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I recently purchased a nice m20e with all the mods and nice radios. Last weekend I decided to uncowl the beast as I cannot leave anything alone. I found a few items that needed some general tinkering with, but everything looked average for its age. One item that appeared to need some attention were the Ignition leads(they appear to be the original one's). I'm sure the leads do not need replacement at this time, but I think it would be a good idea. Does anyone know of a good source for new ones that will not break the bank?

12 Tempest UREB36S fine Wire plugs. All brand new and sealed with exception of one package. Opened up first one then realized I had bought the wrong plugs. Located east of DFW will accept cash or paypalPrice is $700 shipped CONUS oboThese were $920 new. Just trying to recoup some money

So a mechanic serviced my plane when it wouldn't start and stranded me. Turned out to be a loose connection to starter switch. In the process of diagnosing, he pulled the bottom #2 and #4 plugs from my O-360-A1D. I flew home with no problems, but then got a call the next day from the mechanic wondering if he'd forgotten to put copper gaskets on the two plugs. Sure enough, they were missing on #2 and #4 when I pulled all my bottom plugs today. I'm going to replace my spark plugs for safe measure- they may have overheated since the gasket serves heat transfer as well as sealing under compression, and the plugs would have protruded too far into the cylinder. My questions: 1. Is there any real damage to my engine from this?? The threads in the cylinder heads looked ok to my eye. 2. What spark plugs should I use? Is is reasonable to use Tempest UREM37BYs? I am planning to replace all 8 even though they have only 200hrs. Regarding the latter question, my reasoning is as follows: I pulled Champion REM40E massive plugs from the bottom - all failed resistance test. I'd requested my shop resistance test a few weeks ago at annual but they blew me off. Oddly they also rotated these plugs to the bottom, and put my Champion fine wires on top- makes no sense at all. I'd expect the fine wires to have the same resistance problem. So I'm thinking of replacing all with Tempest UREM37BYs. People with hot running C models like mine have reported cooler temps in other threads by using these plugs. Alternately I could spend the money to put in long-lasting Tempest fine wires, but these seem harder to maintain with their delicate electrodes and sensitivity to sand-blasting. Given recent experiences, I'm all about doing my own spark plug maintenance going forward.

Had to abort a flight due to cyl 6 EGT going to zero on mag check. Turned out to be not a fouled plug , but a defective Champion plug on the M20K, TSIO 360LB. 2 months ago all plugs checked OK at annual. After engine rebuild 500 hrs ago, have had to replace 8/12 plugs. Have read a lot of negative posts and press on the Champion plugs going bad with ultra high resistance. This plug had over 12K ohms, the others 5K and below. This am changing all plugs to Tempest on next oil change in May. Strongly considering the Tempest fine wire. Although 3X as much, they are said to last the TBO life of the engine. The other indirect financial consideration is the cost of scrubbing a mission due to one out of 12 bad plugs. If the failure factor of massive electrode plugs are that much higher than fine wire, the dispatch reliability is probably worth the extra $600 over the next 1000 hrs. Anyone with experience with this engine and fine wire plugs and/or Tempest v Champion, please chime in.

The last 30-40 hours, I've been dealing with a plug that kept fouling. Each time I did a mag check, one of the plugs on the left mag was causing an excessive drop and roughness. A high power burn always cleared it, but then after takeoff, a "little roughness" would set in again. Hard leaning, then enricheing would smooth things out, but it was getting to be a nuisance. I only had about 400 hours on the plugs. I tried inspecting, cleaning, gap-checking, etc. Each time, just a waste of time. No long-term improvement. It was one of the four plugs, but which one? So.....I bit the bullet, went down to Aircraft Spruce and bought eight Tempest fine-wires. Magic! All is well again. And I can lean further before the roughness begins. (O-360). When I removed the Champions, I looked a little closer. And look what I found! I'd been paying all my attention to the "business end" of the plugs, but should have been looking at the other end! The burn mark inside says I'd had a spark jumping where it wasn't supposed to be. I didn't enjoy buying those fine-wires, but the improved operation is making me feel better about it.