Tempest Fine wire cleaning.

[Will.iam]

I have heard you can use walnut shells as abrasive to clean the fine wire sparkplugs but what size grit? 18-40? 

[N201MKTurbo]

I have heard the OWTs about cleaning them with glass beads. I have read the articles and seen the pictures. One thing I cannot do is duplicate what is shown. I have cleaned them with glass beads and looked at them with an inspection microscope. I cannot find any residual glass beads even under high magnification. I can’t find any erosion of the center electrode cement.  
 

If you clean them with glass beads and don’t clean off the glass beads, they look like the pictures, but a blast of compressed air will clean them off. I usually blow them off with compressed air, then wash them in the parts washer, then blow them dry. Then clean the barrels with MEK. Never a problem.

The problem with walnut shells, is they are too course to get into the bottoms of the plugs.

[N201MKTurbo]

I guess if you were worried about wearing away the iridium plating, you could use the Champion cleaner files in your favorite holder, then soak them in Hoppes.

[KSMooniac]

All I ever did was pick out lead from the barrel. I don't see the need to blast them... They just keep on running, and running very well LOP.

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[dzeleski]

7 hours ago, Will.iam said:

I have heard you can use walnut shells as abrasive to clean the fine wire sparkplugs but what size grit? 18-40? 

You should never use glass beads according to Tempest. They actually have a really nice guide: https://aeroaccessories.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Sparkplug-Cleaning-The-Right-Way-081412.pdf

 

[Fritz1]

interesting, Tempest recommends to blast them with abrasive at reduced pressure and not use glass beads, does not make sense to me, the abrasive takes off the iridium at any pressure that might take off contaminants, I just pick the lead out every 50h at every second oil change, seem to run fine and much better than the massive Champions in the Bravo engine

[EricJ]

I blast fine wires with the usual black abrasive that you can get at AS or Aircraft Tool or wherever.   Whatever you blast them with, it is a good idea to blow them out with compressed air and inspect them afterward.   Fine wires last a long time if they're taken care of.

[A64Pilot]

On 10/22/2024 at 8:26 AM, KSMooniac said:

All I ever did was pick out lead from the barrel. I don't see the need to blast them... They just keep on running, and running very well LOP.

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This, I did the same for years, why would you want to blast them?

But then I’m not blasting my massives either. It’s unlikely I’ll buy fine wires again, I can’t justify the price difference.