Will.iam Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 I have heard you can use walnut shells as abrasive to clean the fine wire sparkplugs but what size grit? 18-40? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N201MKTurbo Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N201MKTurbo Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSMooniac Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 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. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzeleski Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritz1 Posted October 22 Report Share Posted October 22 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 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted October 23 Report Share Posted October 23 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A64Pilot Posted October 24 Report Share Posted October 24 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. Sent from my motorola edge plus 2023 using Tapatalk 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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