I decided to put in my new IK-24's tonight and thought I'd take a photo to show all three together for those of you who might be interested to see what they look like.
The first one is a used OEM platinum plug (the newer one from the spark plug recall). The others, you can see the box label above them.


And a bit of a close up:


An interesting note:
The Denso plug was very hard to open the gap. They come with a very narrow gap, even narrower than what I need for a S/C application. The negative electrode is either extremely hard or very slippery and my plug gapper would not grip it to pull the gap wider. I carefully used needle nose pliers to open them and the gapper to slightly close them back to get the final setting. The positive (center) electrode is very thin and great care should be taken to not touch it with too much force.

ps. The NGKs are also known as "V Power" racing plugs. They have a "V" groove down the middle of the center electrode.
Both the NGK and Denso are 1 step colder than OEM.

 

The NGK 6564 superceeds to a 7173, It's still the same plug.

Is it the lighting or did both the stock plug and the Vpower NGK come out of the engine "rusty"?

 

Please let us know your feelings regarding the plugs after you've had a few days to live with them.

I've had a set of IK24's laying around for about three months now intending to do this but I'm lazy. I need to go ahead and change them. On average, how often do you go between changes and/or cleanings?

 

Actually, the two old ones have been sitting in my garage for quite some time now. The NGKs I just took out look whitish/brown, no rust. I think they got that way over time. I don't recall they looked like that when they first came out. The OEMs have been sitting around the longest (6 to 8 months) and the NGKs have been sitting for about 3 months.

 

I'll have an idea after the next couple of days.
I pull the plugs maybe once a month just to see how they're doing. The NGKs I just took out were in for about 3 months and they looked like they could have stayed in another 3 months at least. I'm hoping the Iridiums will last a very long time (years?). I'll still probably give them a careful clean every few months. Don't try to clean the center electrode. It's far too delicate. I just make sure the underside of the top electrode is fairly clean.

 

Makes sense now. The only plugs I've ever pulled out of an engine that looked like those sat outside in a junkyard.

I'd venture to say the heat from operation removed the plating, and then rusted after being pulled out.

 

0.034" for Vortech duty.

 

That's a reasonable statement. In a pinch, I think those old rusted OEM plugs could have the rust sandpapered off and they'd work fine. What do you think?

 

I wouldn't sandpaper the OEM platinum ones, the electrode is to easy to damage I don't think the platinum coating would last long with the sandpaper. I'd have no prob's doing that with the Vpower's If I had to.

On the dedicated drag cars that I've messed with, the plugs were pulled every pass, then sprayed out with contact cleaner to keep 'em fresh. 16 new spark plugs every round in a BIG Hemi get expensive after a while.

 

I wouldn't sand the positive platinum electrode, only the negative one and around the rim of the plug end.