Bosch Platinum Plugs

[Brian Warburton, c/o Turbo Systems Ltd]

Hi,

My name is Brian Warburton and I'm a new member to your conference.

My automotive background consists of 9 years consulting to Ford
Motor Company, Europe Automotive Operations (EAO) and North America
Automotive Operations (NAAO), on engine management systems with
particular specialisation on the control software for the EEC-iv
ECU. I designed and wrote a large amount of the software than runs
most of the current EAO cars and some of the NAAO cars and trucks.

After nine years I gave it all up end of last year and set up a
company making engine management systems for race and fast road-car
applications. We design both the hardware and the software in-house.

I made more money at Ford, but what the hell, I have more fun now !
 

OK, just to throw in my 10c worth on platinum tipped spark-plugs, I
used to run a 3.0l turbo-charged TVR that was a pig to start when
cold, a pig to drive during warm up unless you got into the boost
range real quick (which wasn't a good idea on a cold engine !) and
generally unpleasant until it was warm and really cooking. The
problem was caused by plug fouling when cold due to the plug
temperature range. In order to survive under boost you needed quite
cold-range plugs, but these fouled very easily when the engine was
cold. On the advice of an ex-Lotus F1 mechanic, I fitted a set of
NGK platinum tipped plugs (BP8ES ?) which totally transformed the
car at a cost in 1979 of $7/plug. No more plug fouling, and so
wonderful cold-start and drive. The advantages (he said) was that
the thin platinum tip reached and maintained operating temperature
a lot quicker than normal plugs and they were much less resistant
to fouling because of that. 

Only experience I've ever had with the Bosch versions was from a
collegue who tried them on a motorcycle a few years back and kept
having the platinum tips failling off. 

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Brian Warburton, "Still searching for the perfect curve....."
email: bwarb at turbo.win-uk.net
                                Advanced Automotive Electronics Ltd,
                                Van-Nuys, Scotlands Drive,
                                Farnham Common, England.  SL2-3ES
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