Charon
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Copied from the MCNews forum in a discussion on iridium spark plugs.
"Iridium and Platinum tips on spark plugs do one thing, and one thing only. Wear longer. Period.
"Every time a spark is fired in the gap, it ionizes a small amount of surface metal. Rare metals simply lose less, enabling the gap to remain a consistant size for a longer period of time.
"They do not, and will not: Cure ills, get better gas mileage, run smoother, etc., or any of the other crapola in the sales brochures(where they don't tell you that the gains seen were compared to used up plugs).
"Multi-tip plugs are the same story, but they add multiple surfaces to spread the wear around.
"Do they work? Sure, but no "better" than any other plug...they just may do it for longer. Of course, fouling is the #1 reason plugs fail anyway, and it doesn't matter what kind of plug it is(for the most part) -so don't count on them outliving the bike either.
"Resistance wires or no? Depends on the coils and module/point setup. The secondary wire resistance actually works to let the spark build in voltage, then arc the gap, and bleed off some of that voltage after arc. Running solid core wires where one should have resistance core, will cook the plugs/coils/module/points. Maybe fast, maybe slow, but something will pay the price."
I realize that doesn't help with a low-cost source. But it might make you wonder whether the iridium plugs are worth the money in the first place.
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