Spark Plug Brand Recommendations for 308's

Dave I'm sure most will say that NGK are the choice.Being that your car is injected probably NGK BPES7 or BPEY7.I was using BPEY6 on the GT4 as anything colder would foul

 

NGK

I prefer to use the smaller, higher-melting-temperature-electrode-material designs (paladium, platinum, iridium) just to take fouling further out of the picture, and like the NGK exposed center electrode design over the Bosch "buried" center electrode design. (Admittedly, fouling isn't as much of an issue on an injected car vs a carbed car, but, I believe, all modern injected F use this newer material plug technology.)

 

I have used the NGK Iridium's on my Alfa 105 which was prone to fouling and now also in my 76 carbed 308 which doesn't foul normally at all.
They work just fine and last very well. Go for it!

Steve

 

I feel exactly the same way - used Champions on every engine I owned or built. But when I tried to find the Champions for my 328 I found that the plugs that were in the car (and shown in the owners manual) - Champion A6G - were not available. Two local shops tried to cross-reference them to a newer Champion and couldn't find any listing for an A6G at all. Then, in a discussion with Richard at Radcliffe Motorcar, he told me that Champion had trouble lately with disintegrating porcelan insulators which means you can end up with pieces of it flying around in the cylinder.

So they don't use Champions for any cars they service unless the owner specifically states that they must be installed and Richard advises them against it. They use NGKs. So, armed with that info and based on Richard's recommendation, I installed NGK DR8ES when I pulled the old A6Gs.

FWIW, the plugs for the 308 and 328 have different thread sizes and are not in any way interchangable. The 308/328Parts cross reference guide on this site does not identify that and lists plugs under "308/328" implying (to me at least) that they are for either engine but they don't fit a 328.

 

Yes and the NGK spark plug that are in the 328 also require an 18mm spark plug socket,,I had to buy one as its not that common

 

+1 on NGK. I've used them in the 308 for years, and they perform perfectly. Especially now, with the Electromotive system, the NGKs work well, don't foul and provide nice performance over the full range.

 

Which NGK model number do you use?

 

N G K bpr7eix Iridium is what I use in my carb and injected cars.

I've had trouble with others.

 

I have had no issues with NGK in my 1980 GTBi.

 

Another vote for NGK.

Don't know alot about plugs but just know every time i tried to go cheep and get either a set of plugs or wires on my Jap cars that weren't NGK i had problems.


Just last week i bought a non NGK set trying to save a few bucks for my old Z car. Two of the boots wouldnt stay on the distributer and another would arc and shock me if i got my finger near it. I went back to Autozone and put on the NGK plug set and all is good.

I've got the NGK iridiums on my 308 2vi and they haven't fouled in 3 years now. My philosophy is that the Japs engineer and build as well as the Germans without the reliability problems and at a lower price.

 

Any recommendation for QV's? I like to use Iridium but which one?

 

BPR7EIX work fine for both injected and carbureted. I still use standard BP6ES in my '76. It is my understand that the iridium plugs require less voltage to fire, and when they do fire the spark is consistently 'fatter'.

 

THere is no difference in the way ANY spark plug fires. The reason for plat/gold/iridium is that they wear longer and keep the car within emissions requirements with less maintenance. THat's why they were developed. They do not, despite what some manufacturer might claim, produce the slightest difference in power or efficiency over a standard plug of the same gap. The voltage needed is determined by the gap; it takes the same voltage to jump a .050 (or whatever) gap with an iridium plug as it does with a standard plug. The same voltage would jump the same gap between two wired-up 10 penny nails just as well.

Of course, having a plug that lasts a lot longer is a good thing but they don't do anything other than that. It is fair to say, however, that an iridium plug with 20k miles may produce more power than a standard plug with 20k miles simply because the gap on the standard plug will have eroded to much wider than spec and may cause misfiring if the coil can't generate enough power to fire across that gap.

 

fwiw, i get NGK for my 328 at a local motorcycle shop. Seems to be more of a bike plug
than in use on cars.

 

I've not had good luck with the Bosch platinums at all - they seem to foul and deteriorate quickly. The regular Bosch copper seems fine however. NGKs are great (seems to be the consensus) and I've also had good luck with Champions. Even Autolite is a fine basic plug and has never let me down (use them in my GT40).

 

As I said, I don't like the "buried" center electrode design on their Platinum plugs where the end of the ceramic insulator is coplanar with the end of the center electrode.

Bosch Platinum example
(this is the silly 4-prong design, but the single side electrode Bosch design has the same "buried" center electrode):
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NGK Platinum example:
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I wouldn't put a multiple electrode plug like that Bosch on a lawnmower. It shrouds the mixture from the spark and so it receives a less efficient light-off and reduced cooling from the incoming air mixture. Somebody (probably a marketing guy) sat at a desk and designed it but never bothered to actually use it in an engine.

I said in an earlier post that all plugs would fire the same way...but that applied to standard single electrode plugs. That thing and similar products from other manufacturers have no business being produced at all. I also noted earlier that some engines react quite well to spark plug indexing which is not possible with this.

 

Here's a GREAT example of the crap one reads about spark plugs. It is a direct quote from a website; pay particular attention to the second sentence which is totally, completely, and absolutely incorrect. But I guess it helps sell spark plugs so lying about the laws of physics is ok (as it is for most performance-oriented bolt-on parts). It is on this website: http://www.motorcycleproshop.com/acc/ngk.asp:

"VX Platinum Spark Plugs are an extension of the successful Fine Wire Spark Plug line, and are made with the same superior manufacturing quality NGK has maintained for years.

A basic property of electricity is that it is easier to push a current through a thin wire (which offers less resistance) than a thick wire."

 

Hey Maurice, I was looking up these NGK numbers to see if I could get a set "NGK BPES7 or BPEY7" at my local auto parts store (NAPA) but neither numbers came up in his computer. He did find NGK BP7ES. Is this the number you were referring too? I need to get a new set of plugs and NGK seems to be the brand of choice here on the chat!

Thanks

Chris

 

AutoZone is selling the NGK Iridiums for $2.99 a plug.

Ciao,
George

 

Standard NGK's ...no problems on ANY of my cars from the past..Porsche, Saab 16T , Ferrari or even my current work truck, a Volvo 850

 

Chris my aploogy but the plugs are NGK BP7ES,the only difference betwen the 7ES and 7EY is the tip.The tip on the EY has a groove in it supposedly to help prevent fouling,,or so the NGK rep told me.

 

Thanks for taking the time to look that up, I'm off to get some plugs!