIT: Just to clarify, he didn't say all of above regarding my car, but about a Cooper S.