Autolite 3923 coppers in my '05 "J" engine at 50,000 miles. Side gapped the plugs http://performanceunlimited.com/docu...degapping.html

The OEM Champion platinums looked fine but I did experience a smoother idle with the Autolites.

Note: I cooked the motor at about 25,000 miles one day for about a minute and had to have a complete valve job due to low compression issues which produced a nasty rough idle. New OEM plugs were installed at that time. It still had a little bit of a rough idle but better.

After installing the Autolites with side gapping, the idle smoothed out real nice. Performance felt the same and MPG increased about 1MPG.

56,000 now and running fine.

Now, I didn't do this because it's time consuming but another neat trick that racers use is indexing the side gap directly toward the center of the combustion chamber. http://dodgeram.org/tech/gas/spark_p...0_indexing.htm

 

If you dont mind explaining, howd you cook the motor?

And I have dealt with indexing the plugs. To put it into Layman's terms for others that havent heard of it, what he means is you position the electrode gap of the plug so that its facing towards the center of the piston. Its supposed to give less resistance to the flow/combustion actions thus resulting in increase hp and efficiency. Usually you have to use washers and such to get it to be relatively close.

Heres a picture of a small engine head with the indexing down:

 

I put an additive in the coolant without reading the owners manual and the fine print on the additive bottle which clearly stated "don't use with OEM Dodge coolant".

Over a couple thousand miles the entire cooling system developed a thin scale that prevented proper heat transfer. I was off-roading at about 5,000 feet on a hot day and the temp gauge hit the red line and shut down the engine.

I was lucky. After flushing the cooling system several times with yet another bottle of stuff with fine print; I managed to get all the scale out but a head gasket developed a leak tween 2 cylinders.

Luckier still. The dealership repaired it (valve job on both heads) UNDER WARRANTY.

 

Alright, so I have a mechanic helping me put in new plugs next weekend. So now which plugs to get? I run 93 Octane with the SC 91 tune, and I want to be able to switch back to 87 octane with the stock tune at any time and I want no risk of pre-det in either application.
The options I have looked over are:
E3.48 Plugs for $6.99 (Recommended by E3 for the 4.7L engine NON-H.O.)
E3.64 Plugs for $6.99 (Recommended by E3 for the 4.7L H.O.)
Autolite Copper Core .040 gap Plugs for $1.79
Autolite Xtreme Performance .040 gap Plugs for $6.59
Champion Copper Core .040 gap Plgus for $1.99
NGK V-Power .044 gap Plugs for $1.99

Alright, so which plugs would you guys go with for my application with a performance tune, exhaust and intake? I dont want to say cost doesnt matter, but I dont mind spending the extra money if there is a difference performace wise. My biggest concern is that there is no pre-detonation no matter which grade of fuel I run. And as a side note, I have the regular 4.7 non-H.O. motor in my truck.

 

Mind telling us which additive?

 

What did you add. I added Water Wetter to mine and seems to be fine

 

Don't remember the brand but it was a pint or quart size container that claimed to dissipate heat better than the standard 50/50 coolant mix.

Bought it at an auto parts store.

There may be other brands that mix with the Dodge coolant.

JUST BE SURE TO READ the fine print.

 

Yeah, I'd like an answer to this as well. A friend of mine, who is a mechanic, claims the Autolites are junk. He suggests the OEM Champion or NGK. OF course, he isn't much of a Ford guy either...

My engine? 4.7 HO. I have the K&N Mass cold intake mod, the bored out throttle body, and then the Flowmaster 40 series 1 to 2 exhaust. Simple and easy mods to the truck. My engine has around 82K on it right now. Plugs have nver been changed or out for inspection, as far as I know. I bought it with 4.5k almost three years ago.

So, feedback is needed as the plugs get changed this Thursday, whether they like it or not.

 

hwcurtice, I emailed E3 about their plugs and they said any modifications that I have done shouldnt affect the heat requirement of the plug. I think Im going to go with this brand as people have had luck with them, so Im going to try them out in the size they recommend for my engine. Im installing them on Saturday so Ill let everyone know. In a way Im hoping my plugs havent been changed ever (the truck has 100k on it) because that way I should notice a nice improvment with new plugs.

 

Chinese Spark plugs
A visit inside a state of the art spark plug factory in China