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Tempest Finewire Report

MooneyBob

By MooneyBob
in General Mooney Talk

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MooneyBob Mentor

MooneyBob

Posted
Posted

I have installed the Tempest Finewire plugs yesterday.

My old Champion plugs looked very good after we pulled them out. Clean and no build up. I didn't bother to find out when previous owner put them in. But I always had a little rough idle and taxi RPM ( 1000-1200). I tried all kind of leaning settings. Always rough and misfire.

I picked my plane from the mechanic and the engine was hot as they test it after the swap.

The hot start was no different from the old plugs. It doesn't start right away and sometimes it needs few tries. I have to play with it more to find that right procedure. Sometimes it is scary after refueling.

But as I taxied I would swear it felt better and I couldn't really notice any missing beats in the engine run. I leaned aggressively and engine was still running pretty smooth with stable RPMs.

Cold start with my old plugs was never bad and it started after 3-4 turns of the prop.

This morning - the first cold start with the Finewires and I think the prop didn't even move 1/4 of the turn and engine was smoothly running. I was pretty impressed.

I don't have the engine monitor installed yet ( it's coming soon) so I can't provide any other parameters from the flight but it is definitely not worse that before.

I am pretty happy with the change.

  • Like 2
aaronk25 Veteran

aaronk25

Posted
Posted

Nice write up, I noticed the same as you when I made the switch from champion massive to tempest fine wires. Lop was smoother. But it should be for how much those baby's cost. I wish we could run regular auto plugs and auto harnesses.....

Danb Grand Master

Danb

Posted
Posted

I also had better smooth results when I switched to the fine wire. The MSC recommended them at 2 annuals ago..seem to be very smooth at all flight levels as well as taxi...

Mooneymite Grand Master

Mooneymite

Posted
Posted

I honestly cannot tell any difference, but it makes me happy knowing that they are there.

 

I suspect that if you have a good set of massives, there will be little/no difference.  In my case, one of the resistors in one of my plugs had gone bad...Oh, what a difference!

 

However, I probably would have seen a big difference if I'd just changed to new massives.

 

Here's hoping those Tempe$t plug$ last a loooooong time.

marky_24 Enthusiast

marky_24

Posted
Posted

For hot starts on an IO-360 all you need to do is set your rpm to 1200, lock the throttle and kill the engine with the mixture. When you go to start don't touch ANYTHING. Just turn the key It should fire in about 2-3 blades as soon as it fires push in the mixture. Easy as pie.

Piloto Grand Master

Piloto

Posted
Posted

I believe a major contributor to the smooth running with Tempest plugs is on their internal resistors. When my IO-360 was overhauled the shop installed Tempest massive plugs. After 600 hours I can still go 100F LOP with the original plugs. I remember I had to replace the Champions massive every 200hrs just to run LOP. You may not need to buy the Tempest expensive fine wire but the Tempest massive to get improved performance and durability.

 

José   

jetdriven Grand Master

jetdriven

Posted
Posted

I agree the Tempest massives are a big improvement over the champion plugs due to their construction, as Jose says. The principal benefit of the fine wires over the massives are a slight increase in efficiency (~2-3%) due to their un-shrouded spark and the 2000 hour or greater life. If my plane came wih a new set of massives I would wear them out then put in fine wires. Well, sort of. Our plane as purchased had a horribly worn set of champion massives and the tempest set that replaced them was a huge benefit. The new engine came wihh a set of new champion massives I sold to Hank for 100$ and put in a new set of fine wires before we even ran it. I figured they were worth enough being new that it eased the 450$ pain of new plugs. Hank and Jim benefitted as well.

aaronk25 Veteran

aaronk25

Posted
Posted

I prefer the term, "economically efficient"!

Ahhh.....I'm having a hard time understanding exactly how the term, "economically efficient" relates to aircraft ownership......

  • Like 2
Marauder Grand Master

Marauder

Posted
Posted

Ahhh.....I'm having a hard time understanding exactly how the term, "economically efficient" relates to aircraft ownership......

 

Easy to understand... it really is ;) Whilst a Beechcraft owner is told that Part A is only available through an authorized partner and the cost is $9,999 (add as many extra digits as required), the "Economically Efficient" aka Cheap Bas%$rd Mooney owner will go to great lengths to save $5 dollars on that item so in turn they use the $5 in savings to apply to another meaningless trip to someplace they have bought lunch at before. 

  • Like 1
mike_elliott Grand Master

mike_elliott

Posted
Posted

Ahhh.....I'm having a hard time understanding exactly how the term, "economically efficient" relates to aircraft ownership......

ok, how about "fiscally challenged" ? 

PTK Grand Master

PTK

Posted
Posted

Easy to understand... it really is ;) Whilst a Beechcraft owner is told that Part A is only available through an authorized partner and the cost is $9,999 (add as many extra digits as required), the "Economically Efficient" aka Cheap Bas%$rd Mooney owner will go to great lengths to save $5 dollars on that item so in turn they use the $5 in savings to apply to another meaningless trip to someplace they have bought lunch at before.

Good point Chris. You're applying the definition of insane, which practically means doing something over and over and over...and over expecting different results!

So I will stray from my normal style and indulge in some literary liberty in an effort to advance and expand upon the above characterization of us Mooney drivers to more accurately reflect the type.

The proper term I think should be Mooney owners are "insanely economically efficient."

Commonly known as crazy cheap bastards or CCB's!

"...approach...910BU...CCB...with you level at 9000..."

  • Like 1
orionflt Veteran

orionflt

Posted
Posted

Good point Chris. You're applying the definition of insane, which practically means doing something over and over and over...and over expecting different results!

So I will stray from my normal style and indulge in some literary liberty in an effort to advance and expand upon the above characterization of us Mooney drivers to more accurately reflect the type.

The proper term I think should be Mooney owners are "insanely economically efficient."

Commonly known as crazy cheap bastards or CCB's!

"...approach...910BU...CCB...with you level at 9000..."

Hey!!!!! I resemble that remark......

  • Like 2
Mooneymite Grand Master

Mooneymite

Posted
Posted

Uh.....I think we can say this thread is now officially hijacked!  (Sorry about that!)

 

Does anyone else have any "Fine Wire" stories?

  • Like 1

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