| Hi Tony, It doesn’t surprise me that there would be signs of that – I’m actually inclined to say that the engine was pre-igniting as well as detonating. When those plugs began to melt and vaporize away, the remaining metal of the plug would have been white-hot – plenty hot enough to ignite the fuel mixture during the compression stroke before the plug even ever fired. Detonation occurs after the plug fires and this would have easily been an existing condition alongside the preignition due to the excessive heat contained within the rest of the parts – namely the exhaust valves. Certainly not a good environment for any engine. :-/ The melting point of inconel 600, which the exhaust valves are made from, is 1355C (2470F). The only way this kind of temperature can be achieved in the engine is from a lean mixture. The plugs weren’t the only components damaged in the engine. If colder plugs were used, the valves still would have been burned. I mentioned previously about Dee’s car, Russell’s widebody, and the Peacemaker, all which used the projected tip and two of them running the 6B-11B’s – all three of these cars also are using the HKS ignition amp. I have never seen any VG where any component, exhaust valves included, that was damaged as a result of spark plugs. The only time I’ve ever seen an exhaust valve burn like that was on a car running nitrous which leaned out due to excessive bottle pressure from sitting out in the sun. If there is any issue with Kyle getting the heads taken care of I am available to fix them for you over the weekend. I would be happy to cover shipping on them as well. It is unfortunate that I am already committed in Minnesota from the 22nd to the 29th – given your situation I would like to fly up before the event to help out with the car and try to figure out what went wrong. I urge you to be meticulous with the car to try and determine the cause of the problem. I know you are inclined to believe that the plugs were the issue and I hope the information I’ve given in the last few emails clarifies the shortcomings with that idea, but even at the least, I hope my explanations prevent you from just putting the colder plugs in and thinking that all is well. As for the ECU, are you planning to send that to me so I can inspect it? Also, if you can send me your fuel injectors (in the rails), I can flow test them here to make sure they are up to spec. I built an injector flowbench a few years back and still have all of the equipment to do this. It will also save ~$150 vs. having RC engineering do it. If you can send them out today via USPS Express, they will get to me tomorrow. I can go through the ECU and injectors and have them coming back on Monday for overnight delivery to you on Tuesday. Let me know what you want me to do… Talk to you soon! -Ash
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[ agpowers@bellsouth.net ] Enthusiasts soon understand each other. --W. Irving.
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