Clean Tempest fine wire plugs

[Fritz1]

Took tempest fine wire plugs out during 25h oil change, minimal lead accumulation, engine runs smoother than with Champion massives, tad lower TIT, four out of six bottom plugs have a little oil in the cavity, what is the best way to clean these, to my best understanding you are not supposed to sand blast them with grit because that eats away the iridium coating quickly, so clean firing end with gunk carb cleaner? brake cleaner? or Hoppe gun cleaner? or what else?

[dzeleski]

2 minutes ago, Fritz1 said:

Took tempest fine wire plugs out during 25h oil change, minimal lead accumulation, engine runs smoother than with Champion massives, tad lower TIT, four out of six bottom plugs have a little oil in the cavity, what is the best way to clean these, to my best understanding you are not supposed to sand blast them with grit because that eats away the iridium coating quickly, so clean firing end with gunk carb cleaner? brake cleaner? or Hoppe gun cleaner? or what else?

You can blast them but you need to use the correct material and the correct PSI on the compressor.

https://tempestplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sparkplug-Cleaning-The-Right-Way-081412.pdf
https://tempestplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/1710A_Rev-E.pdf

 

[Fritz1]

got it, fresh grit, low pressure, blast as little as possible. Dumb question: are the electrode tips solid iridium or steel with just a thin coat of iridium??

[dzeleski]

11 minutes ago, Fritz1 said:

got it, fresh grit, low pressure, blast as little as possible. Dumb question: are the electrode tips solid iridium or steel with just a thin coat of iridium??

I don’t know what the core is made of but it’s a coating of iridium which is why minimal blasting is important.

[Fritz1]

Thanks! that is what I thought and that is why most people do not blast them at all, will hold off blasting for now, only 25h on plugs, expensive like hell but they really run better!

[A64Pilot]

Don’t blast them, there is no need.

I read through the attached articles, majority of both were for massive plugs, the one reference for fine wires said only use new abrasive, low pressure and even then only for 1 or 2 seconds. Your not going to do anything at low pressure for only one or two seconds, so just don’t blast them.

I would have cut n pasted but the Ipad will highlight but not copy for some reason.

Bottom of page 23 of this link from above is the only ref to blasting fine wires that I saw https://tempestplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/1710A_Rev-E.pdf

I don’t gap fine wires either myself, that side wire is very easy to snap off

[dzeleski]

23 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

Don’t blast them, there is no need.

I read through the attached articles, majority of both were for massive plugs, the one reference for fine wires said only use new abrasive, low pressure and even then only for 1 or 2 seconds. Your not going to do anything at low pressure for only one or two seconds, so just don’t blast them.

I would have cut n pasted but the Ipad will highlight but not copy for some reason.

Bottom of page 23 of this link from above is the only ref to blasting fine wires that I saw https://tempestplus.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/1710A_Rev-E.pdf

I don’t gap fine wires either myself, that side wire is very easy to snap off

"Fine wire spark plugs normally don’t need much cleaning. However, if you do need to
get the lead out don’t pry against the electrodes or insulators. If you blast the spark
plug, use only high grade, new, spark plug abrasive. Use the lowest pressure possible
and blast for only a second or two."

 

Is what it states. It is completely fine to do it to them but its generally not required, lower pressure with the correct abrasive works just fine. The main reason to blast them is if you cant get them clean without requiring a prying effort. Generally when I inspect my plugs half way through the year I only need to blast a single plug, maybe two. Usually I can get everything clean with a solvent and a little pick tool, and even then there isnt much to do. I check gaps as well and will adjust them if they are not in spec but again its usually only one or two that need to be tweaked.

Champion has similar instructions as well: https://www.wagaero.com/pdf/Champion-TB16-001-fine-wire-servicing-062216.pdf