Classic plugs

To those few of us that still run RRC V8's I thought I would post my recent experience with my '87 Vogue, just in case owners of these fine cars are suffering poor running.

Mine has always been been totally reliable throughout the 14+ years I've owned it, but earlier this week I went to use the car & that's when things went t..ts up.
The old girl fired straight away, but within seconds started running so rough that it sounded like was running on only half the cylinders & that developed into backfires whenever I tried to rev. the engine. What really threw me was that I had returned from a journey in the car only two days before & right up to shut-down the engine ran perfectly .. so what the hell could have happened whilst the car was idle for a couple of days?

The answer, supplied by an independent I have only just started using, spark plugs!
When he offered to come over (on a Sunday morning) with a set to try I agreed, but never thought for a single moment that would solve the problem as the original Champions had only done 8k.


But to my complete surprise a new set of NGK plugs later & presto, smooth running restored followed by a good run to clear the system
The guy reckoned that todays plugs have a tendency to 'time expire' & when I checked my records it turned out the Champs. were fitted 7 years ago.
Hope this is useful to some owners.

Nice report kiddo.
I've a client who runs a saab 93 2.0t,
Apart from a blown turbo and failed coil packs there was a misfire under load in an overtaking situation. The plugs on the spec sheet are set to 0.80, we closed the gap after a bit of research to 0.75 and bingo, the difference was night and day.
Just goes to show just how important these little lightning rods are