Whatever! he's still not going to lose 8 mpg.

 

keep the plug gap and install a MSD-6A & master blaster 3 coil
that would get you would get a cleaner burn
i am running .50 on my XP plugs with a MSD-6A & master blaster 3 coil

 

the factory recommends .40 on the 97.... mine is put at .35 anyways, but .40 is what Dodge had stamped on.

 

ive been looking at the MSD-6A and a blaster coil for some time now looks cool
what are the performance benefits of those and where would a good place to purchase it
ive looked a little but not a lot of luck on that one.
Ive also heard they burn up the wires and plugs rather quickly, any truth to this

 

i believe you get 3 spark under 3000 rpm and will fire for 20 degrees above that
yes your cap and rotor will wear a little faster because more energy is passing in them at each firing but they should last a good while so do not worry about that
i got mine from craiglist
you will notice the a different sound once you install it and once the computer adjust to the new stronger spark maybe 1 more mpg and a cleaner burn
just make sure you open the spark up
i set my XP plugs to .50 with good results
the factory had it set at .30 from looking at sticker in the engine bay

 

If you use the round gapper, you want the front edge to go to the number you want. I have a round one, and the marks are very clear and easy to read...it has never failed me. But to answer your question, you gapped too high. Just pull the plugs and re-gap them. As soon as the front edge of the plug touches the .040 mark, stop. Your rear edge will be at about the .037 mark (or so). You just used the wrong edge for reference...no big deal.

Also, I don't really see going .007 too much causing you to lose 8 mpg...not to say it's impossible. I get about 11 mpg city all the time. I just recently re-gapped my plugs, and they had gone from .040 to .045 after putting about 11K miles on them, but I didn't really notice much mpg difference.

 

Multi Spark Discharge , they key setup is .05 to .010 over stock gap , butttt it will depends on the reading on the plug , You can not use stock plug wires when MSD box is in use , MSD WIRES , TAYLOR WIRES , MSD SF WIRES , 8mm , 8.5 mm , also no special spark plug is needed , matter of fact msd perfers you use a copper plug of your choice , and maybe a slight cooler plug if ping is notice ..
The idea is to gap the plug till you notice a change in performance ..
for newer trucks you can use the stock replacement msd coil , then you will need the accel adapter plug then you can get the msd wiring harness to hook the coil and msd box toghter with out any cutting (plug and play) ..

 

i am not sure if it is totally true that you can not use stock wires and cap.
i installed new stock wires with cap and rotor with when i installed my MSD-6A box it been 5000 miles with no problems.
yes the cap and rotor will wear a little faster because of the higher voltage but not that fast.
also copper is good for plugs but i had better results with Autolite XP i guess is was because of the smaller electrode
both plugs i used had the same gap of .50